From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Aug 25: The State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday approved amendment to the Karnataka Universities Act to facilitate creation of 8 new Universities in Karnataka.

With the latest amendment, the path for creation of new Universities in Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Haveri, Kodagu, Koppala, Bagalkot, Bidar and Mandya districts has been cleared, said Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan.

The minister extended his heartfelt thanks to the Chief Minister for paving the way for creation of new Universities.

While the proposed University in Chamarajanagar will have 18 colleges, Hassan 36, Haveri 40, Bidar 140, Kodagu 24, Koppala 40 and Bagalakot will have 71 colleges. The Mandya University will have the first grade colleges in the district under its purview.

Barring Mandya, universities in the other 7 districts had already been announced in the State Budget for the current year, he said pointing out that the government had allocate Rs 14 crore for the new universities at Rs 2 crore each.

The minister said the government had recently decided to convert the Government College in Mandya into a full-fledged university.

Dr Narayan said the State Government has taken a policy decision to have University for each district in the State. This is our government’s resolve redress the regional imbalance in terms of education and also ensure that the younger generation is enabled to have quality University education in their own surroundings, he explained.

The Finance and Planning Departments have given approval for the creation of the new Universities, which will require less land, staff and cost to start operations, he added.