The Hindu : Private universities in Chhattisgarh under scrutiny

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Thursday, Jan 08, 2004

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Private universities in Chhattisgarh under scrutiny

RAIPUR JAN. 7. The Chhattisgarh government has set in motion a process to review the functioning of private universities, which have mushroomed in the state during the last two years.

As many as 108 private universities have secured permission to set up campus. Out of these, 95 have also received the requisite notification from the authorities concerned.

Of them, 35 have started functioning in hotel rooms and two or three room houses in residential colonies, spread over 54 wards of the Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC).

Hoardings and banners of universities offering various courses have appeared everywhere in the capital

Only a few of these private universities, established under the Chhattisgarh Private Universities Act enacted by the previous Ajit Jogi government, have formed a campus while others are thriving on ``distance education'', offering correspondence courses in wide ranging subjects.

The education department sources said the private universities, offering courses under distance education programme, have appointed nodal agencies and study centres in many states, including Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.

Permission to start nodal agencies and study centres is being granted on a payment of Rs 500,000 and Rs 1,25000. Besides, these universities will also get a share of the fees collected from the students.

After the BJP government came to power, Chief Minister Raman Singh had made it clear that these universities would have to follow the guidelines laid down by the Universities Grants Commission (UGC).

Meanwhile, a cabinet committee, which discussed the issue of private universities, has decided to take appropriate steps to check ``commercialisation'' of education and to fix standards for these universities. - UNI

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Private universities in Chhattisgarh under scrutiny