Maharashtra: Panel set up to frame guidelines for colleges

The norms of sanctioning new colleges, courses, curriculums and additional divisions have been specified under section 81, 82 and 83 of Maharashtra Universities Act 1994.

The state government has appointed an eight-member committee to frame ‘clear and detailed’ guidelines and norms for approving new colleges, courses, additional divisions and even satellite centres. The new norms worked out by this expert committee will be followed by the universities and department of Higher and Technical Education for approving new colleges and courses. The committee headed by Dr RS Mali, former Vice Chancellor of North Maharashtra University in Jangan will be studying old norms thoroughly before framing new guidelines. It is expected to submit the draft to the state government by February 25.

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The norms of sanctioning new colleges, courses, curriculums and additional divisions have been specified under section 81, 82 and 83 of Maharashtra Universities Act 1994. The same has been specified in the amended Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016.

“Even though norms and guidelines about sanctioning new colleges existed in the old act as well as the new one, the state government wanted an expert panel to study these guidelines and make them stringent to raise the quality of education across the state. Approving new colleges will not be a simple affair anymore,” said principal of a well known college in Mumbai and one of the members of the committee.

Approval of new colleges has been an issue for a long time now. Experts have often alleged that approval of colleges without proper scrutiny has been increasing the burden on universities. Universities like Mumbai and Pune have a large number of colleges affiliated to them. While Mumbai University currently has over 740 colleges affiliated to it, Pune University has around 811 colleges making it the largest university in the state and the second largest university in the country.

Experts are looking at the new guidelines as a cap on numbers and improvement in quality.