Core Committee to submit report on Maharashtra education May end

Updated on: Thursday, May 10, 2012

A core committee is all set to submit its report on three separate vision documents on upgrading and modernising higher education in Maharashtra to the state government by the month end.

Higher and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters that Anil Kakodkar, Ram Takawale and Arun Nigvekar, who prepared three separate vision documents made a presentation on their recommendations at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

"The chief minister was appreciative of the suggestions made and said that the core committee headed by Kumud Bansal which is in the process of finalising the priority list of the recommendations made to the government should submit its report by this month end," Tope said after the meeting.

He said the amendment to the Maharashtra Universities Act, which is being proposed in one of the vision documents, will be examined by the Law department before being forwarded to Cabinet for deliberations.

Chavan said at the meeting that the growing number of colleges affiliated to one university was a reason for declining standards of higher education.

The vision document prepared by the Kakodkar committee has focussed on suggesting policies and programmes for improving the quality of higher education, while Nigvekar committee worked on preparing the draft for amending the Maharashtra Universities Act. The Ram Takawale committee deliberated on whether to create new campuses for existing universities and has also discussed setting up of new committees or creating a separate board for conducting examinations for undergraduate students and leaving the
research and postgraduate work to universities.

"The need of the hour was to ensure that universities are completely equipped with necessary infrastructure for imparting different curricula," Kakodkar said, adding nearly five lakh students are affiliated to Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur universities hence these institutions are overburdened.

He suggested that all universities be brought under the control of the proposed Maharashtra Academics and Development Council (MAHED).

Kakodkar further said skills development should be encouraged and all colleges and universities should be made autonomous, while Takawale observed that all universities and students be inter-linked.

Core Committee to submit report on Maharashtra education May end

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