Karnataka: Law soon to bring uniformity in varsities

Bengaluru: To bring in uniformity in teaching at all its universities, the state government is contemplating to bring them all under a single Act.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra said on Friday that the government has initiated discussions with vice-chancellors and Academic Council members of all universities on the new law.

Now, universities have their own curriculum, admission, examination and graduation pattern. With the new law, there will be uniformity across the state.

Besides, the government will also introduce video lectures by teachers across universities, Mr Jayachandra said. “University education has become only a system to get degrees. These institutions have failed to shape students’ future by making them ready for industrial requirement, especially in technical fields. To overcome this, the government has decided to set up an Information Technology Centre at Muddenahalli to train technical students in Aerospace Engineering. This gains importance as Bengaluru has HAL and another helicopter manufacturing unit is coming up near Tumakuru, he said.

Of the 22 organisations that were granted approvals to start private universities during the BJP rule, only 12 have started operations. “There were complaints that many universities were not following UGC guidelines. The state government has decided to set up a committee to examine whether universities are following UGC guidelines. Action will be taken against any university violating the guidelines,” Mr Jayachandra said.