Rudraiah Panel Favours Trifurcation of Bangalore University
by Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
BANGALORE, Jul 10: The 123-year-old historical Bangalore University, one of the oldest in the entire country, is likely to be trifurcated if the B S Yeddyurappa’s BJP government accepts the recommendations of an high-level expert committee.
The Yeddyurappa regime had constituted a 10-member expert committee headed by former vice chancellor of Gulbarga university Dr N Rudraiah to study the feasibility of splitting the Bangalore university, which is over-burdened with over 700 colleges affiliated to it and encompassing a record number of three lakh students.
The Rudrappa panel submitted its final report to Karnataka’s higher education minister Aravind Limbavalli on Friday.
While Dr Rudrappa or any of the members, who met the minister to submit their report declined to divulge details of their recommendations, Limbavali said he will have to first examine the report and study the contents and discuss the issue with the chief minister.
``After a detailed study of the recommendations, we will have to table the report in the state legislature,’’ the minister said pointing out that the state cabinet will have to take a final decision.
However, reliable sources indicated that the Rudrappa panel has recommended carving out three separate universities by splitting the mammoth Bangalore university into three for better administrative convenience.
The Bangalore university is proposed to be trifurcated along geographical lines with three new universities of Bangalore north, south and central universities, according to informed sources.
If the government decides to accept the recommendatkions of the Dr Rudrappa panel, it would entail huge financial costs. Sufficient lands would have to be earmarked and administrative buildings would have to be built as each of the three proposed universities would have roughly 200 to 250 colleges under their jurisdiction, which may be manageable, the sources explained.
With several law colleges forming part of the Bangalore university to the proposed law university from the ensuing academic year, it makes eminent sense to trim the size of Bangalore university to manageable proportions, the sources said, pointing out that it was doubtful whether the government would be able to must the necessary courage and find the resources.
Meanwhile, Bangalore university vice chancellor Dr A N Prabhu Dev has already struck a discordant note by pointing out that the Dr Rudrappa panel had not consulted him at all and had come out with its own recommendations.
The Bangalore University, it may be recalled, was set up by the then British Government way back in 1886 as the Central College. It was conferred the status of an independent university after independence on July 10, 1964 The objective was to consolidate the educational institutions of higher education in and around Bangalore and develop into a renowned centre learning.
The Central College and the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) , established in 1912 as the two original institutions of Bangalore, were subsumed into the Bangalore University. With the promulgation of the Karnataka State Universities Ordinace of 1975, which later became a law, the University lost its federal character and became a state-affiliated university.
In 1973, it moved to the 1,100 acre Jnanabharathi campus, which has shrunk over the years. It was accredited by the NAAC in 2001 and received a five star status. It has produced several renowned alumni through Central College and UVCE, including nobel-prize winning physicist Sir C V Raman, who was associated with the university while working with at the Indian Institute of Science.
The Bangalore University with over 700 affiliated colleges and 3 lakh students has jurisdiction over Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Kolar and Ramanagaram districts. It nears the status of ``Potential for Excellence,’’ a distinction reserved for the top 10 universities in India under the norms laid down by University Grants Commission (UGC).
It may be recalled that when the government created a new university of Tumkur by including colleges in Bangalore rural and Kolar districts, there was huge public protests with students and other organizations refusing to be separated from Bangalore University with its campus located in the sylvan surroundings of Jnanabharati near Kengeri, on the Bangalore-Mysore highway. The government had to finally back down and the Tumkur university was confined to colleges in the district, which until then were part of Bangalore