Common law to govern varsities

Updated on: Monday, December 21, 2009

Two expert committees appointed by the State Government have differed on the crucial issue on adopting a common law for governing the universities.

The expert committee on “Reforms and rejuvenation of Mysore and Karnatak Universities” appointed by Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC) has advised the Government to have a separate legislation for Mysore and Karnatak Universities for developing them into “universities of excellence.”

Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Universities (KSU) Act Amendment Committee headed by N.R. Shetty has proposed to advise the Government to have a common law for all the universities, irrespective of their discipline, for better governance.

The Dr. Shetty Committee's advice is on the lines of the recent recommendation of the Yash Pal Committee on “Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education,” constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, which recommended a transparent governance system for universities, particularly for those set up by the State Governments.

The KKC panel's recommendation for a separate legislation for Karnatak and Mysore Universities is based on its analysis of the functioning of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) and the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), which are governed under separate legislations.

Even though the KKC-appointed committee suggested a separate legislation for Karnatak and Mysore Universities, it has said that it should be enacted in compliance with the policy of the State Government, the guidelines of the University Grants Commission and other bodies overseeing higher education.

While the Dr. Shetty committee is proposing a common law for all the universities, it is not suggesting scrapping of the existing uni-disciplinary universities such as RGUHS, VTU and NLSIU. It is proposing a separate schedule under the comprehensive law to govern the existing specialised universities. However, it is recommending the Government not to form any more universities with uni-discipline and thus discouraging any separate legislation for an individual university in future.

With the two committees expressing different views, the State Government will now have to take a final call on whether it wants a separate law to govern Karnatak and Mysore Universities also or these two universities can be converted into “universities of excellence” without a separate legislation. The Government will take a decision after receiving the Dr. Shetty committee report, which is expected in a week or two.

Multi-disciplines

At the same time these two committees have expressed a similar view that the universities should have a multi-disciplinary system. The Yash Pal committee too has insisted that the higher education system should adopt the multi-disciplinary mode.

“At present, much of our higher education is uni-disciplinary or within a narrow spread. Specialisation in a given discipline is only valuable in so far as it allows the learner to link that discipline with the real world and contextualise his/her own conceptions of life and its various phenomena,” says the report of Yash Pal committee.

It is from this report the Dr. Shetty committee has moved forward and is now suggesting that the State Government should encourage the universities with multi-disciplines instead of setting up specialised universities. “Every university should have an opportunity to offer all types of courses,” says Dr. Shetty.

Dr. Shetty committee's proposed suggestion on multi-disciplines has already found a taker in VTU Vice-Chancellor H.P. Khincha, who recently stated that universities will have to be “multifaceted” though he expressed VTU's inability to shift to the multi-discipline mode immediately as the VTU Act does not provide for such shift in its present form.

If the State Government agrees with the Dr. Shetty committee, then the existing specialised universities can offer other courses apart from the main area of their specialisation.

Common law to govern varsities

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