Mumbai: The Maharashtra Cabinet has greenlit the state’s first cluster university in Kolhapur under the government’s programme to carve out smaller varieties from public universities.
The institute, named Warana University, will comprise three colleges run by Shree Warana Vibhag Shikshan Mandal, which is part of Kolhapur-based Warana Group of co-operatives known for its vast network of businesses spanning sugar, dairy, banking, transportation and power sectors. The group is led by Vinay Kore, an MLA from Jan Surajya Shakti Party, which is supporting the ruling alliance.
While the varsity got the nod on Sunday, the government is yet to notify the creation of the new institute. After issuance of a gazette notification, the three colleges will be de-affiliated from Shivaji University Kolhapur, their current parent university.
The state already has three such institutes, two in Mumbai and one in Satara, which were created through the central government’s Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan scheme. However, the latest addition is a result of the state’s own policy introduced in November last year. Under this scheme, two to five institutes run by same management in a district can be clubbed into a university.
Incidentally, the proposal for Warana University was submitted to the government in March, around the same time when Mumbai-based Malad Kandivali Education Society applied for establishing a cluster university in Malad with Nagindas Khandwala College as the lead institute. While the former has come through, there’s no word on the latter. “A handful of proposals are still under consideration,” said an official from the Higher and Technical Education Department.
Details On Warana University
Warana University will be spread over a 17.5-acre campus at Warananagar area near Kolhapur city. Of its three constituent colleges, Tatyasahaeb Kore Institute of Engineering and Technology will function as the lead institute, with Yashwantarao Chavan Warana Mahavidyalaya, an arts-science-commerce college, and Tatyasahaeb Kore College of Pharmacy being the other two. The three institutes have a cumulative enrolment of around 6,000 students.
While the arts-science-commerce college receives grants-in-aid from the state government, the other two are unaided. The cluster university guidelines require at least one of the constituent colleges to be aided institute. The engineering institute was granted academic autonomy around four years ago.
According to Vilas Karjinni, chief executive of Shree Warana Vibhag Shikshan Mandal, being unified into a university will allow the institutes to offer a multi-disciplinary education while also benefiting from Rs5 crore grant promised by the state for new cluster universities for salary expenditure on their top leadership. “The cluster universities are projected by Maharashtra government as part of the National Education Policy’s mandate of imparting a multi-disciplinary education. Since we have a variety of programmes, we want to encash this opportunity,” he said.
Among other plans, the university plans to implement on-screen evaluation for all its courses, raise funds through consultancy and introduce industry-supported programmes. Karjinni assured that the varsity tag won't lead to any hike in the fees, though the university will introduce entrance exams for non-professional courses. It will rely on the state Common Entrance Tests for professional programmes.
While the cluster university policy is aimed at reducing burden on public universities while allowing for greater flexibility in designing curricula, many institutes are apprehensive that it would lead to a loss of autonomy, as the rules stipulate that the vice chancellor of the university be selected by the state governor, who will function as the chancellor.
So far only a handful of the educational organisations have applied for cluster universities in the nine months since the introduction of cluster university rules. Ancy Jose, group director of Nagindas Khandwala College, said that a scrutiny committee has visited their institutes, posing some queries regarding the infrastructure available. “We don’t know what stage our proposal is in. We are awaiting a response from the government,” she said.
