Blackboard jungle

Class act

LEADING from the front is the Sri Rawatpura Sarkar International SRI University, Chhattisgarh8217;s first private university. It has already completed one year of its nursing course, and now proposes to introduce engineering classes. It operates from the basement of a commercial complex in a busy market area.

Located barely 100 meters away in just one room of the Pagariya market complex is the Mahaveer Academy of Technology and Science MATS. It has neither vice-chancellor, registrar nor other academic staff. Headquartered in Bangalore, MATS runs 15 educational institutes in the southern city.

If one year of classes and schools elsewhere give these two some credibility, the other players can at best be dubbed dubious. 8216;8216;We have no campus, no project report. The details of the capital expenditure are being worked out,8217;8217; says Sailesh Pandey, registrar of Dr C V Raman University, based in rented premises at Awanti Vihar.

But with plans for six departments, it is probably better off than the National Technological University, a single room at the Rajiv Gandhi College in the Shailender Nagar residential area. The Indian University has an office close to the textile market in Pandari.

At least a dozen more universities recognised by the state government have neither office nor campus. Nor are any details available about the background of their promoters.

Univs unlimited

IT was the Chhattisgarh Private Sector Universities Establishment and Regulations Act, passed last year, that paved the way for the rush in the education businesses. 8216;8216;Everyone is welcome,8217;8217; says Education Minister Satya Narain Sharma. 8216;8216;We promise there will be no red-tapism.8217;8217;

True to his word, it takes just a week for anyone to get recognition for a university.

There is method behind this madness. 8216;8216;If the best private institutions set up centres here and make Raipur a centre of academic excellence, it will attract investment and rid the government the responsibility of imparting higher education,8217;8217; says Sharma.

Tellingly enough, no prominent player in the education market bothered to respond to the Chhattisgarh government8217;s invitation to set up shop here even after the waiving of the Rs 2-crore security fee.

Answer to a prayer

FOR all their lack of infrastructure, though, none of the so-called universities seem hard up for students 8212; or advertising revenue. The National Technological University, for instance, has huge hoardings up all over town. Others woo students from all over the country through advertisements in national dailies. The catchment areas are the adjoining states of Orissa, Jharkhand, MP and UP, where private education entrepreneurs have been rather slow off the mark.

The effort pays. MATS spokesman D N V Kumara Garu claims to have received 280 applications for its 50 seats in BBM and MBA. 8216;8216;Students who struggled for admission to such courses in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad now have an option in Raipur,8217;8217; he boasts.

Students agree. 8216;8216;Infrastructure or the lack of it are not issues at the moment. Now we have to decide on career options. For students of Chhattisgarh, these new universities offer 200 courses at their doorstep,8217;8217; says Vikas Dubey, a graduate who is undecided about his future studies.

For others, the competitive fees are the clincher. 8216;8216;At SRI University, the nursing course costs Rs 30,000 per annum, elsewhere it would be between Rs 4-5 lakh,8217;8217; says Tintoo Kurian, who has come to Raipur all the way from Kerala. Ditto for Anadhi Jain, an MBA applicant at MATS, who points out that a degree here costs just Rs 32,000, much lower than established institutes elsewhere.

Future Course

BUT sooner or later, the institutions serious about their business will run into problems of space, infrastructure and equipment. With recognition certificates firmly in their pockets, many are trying to pass on the buck to the government. Their common demand: land.

The Institute of Chartered Financials of India 8212; recognised as a university in September 2002 8212; has rented premises at Bhilai for its MBA and engineering courses. But, says official Gopal Garg, 8216;8216;we are looking for space for our campus and have approached the government for help8217;8217;.

A couple, like MATS and SRI University, are charting their own course. MATS hopes to get its centrally air-conditioned, three-storeyed complex near the bus-stand by July-end. 8216;8216;Within three years, we will have our 50-acre campus outside the town,8217;8217; promises Garu.

SRI University is perhaps the only one to have started work on its 175-acre campus near the new state capital complex. 8216;8216;We have invested Rs 1.50 crore in the project. We have 40 nodal centres and plan to run at least 60 academic courses,8217;8217; says V-C Radha Raman Das.

Education minister Sharma is quite happy with this state of affairs. 8216;8216;It is all about open competition. Only the best will survive,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;We will not interfere in their operations.8217;8217;