CM K Chandrasekhar Rao reworking plan on private universities

Hyderabad: Private universities will not be a reality in Telangana state, at least for the upcoming academic year (2016-17). The government failed to introduce the Private Universities Bill during the recent Budget session of Assembly and even the state Cabinet is yet to approve the draft Bill.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is apparently upset with the draft Bill and has sought major changes to permit only institutions with a certain reputation and experience to set up private universities in the state.

It has also came to the notice of the government that several existing engineering colleges, which have been running for just over a decade, are now planning to convert themselves into private universities — aiming to escape government control on admissions and fee structure.

Currently, there is massive demand for seats in the top-20 engineering colleges and parents are also willing to pay any amount to get seats in these colleges for their wards. But since these colleges have been regulated by government on fee and admission issues, they are able to offer only 30 per cent seats on their own, which too are under tight scrutiny of the government. The remaining 70 per cent seats are offered under merit quota based on the government-conducted Eamcet.

The college managements also feel that once they convert these colleges into private universities, they will get complete control over admissions leading to profits. The Cabinet was supposed to approve the Bill in February to enable its introduction in the Legislature in March.

But the Bill has been kept pending since then to make certain changes to check misuse of the Private Universities Act. The earlier experiences on allowing private universities in Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh has proven that institutions often misuse the facility and have virtually resorted to ‘sale’ of degrees.

The TS government wants to take some more time before enacting the Private Universities Act to see that there are no loopholes in the system.The Bill is now expected to be passed during the monsoon or the winter session so that private universities can be permitted from 2017-18 academic year.