Explained: Gujarat’s Bill for adding 11 new private universities

What is the Act?

The Gujarat Private Universities Act 2009 was notified with the state launching 18 private universities when Narendra Modi was the chief minister. Over a period of time, it also brought in corporate-backed universities like The Nirma University, earlier the Nirma Institute of Technology, by the Nirma Group, PP Savani University in Surat by P P Savani Group, Ganpat University in Mehsana by industrialist Ganpatbhai Patel.

However, since 2009, the Act has been amended  seven times either to accommodate new private universities or to change their name or ownership. For instance, in 2019, the Calorx Teachers’ University sought approval from the Gujarat government to change its name to Sabarmati University seeking an amendment in the schedule of Gujarat Private Universities Act, 2009.

The new universities

Of the 11, two are corporate universities – Adani University by Adani Institute for Education and Research (AIER) and Transstadia University by Transstadia Education and Research Foundation, both in Ahmedabad – registered under The Companies Act in 2014 and 2019 respectively.

Adani University, located in Shantigram, is helmed by Priti Adani, a trustee of AIER and wife of group chairman Gautam Adani. Transstadia University is Transstadia Education and Research Foundation, an arm of SE TransStadia Pvt Ltd founded by industrialist Udit Sheth who built what is claimed to be India’s first convertible stadium opposite the Kankaria lakefront in Maninagar, Ahmedabad.

The Swaminarayan sect will make its debut with the Swaminarayan University, by Shree Swaminarayan Vishvamangal Gurukul Gandhinagar.

The other universities:

The Gandhinagar University

Dr Subhash University in Junagadh

M K University in Patan

Vidyadeep University in Surat

SKIPS University in Gandhinagar

Maganbhai Adenwala Mahagujarat University in Nadiad, Kheda

Lokbharati University for Rural Innovation, Bhavnagar

Noble University, Junagadh

What did the opposition say?

While the Congress supported passage of the Bill, it raised objections  to the “increasing privatisation” in the education sector without any government control over institutes in matters like fee and admissions which will be controlled by these universities only.

Quick approvals

The Education Minister Jitu Vaghani informed the House during the debate over the Bill that out of a total 19 applications 11 were approved.

Among those cleared, while the majority of the applications were received in 2021, there were several received this year, even in the months of January and February.

The government rushed through the process of submission of proposal, presentation to the scrutiny committee, inspection by the scrutiny committee and approval  that has raised several eyebrows even within the government.

Section 10 of the Private Universities Act states that if the state government is satisfied with the sponsoring body’s compliance with the conditions in the Letter of Intent (LOI) then the former is required to bring appropriate legislation for inclusion of the name of the university in the Schedule to the said Act.

Justifying the approval of these private universities, while the state government claims that this is as per National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) mandating  “one major university or college in each district”, Education Minister  Vaghani, while tabling the Bill, cited the cases of Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, Chicago, Yale, Pennsylvania as well as Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham or Amrita University in Coimbatore to build his case for private universities.

He also added that with the establishment of these universities the children from these districts would not need to travel outside their districts.

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