BANGALORE: When the University Grants Commission (UGC), appointed a committee in 1961, to examine the question of starting new universities, it identified Bangalore as a suitable place to have an university because it is home to several premier institutions of higher learning and research.
The need for an university was felt by all.
UGC felt that the new university could be a federal one.
On receiving the UGC report, the state government under S Nijalingappa, constituted its own committee in August 1962, with Education Minister S R Kanthi, as the chairman.
The Kanthi panel also strongly recommended the establishment of a federal varsity in Bangalore to promote post-graduate and research studies.
Things moved swiftly thereafter. The Bangalore University Bill was adopted by the Mysore Legislature and the formalities were completed by July 1964, and the varsity was inaugurated by Union Education Minister M C Chagla on July 10, 1964.
Was once Asia’s largest
Bangalore University (BU), which had a cluster of 33 colleges as its affiliates in 1964, steadily grew until the unitary universities in health and technology were established in the mid-1990s.
Till then, it had practically all branches of knowledge. Faculties in arts, science, commerce, engineering, technology, neuro sciences, medicine, commerce and management, education, journalism and mass communication were opened.
Till Tumkur University was established, the number of colleges affiliated to BU was a staggering 400 and student strength 40 lakh.
It was the largest in Asia.
The Central College
Started as the Central School in 1858, the Central College came into existence in 1875. The Mysore University which was founded in 1916, carried out its activities in two campuses, one in Maharaja’s College, Mysore and the other at Central College, Bangalore.
While teaching and research were done at Maharaja’s College, Mysore, the Central College devoted itself to the sciences.
When UGC assistance was made available to Mysore University in 1960, differences among senior faculty of the Mysore and Bangalore centres took a sharp turn, on account of which Central College came out of Mysore University.
Subsequently, the government constituted the Directorate of Collegiate Education to administer Central College and other first grade colleges in the state.
With the starting of post-graduate courses in sciences, all students in and around Mysore went to Mysore University and all students in and around Bangalore, who were interested in studying arts also went there.
Students of Bangalore and surrounding areas had no opportunities to pursue master’s degree in arts in Bangalore itself. Having been apprised of the sorry state of affairs at the Central College, his alma mater, the then chief minister S Nijalingappa, asked education minister S R Kanthi to take steps towards restoring the glory of the college.
The Chief Minister also directed that measures be taken to start a separate university with headquarters in Bangalore.
Today, the Central College houses some of the university departments, the Vice-Chancellor’s secretariat and the examination unit.
The University Visvesvaraya Engineering College (UVCE), one of the oldest engineering colleges in the state, is presently the only engineering college affiliated to the Bangalore University.
Architecture
Bangalore University inherited a significant architectural legacy in the form of the Central College and UVCE, conveying a sense of academic dignity.
The Vice-Chancellor’s office block at the Central College with its ornate clock tower rising above other buildings is an imposing structure. The new buildings at the Nagarabhavi campus represent the contemporary style.
Memorabilia
The Centre for Kannada Studies of the Bangalore University, has been collecting rare manuscripts since 1971. To begin with, Prof B Shivamurthy Sastry contributed over 30 bundles of manuscripts. The staff and students of the Centre showed a lot of enthusiasm in collecting rare manuscripts and presently it has more than 1,700 palm scripts, with 5,800 pieces of literature.
These include works of famous Kannada poets, general literature, literature on maths, astrology and ayurveda.
Among the palm scripts, Dharmaparikshe of 1403 AD in Vrutha Vidlasa is significant.
The manuscript section also has Pothana’s 28-foot Bhagavata in Telugu. Among the palm scripts collection are a variety of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil and Telugu literature.
There are also works in Kannada, Devanagari and Tigalari scripts with beautiful pictures.
The stone-cast literary work 'Sougandha Parinaya' has hundreds of pictures in it.
The Centre for Kannada Studies, has set up a folklore museum to give a micro-view of our ancient culture and artefacts.
Accomplishments
BU has developed a bio-diversity park at its Jnanabharathi campus with about five lakh saplings.
The varsity has developed Charaka Vana, Sushruta Vana and Panchavalkala Vriksha Dhama.
The botany department of the university conducted a study on Stevia Reboudiana, a magical herb for diabetics, for large-scale plantation by farmers.
BU has 628 affiliated colleges and 2,50,000 students. The exams of the last semester were a watershed in the history of Bangalore university.
As many as 12,400 question papers were set and 21,00,000 answerscripts were evaluated.
The results were announced in exactly 22 days after the exams.