On the issue of setting up of 20 new private universities, Mr. Deshpande said a three-member official committee has been set up to monitor the availability of infrastructure and quality of education in private universities.
Weeks after the state government notified model guidelines for private institutions to set up universities, three big groups have put forward their proposals to the higher and technical education department.
In a desperate bid to fill up seats in private engineering colleges, the state government has decided to slash the admission fee, payable at a time by Rs 20,000.
The admission supervisory committee (ASC), headed by Justice J M James, on Thursday cancelled the entrance test by private medical colleges to fill 35% management quota seats, citing question paper leak. The exam will now be held on June 22.
AIADMK on Friday urged the AINRC-ruled Puducherry government to ensure private medical colleges earmarked 50 per cent of the total seats in MBBS courses for students under government quota.
Punjab's medical education and research department headed by minister Bhagat Chunni Lal has failed to formally decide whether to regularise the admissions of over 450 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course-2012 in 11 private colleges and allow them to sit in the first-year examination beginning on Wednesday.
In absence of any response shown by the private universities on issue of admission to technical courses, the MP Private Universities’ Regulatory Commission has decided that it would not conduct the admission process for universities this year.
Education minister BhupendrasinhChudasma has retained the Gujarat University papers granting permission to three private institutes for commencing five-year integrated professional courses to be run from the university campus.
The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation Fee) (Special Provisions) Bill, 2013, that provides recognition for the consensual agreement proposed to be entered in to between the State government and the private unaided educational institutions imparting professional educational courses for 2013-14 academic year.
With the number of medical colleges and seats increasing, there aren't enough cadavers for learning clinical techniques. Government colleges still manage to get cadavers, but private colleges are in a fix as they have to request permission and wait for government approval to get a cadaver.
Primary education minister Sake Sailajanath directed officials to initiate stringent action against private colleges and schools if they were found violating norms and collecting exorbitant fees.
The notification for counselling for engineering and pharmacy courses is likely to be pushed further due to delay in fixing the fee structure in private colleges. The Admissions and Fee Regulatory Committee (AFRC) which was supposed to decide the fee structure for private colleges by June 12 has not announced a composite fee structure till date. The higher education department officials said notification for counselling will be announced only by next week and counselling likely to begin from June 26.
India is the only country that authorises, as official policy, the sale of medical seats by private medical colleges, implicitly accepting the principle that the ability to pay, and not merit, is what counts. Further, in the absence of any system of third party certification by way of an entry or, more importantly, an exit exam — which could guarantee the qualities and competencies a doctor must possess before starting to practice — many medical colleges are producing quacks. The tragedy is that we all know about it.
Increasingly, the country is appealing to private and international higher education providers to add to national capacity. The market is economically attractive to private higher education providers. But the doors for entry of foreign higher education institutions are still not fully opened. It could be useful to look at all means of partnerships at the government level.
With the framing of the model guidelines for private self-financing universities and the proposed establishment of law universities in Aurangabad, Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIFT) in Pune and Nagpur, Higher and Technical Education Minister, Rajesh Tope, is betting big on the education scenario in Maharashtra.
Even as Chief Minister N Rangasamy is holding talks with the seven self-financing medical colleges in the Union Territory on sharing seats with the government, the AIADMK has urged the AINRC government to ensure that private medical colleges earmarked 50 per cent of the total seats in MBBS courses for students under the government quota.
The raging controversy surrounding admissions of over 456 students undergoing Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course in 11 private colleges has sent the Punjab government as well as the college managements into a real tizzy.
TR Pachamuthu, 72, isn't as well-known across India as the education brand he created out of nothing nearly three decades ago. His SRM University, with its main campus near Chennai, has often found itself as one of the top private universities in rankings, attracting students from all over the country. Success over the years has made him smoothly diversify beyond just education - from energy to construction and transportation to media.
The State Government seems to have finally woke up to the allegations of malpractice during semester examinations in various private engineering colleges and polytechnic institutes. It has now directed the State Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (SCTE & VT) to look into allegations of malpractice and take appropriate measures.
The Bill proposing Bangalore University’s bifurcation, passed earlier this year, has been pending the Governor’s approval along with the Karnataka State Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, 2013. The Chancellor, however, had approved the Bills to establish private universities.