VIJAYAWADA: Two new universities -- Andhra Kesari University in Prakasam district and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University at Gurajada in Vizianagaram district -- will come up in Andhra Pradesh soon. The State Assembly on Wednesday passed bills pertaining to these two new universities.
According to Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Minister Perni Venkataramaiah, who introduced the two bills on behalf of Minister for Education Audimulapu Suresh, the State government is committed to initiate a paradigm shift in the education system by improving access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability with special focus on teacher education along with multiple areas of study in order to enable and encourage high-quality, multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary teaching, research and innovation across fields.
The Minister observed that in line with the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, which recommends states to have one multi-disciplinary university in each district, the government has proposed Andhra Kesari University in Prakasam district, which has no university so far.The varsity will be set up at Pernamitta village in Santhanuthalapadu mandal with an exclusive focus on teacher education, by relocating the existing PG Centre of Acharya Nagarjuna University.
In a statement, the government explained that as the pandemic has caused major and sudden changes in the classrooms, various gaps have been observed in terms of preparation of online lessons and its delivery to the students in virtual classes. To address these lacunae, the proposed university intends to establish a Centre of Training to provide competency-based professional development programmes for the stakeholders involved in Higher Education and School Education through comprehensive blended training modules using the latest ICT infrastructure and relevant tools. The Centre will emerge as a learning environment and capacity building centre for all the teachers in the State.
As Vizianagaram district does not have a State university too, the new legislation passed proposed to establish JNTU-Gurajada in the district. It will be the only state technological university in northern Andhra Pradesh.
Currently, there are 238 colleges affiliated to JNTU-Kakinada, spread over eight districts in the State. The proposed varsity will cover three districts - Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. As the academic year 2021-22 commenced from October, it has become imperative to establish the varsity without delay and enable the varsity to function with effect from the current academic year.”
Varsities to be set up to address shortfalls
Andhra Kesari University intends to establish a Centre of Training to provide competency-based professional development programmes for the stakeholders involved in Higher Education through comprehensive blended training modules