Bihar Govt. to Relax Norms for Private Universities
Through the new amendment, the private universities can start their operations if they have a total built up area of 5,000 square meters.
With an objective to relax norms for private universities, the government of Bihar is all set to amend the Bihar Private University Act, 2013. The main objective is to meet the infrastructure requirement of new institutions. The government will introduce the Bihar Private Universities (Amendment) Bill 2017 before March 31, 2017. The Assembly sessions at Bihar commenced on February 23, 2017, and the government will table the Bill in the Assembly.
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Through the new amendment, the private universities will be able to start their operations if they have a total built up area of 5,000 square meters. As per the draft Bill, the new private universities will be given two years to develop the campus to 10,000 square meters. The government will give additional two years if the institutes fail to do the same.
The aim of the government is to enable all these new private institutions to start functioning as early as possible so that the Gross Enrollment Ration (GER) will be increased. Currently, the GER of Bihar is 13%.
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When Bihar Private University Act, 2013 was passed, a total number of 14 proposals were submitted by various private institutes to establish their campuses. However, none of the institutes came into existence. Currently, there are 13 state universities and no private university in the state.
The state universities are facing a shortage of faculty and the government is not taking necessary steps to recruit new faculty to balance the teacher-student ratio. The other concern is the quality of education. Therefore, most of the students are migrating to other states or cities for higher studies.
Currently, the proposal regarding the establishment of 12 private universities or institutes is under the review of experts committee and the decision will be taken soon.