The Maharashtra government has given its final approval to set up private universities in the state. State minister for higher education Rajesh Tope made this announcement and declared that five proposals have already come to the government, seeking permission to open private universities.
“Some of the tricky issues, which delayed the process, have now been resolved and the private universities will be asked to keep close to 50% seats in the reserved category for socially-backward classes, just similar to government-controlled educational establishments,” Tope said.
This means private institutions will be able to enter the field of higher education in Maharashtra, the state cabinet has already approved model guidelines for opening private universities.
The proposal to allow private universities in the state got mired in controversy over caste reservations. Reservation of a fixed percentage of seats for socially-backward class students was not stipulated in the Act. This led to opposition from leaders and representatives of backward classes.
“Bharat Forge, DY Patil Group and Rai University have already put in proposals to set up their private universities in the state. We expect some more proposal from big corporate houses in the future,” Tope said. In order to push the process, the government decided to imbibe a model adopted in some other states by framing guidelines. Senior officials of the education department said that a separate bill would now be drafted for each such private university, which will have to submit a proposal on the basis of model guidelines.
The new guidelines allow a private organisation to set up a university on a no-profit, no-loss basis, along with any trust or society. Officials said top corporates were interested in setting up universities.
Infrastructure requirements needed to set up universities in a district and rural centre were also relaxed. While the Act had stipulated that a minimum requirement of 50 acres and 100 acres to set up universities in district and rural areas, these have been relaxed to 25 acres and 50 acres, respectively.
“Some of the tricky issues, which delayed the process, have now been resolved and the private universities will be asked to keep close to 50% seats in the reserved category for socially-backward classes, just similar to government-controlled educational establishments,” Tope said.
This means private institutions will be able to enter the field of higher education in Maharashtra, the state cabinet has already approved model guidelines for opening private universities.
The proposal to allow private universities in the state got mired in controversy over caste reservations. Reservation of a fixed percentage of seats for socially-backward class students was not stipulated in the Act. This led to opposition from leaders and representatives of backward classes.
“Bharat Forge, DY Patil Group and Rai University have already put in proposals to set up their private universities in the state. We expect some more proposal from big corporate houses in the future,” Tope said. In order to push the process, the government decided to imbibe a model adopted in some other states by framing guidelines. Senior officials of the education department said that a separate bill would now be drafted for each such private university, which will have to submit a proposal on the basis of model guidelines.
The new guidelines allow a private organisation to set up a university on a no-profit, no-loss basis, along with any trust or society. Officials said top corporates were interested in setting up universities.
Infrastructure requirements needed to set up universities in a district and rural centre were also relaxed. While the Act had stipulated that a minimum requirement of 50 acres and 100 acres to set up universities in district and rural areas, these have been relaxed to 25 acres and 50 acres, respectively.
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