BENGALURU: The demand for setting up of new pre-university colleges in the state for the upcoming academic year has come down, compared to 2017-18. There are over 360 applications before the department of PU education from across the state seeking permission to set up new colleges for the academic year 2018-19. In 2017-18, there were 444 applications. However, out of these, the department had approved 208 colleges.
As per the data available from the department, the highest number of applications have come from Bengaluru South, followed by Kalaburgi, Yadgir and Bengaluru North districts. No applications have come from Kodagu and Gadag districts.
During the 2017-18 academic year, the department had given permission to set up new PU colleges after careful mapping. This was conducted to get an idea about the distance between colleges located in an area, district or taluk before sanctioning a new one. After the mapping, the department rejected at least 100 applications.
Department officials said mapping will be done during the inspection of the expert committee this year also. “The expert committee will visit the colleges which have applied and submit a report by the third week of March. Based on the reports, the department will decide on new colleges by the first week of April,” said C Shikha, director of PU education department.
Norms relaxed
This time, the department has relaxed land requirement norms to set up new PU colleges considering the space constraints faced in cities like Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi, Dharwad.
According to information available, the land required in city corporation limits has been reduced from 25,000 sqft to 15,000 sqft from the upcoming academic year. “It was difficult for colleges to get the required land. Earlier, having 25,000 sqft was a common norm, now the same has been relaxed in corporation limits,” explained an official. At the district level, the requirement has been reduced to 2,000 sqft from 25,000 sqft.