CHENNAI: The Higher Education Department has ordered the takeover of 27 university constituent colleges in the State. With this, the government has converted all 41 constituent colleges in the State. These colleges will now be called Government Arts and Science Colleges, according to the order signed by S Apoorva, Secretary, Higher Education, on Friday.
Last year, 14 constituent colleges were taken over by the government. The Director of College Education (DCE) estimated that the financial requirement to run these institutions as government colleges adds up to Rs 143,74,53,540. The respective universities will bear the cost of the salary for this academic year, even as the DCE has asked the government to allocate this sum.
Constituent colleges emerged in the State to meet the demand for arts and science colleges, after the government took a policy decision preventing the opening of new government arts and science colleges. However, these institutions turned out to be a burden on Staterun universities, said a senior official from the Higher Education Department.
The conversion was ordered to ease the financial burden of the universities, so that they could focus on research. In the first phase of 2018-2019, after an announcement from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, the government took over 14 constituent colleges established from 1996- 97 to 2010-11, and allocated funds for them.