KArnataka universities to be brought under one Act

The Karnataka State Universities (KSU) Act, 2000 will see major changes as the state department of higher education is under the process of amending it. The recommendations will be sent for approval in the next assembly session scheduled to begin from December 5.

The committee of experts assigned for the job has already completed three meetings in this regard, and the recommendations will be submitted to higher education minister CT Ravi later this week.

“There are many issues which need to be amended in the existing Act. We will submit recommendations to the minister in a day or two,” said a member of the committee.There are already two reports before the higher education department, submitted by committees framed by the government. One was headed by former Bangalore University vice-chancellor NR Shetty and another by former MLC and professor K Narahari. But according to department sources, the amendments will be based on the Shetty panel report.

One of the major recommendations is to bring all the state universities under one Act. As of now, only traditional universities come under the KSU Act, the rest have their own.

In total there are 12 Acts, including the KSU Act, governing various universities in the state. They are: Kannada University Act, 1991 for Kannada University; Karnataka Open University Act, 2002 for Karnataka Open University; VTU Act, 1994 for Visvesvaraya Technological University; RGUHS Act, 1994 for Rajiv Gandhi University of Helath Sciences; KVAFSU Act, 2004 for Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University; Karnataka Sanskrit University Act, 2009 for Karnataka Sanskrit University; Karnataka University of Agricultural Sciences Act, 2009 for Agriculture University; Karnataka University of Horticulture Sciences Act, 2009 for Horticulture University; Karnataka State Dr Gangubai Hangal Music and Performing Arts University Act, 2009 for Music University; Karnataka State Law University Act, 2009 for Law University and Karnataka State Janapada University Act, 2011 for Janapada University.

If all the state universities come under one Act, the state government will have a say in the appointment of vice-chancellors to open universities, RGUHS and VTU.