MANGALORE: Many students will be deprived of a chance to join postgraduate courses in universities where they completed their degree courses if a new reservation system evolved by the State Inter-university Board (IUB) comes into effect.

The IUB proposes to reserve 50 per cent of seats in PG courses in each university to students from other universities, including universities within the State (40 per cent) and universities outside the State (10 per cent), sources in the Department of Higher Education say.

Meeting

The proposal was discussed at an IUB meeting on May 25, which was chaired by High Education Minister D.H. Shankaramurthy.

Most vice-chancellors are reportedly unhappy with the proposal as it will affect students, particularly those from poor families, who want to join courses under the university in their area. The IUB has not been able to bring about a consensus to implement the proposal from the coming academic year, sources say.

Explaining the proposed quota system, they say that if there are 100 seats for the M.A. English course (M.A.) in a university, 50 seats will be reserved for students who pass out of colleges under the jurisdiction of the university, 40 seats for students of other universities in the State, and remaining seats for candidates from outside the State.

Quotas

The universities have to set aside seats for categories of students who have the benefit of reservation. Taking the example above, the reservation norms will not apply in the case of the 10 seats meant for students from outside the State, and admissions will be made on the basis of merit.

However, 20 of the 40 seats reserved for students from other universities in the State will have to be reserved for various categories. The reservations norms will also apply to rest of the seats. Teachers say all universities do not announce degree examination results at the same time, and universities will find it difficult to implement the new proposal. They point out that if the proposal is implemented, the number of seats available in a university to local students will come down by 50 per cent.

The reduction will affect students from poor families the most.

For example, a student from a poor family in Mangalore may have to go to another city to join a course. Some universities have region-specific courses, and if the proposal is accepted, local students may not be able to pursue them.

The IUB comprises vice-chancellors of universities and senior officials of the Department of Higher Education.

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