The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Admission process will be regulated’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 07, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Admission process will be regulated’

Staff Reporter

UGC is serious about promoting inclusive higher education, says Thorat

‘Universities may utilise schemes and seek more funding’
‘Talks are on with universities on proper use of funds’

Bangalore: The University Grants Commission (UGC) will soon regulate the admission process and fee structure in deemed universities, and is working on schemes to make higher education accessible to all.

Speaking to presspersons after accepting the honorary doctorate conferred upon him by Gulbarga University here on Sunday, Sukhadeo Thorat, UGC chairman, said that many universities were being granted the deemed university status under the provisions of UGC Act. “There are issues of access to higher education. We will soon initiate steps to regulate the admission and the fee structure in the deemed universities. We are working on creating a mechanism and are holding talks with the stakeholders,” he said.

Prof. Thorat also said that under the 11th Five Year Plan, UGC’s major initiative would be promotion of inclusive higher education by providing access to education to the deprived sections of society. Several schemes had been initiated in this regard by the UGC.

“Universities may utilise these schemes and ask for greater funding. The UGC is serious about promoting inclusive higher education,” he said.

Prof. Thorat said that the UGC’s fund utilisation was 99 per cent last year. “We are satisfied with that. We are, however, in talks with the universities with regard to proper utilisation of funds,” he said.

M. Phil programme

The issue of M. Phil programmes would be discussed by the Inter-University Board (IUB) during its next meeting.

Arvind Limbavali, Minister for Higher Education, told presspersons that “several universities had stopped offering M. Phil programmes for various reasons. We will look into it and see if it can be re-introduced.”

The Minister also said that the grades of as many as 29 colleges affiliated to Tumkur University had not been changed.

“The status of these colleges has not been changed. We will discuss this issue also at the IUB meeting.” He said he would attend the National Education Ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on July 23. “I will then meet with Prof. Thorat again on July 24 and discuss the issue of funding, among others,” he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka