Maharashtra government gets 21 fresh proposals of private universities, 6 from MMR

The state government has received 21 fresh proposals of private universities, with six from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. All are at various stages of approval.

These are apart from the four private universities — Amity University (Panvel), Ajeenkya DY Patil University (Pune), FLAME University (Pune) and Spicer-Adventist University (Pune) — which have already got approval from the government.

"These proposals are at various stages of clearance at present," confirmed Dr Sanjay Chahande, principal secretary, Higher and Technical Education Department.

Most proposals have come from education barons who already run several institutes and deemed universities across the state. A few of them are owned by politicians.

The MMR proposals are Terna University (Navi Mumbai), Somaiya University (Mumbai), ITM University (Navi Mumbai), Riveira University (Thane), HSNC University (Ulhasnagar), and Techno India (Panvel, Raigad).

The Hyderabad (Sindh) National Collegiate board runs big colleges across the MMR, including HR college, KC college, Mithibai college, Thadomal Shahani college of engineering and CHM college. On the other hand, Somaiya group runs also various institutes, including medical and engineering colleges at Vidyavihar and Sion campuses.

On the other hand, at least five proposals are from Pune. In the pipeline are MIT University, Symbiosis Online University, MIT University of Art and Design, Sonhira Globus University, and Career University.
Panchsheel Progressive University (Nagpur), ICFI University (Nagpur), SVKM (Dhule), Dahanukar University (Ahmadnagar), and GH Raisoni (Amravati) are also in the pipeline.

Once the approvals come, which may take a few months to a year, privatisation of higher education in Maharashtra will get a momentum. This will also give rise to stiff competition among private universities to attract students, especially when state-run ones are already facing 40-50% vacancies.

Interestingly, it's been just a year since state enacted the Maharashtra Self-Financing Universities Act, enabling educational institutions to set private universities in Maharashtra, with the freedom of designing own courses and fee structure.

However, they will have to offer 50% seats to reserved category students. They will also have to admit a minimum of 70% students from Maharashtra. They are not allowed to charge capitation fee, and admission must be based on merit and competitive exams for professional courses.

They will also have to abide by other rules and welfare schemes for weaker sections and minorities as prescribed by the government.

Amity University, which was the first to get the nod, has started admission this year, while other three are yet to open the doors due to delayed clearances. ADYPU is trying hard to launch few courses by next month to set the ball rolling. However, FLAME and Spicer-Adventist are still stuck at Mantralaya despite all papers in place, allegedly due to red-tapism.

ADYPU chairman Dr Ajeenkya Patil admitted to the upcoming competition but insisted that this would help improve the quality and affordability of the higher education sector. "If you offer quality education, you will get students. And when students have more choices, institutions would have to keep their fee structure reasonable, which will ultimately make education more affordable."

MMR proposals
Terna University, Navi Mumbai
Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai
ITM University, Navi Mumbai
Riveira, Thane
HSNC University, Ulhasnagar
Amity, Panvel & Raigad
Techno India, Panvel, Raigad

Pune proposals
MIT University
Symbiosis Online University
MIT University of Art and Design
Sonhira Globus University
Career University