Shivaji University, Kolhapur keeps 5 Year Master Plan on hold

The Shivaji University, Kolhapur (SUK) has kept its ambitious 5 years master plan on hold, after a committee formed by the state government submitted its recommendations on uniform criteria of the perspective plan. Mr. More, Director of Board of Colleges and University Development (BCUD) in SUK, told CollegeDekho that he was one of the members of the committee headed by veteran educationist Narendra Jadhav.

"The committee has already submitted its recommendations to the state government ," More said but refused to reveal more about the recommendations. "All I can say is that there are no many major changes in the committee's recommendations. It was kind of tweaking the earlier guidelines of the perspective plan," he said. "Now that the recommendations have been submitted, we will await the government's update on the overall issue. Till then, we will keep our master plan on hold," he added.The university started conducting meetings for discussing the master plan in July 2015.

During the meetings, the university had asked its stakeholders to submit new proposals and suggestions by looking at the requirements and challenges of colleges in the division in the next 5 years. The university had received over 150 proposals for starting new colleges of which 70 were from Kolhapur district, 45 from Sangli and 40 from Satara.

According to More, the central committee has discussed and scrutinised these proposals. "In our master plan, we have finalised the requirements and necessities of the colleges and courses in respective regions.

However, depending on the state government's outcome on the new guidelines of perspective plan, we might have to make some changes," he added. Earlier, the university had constituted three committees to look into the educational requirements in three districts in the division. The committee members included college principals and dean and senate members of the university.

Better HSC results in the Kolhapur division since the past few years have resulted in the demand to increase the number of colleges. As the state government did not approve additional divisions this year, it posed problems for at least 10,000 students. According to the SUK officials, formation of new colleges might solve these problems.

Source: Prasad, City Journalist - Kolhapur, CollegeDekho