The three-way split a boon or bane to students?

After the division of Bengaluru University into three divisions on July 1, the Bengaluru Central University and the Bengaluru North University are yet to flourish because of the lack of promised funds that they are to receive from the state government. With both divisions running solely on the initial Rs 3 crore, their worries are set to increase as the new academic year approaches. Ralph Alex Arakal speaks to experts on whether the trifurcation of Bengaluru University has truly become a boon or a bane to education institutions all over Bengaluru.

It has been four months since the trifurcation of Bangalore University (BU) on July 1, but the newly formed Bangalore Central University (BCU) and Bangalore North University (BNU) are still waiting for the promised funds from the state government.

Both universities are currently running on the Rs 3 crore seed fund  given to them by their parent university, but their demands are likely to grow with the start of the academic year nearing and worry is setting in about how they will get things done in time.

With as many as 233 colleges in its jurisdiction,  the BCU had initially submitted a proposal for Rs 874 crore for its first four years. But in the absence of a response from the state government, it later submitted a revised proposal of Rs 194 crore in June this year, but has received no response to this as well.

BCU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. S. Japhet, says it has been doing its preparatory work using the seed money from its parent university. “We are waiting for the next instalment, which will include the affiliation fee collected by the parent university during the last academic year to further our plans and begin the official processes necessary for the coming academic year,” he adds. The colleges covered by the university are in  the Shanthinagar, Byata rayanapura, Yelahanka, Malles waram, Hebbal, Shivajinagar, Gandhinagar, Chamarajpet, Chickpet, Basavanagudi, BTM Layout, Jayanagar and Rajajinagar Assembly constituencies of Bengaluru urban district,

Meanwhile, BNU,  which will have its headquarters in Kolar and 224 colleges in its jurisdiction, has also submitted a proposal for Rs 355 crore to the government. While this was done in December last year , it is still waiting to receive the money and  also for approval of 172 acres from the revenue department in Chickballapur. 

“The department of higher education has presented our proposal to the state cabinet. But we are still waiting for the initial funding of Rs 15 crore from the state government to provide the minimal infrastructure before the start of the next academic year,” says Vice Chancellor, Prof. T.D. Kemparaju. The university will cover colleges in K.R Puram, C.V. Raman Nagar, Pulkeshi Nagar, Mahadevpura, Sarvagnanagara, Hosa kote, Devanahalli, and Doddaballapura in Bengaluru and in the assembly segments of Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts.

Both universities are also hamstrung by the lack of faculty members. Getting faculty and other staff appointed is proving another hurdle for their officials, adding to their uncertainties.   An official of the higher education department, however, assures that Rs 10 crore has been sanctioned by the state government for both universities. “The newly formed varsities will get an amount of '5 crore each , which  will be channelled to them through the parent university as soon as possible,” he promises.

‘BCU  has still not received the final approval’
The government’s delay in transferring funds to the newly formed Bangalore Central University (BCU) and Bangalore North University (BNU) has  heads of their affiliated colleges worried.

“If the university is talking about being short of funds even before the affiliation process for the year is completed, things may become difficult once the academic year starts,” says the principal of a college affiliated to the BCU, adding  that  the university should take into consideration the views of college principals to ensure transparency and efficiency in its functioning right from its inception.

BCU registrar, prof. C.M. Thyagaraja, however, assures that colleges don’t  need to worry about money matters as the university is up to the challenge. “With funds coming in to us in the form of affiliation fee and examination fee, we should be able to manage with the resources we have,” he claims.  

 Registrar (evaluation) of BNU, Prof. Sundar Raj Urs too says  that the delay in funds from the government will only affect the timely completion of new buildings  but not academic or other activities.

“We are still waiting for the parent university to complete the option exercise to arrive at the exact number of employees we will need for our operations,” he adds.

 Prof Thyagaraja, for his part, reveals that the BCU  has still not received the final approval for the Board of Studies (BOS), Board of Examinations (BOE), Academic Council and the Syndicate, which are equally important for its efficient functioning. 

An official of the higher education department makes another revelation. The two new universities, have still not appointed the heads of their accounts departments to take care of transfer of money allocated for them in the state budget and other such important matters, he discloses.

A nascent university needs infrastructure, faculty: Dr SN Hegde, former VC, University of Mysore
Political decisions apart, a university should be established based on the report of an expert committee, which must spell out the need for it, its objectives, location, priorities, the funding required and so on to help the government finalise things before formally issuing the notification and appointing a Vice-Chancellor. I have no idea  what the special officers did at the initial stages of these new universities.

A nascent university needs infrastructure, faculty, administrative missionary, preparation of a master plan, a road map for planned development, constitution of authorities, establishment of postgraduate departments of studies and research, preparation of curricula, and a host of other academic and supporting activities. Without adequate funds, at least Rs 50 crore in the first instance, it is difficult to lay a good foundation.

I have learnt that the government has funds for various social, religious and cultural programmes across the state. Therefore, the minister for higher education must use his good offices to get a substantial amount of money based on the identified requirements of these universities. In the past, Kuvempu, Music, Davangere and other varsities had support at the formative stages due to inadequacy of funds, faculty and other staff. Initial setback affects the development of a university significantly and  it then takes years to resurrect it. In today’s competitive world, poor university degrees are of no consequence. 

As the government is a creator, it is both obligatory and mandatory that it extends full support, including financial, to help the new universities stabilise their academic endeavours.