More private universities to come up in Telangana

Hyderabad: Soon, a notification inviting private educational institutions, industries and multinational companies to establish private universities in the State will be issued. An expert committee of Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) gave its recommendations to the State government on rules and guidelines required for establishment of private universities. The government is likely to issue these rules and guidelines through an order.

According to recommendations of the committee, a minimum of 10 acres of land within the municipality and 20 acres outside the municipality is required besides the institutions should have a corpus fund of Rs 30 crore. “For already established institutions with buildings and infrastructure, the requirement of corpus fund could come down. Rules are being framed and soon a notification will be issued,” an official said.

Some companies including Reliance, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and Global University Systems (Netherlands) besides educational institutions like Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology and KL University have evinced their interest in setting up a private university.

As per Telangana State Private Universities Act enacted by Telangana Assembly any company or private educational institution wanting to set up private university should make an application to the government detailing the purpose and vision besides fee particulars.

The private universities should fix fee through a fee-fixation committee headed by a member of Board of Management and members drawn from the Academic Council and externally.

Twenty-five per cent of the seats in various courses offered by the private varsities should be reserved for students of Telangana on basis of their domicile. The private varsities have been granted full autonomy in starting various courses and also in admission procedure.The Act mandates the private universities to go in for grading from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council within five years of commencement of various courses. The TSCHE is likely to act as a nodal agency between the government and private universities. “The applications invited received from companies and private educational institutions will be forwarded to the State government for a final decision,” an official said.