Inter-university transfers, introduction of Honours courses and bifurcation of Bangalore University (BU) are some of the proposed reforms in higher education in the state that may see light of day by the end of this year.
Minister for Higher Education, C T Ravi on Monday said ratification of all the new policy decisions concerning higher education would be done by December.
He said that he has already visited 14 universities under the ambit of the department of higher education and will visit the remaining three by the end of this month. “Lack of infrastructure is one big problem.
Besides, wherever there is infrastructure, there is no efficiency in its usage. The problem of imbalance in student-faculty ratio is rampant. For instance, some places have more students and less faculty and vice-versa.
Also, there is a absence of academic atmosphere in universities,” said Ravi, in a freeflowing chat with the media on the sidelines of a programme here. Ravi said the government was working on introducing inter-university transfers, which may also have academic implications.
“With this, we can shuffle faculty and other staff members across universities in a need-based manner. We are also looking at how this can work for academic programmes, where there can be inter-university student exchanges.
Why should students study in only one university?” he said. He also did not rule out the possibility of introducing honours system in the state. Presently, UG education in the state does not allow majoring in one specialised subject.
“All these proposals are under discussion. I will invite education experts to explore the possibilities,” he added. Bi or Trifurcation of BU? Ravi said the long-standing talk of division of Bangalore University was still in progress.
“It is one of the largest universities we have here. There are two proposals in front of us-one to bifurcate and the other to trifurcate the university. Either that or we will consider setting up a new university,” he added.