The work on trifurcation of B'lore varsity must begin.

The work on trifurcation of B'lore varsity must begin.
Welcome move

The Centre’s nod for the trifurcation of the Bangalore University has to be welcomed in the interests of better management of its affairs. With around 700 colleges under its jurisdiction spread over Bangalore City, Bangalore Rural and Kolar districts, the university’s administration had come under severe strain and it was virtually on the verge of collapse. Delays in holding examinations, valuation of answer scripts and announcement of results have become endemic, causing a lot of hardship to the student community. The introduction of the semester system made the matters worse as the lecturers hardly had any time for teaching, being compelled to complete the syllabus, conduct tests, evaluate assignments, followed by the examination, invigilation and evaluation of answer papers — all in about 90 days’ time. Besides, they also had to undertake revaluation and hold supplementary examinations which took much of their time.

No wonder, the affairs of the Bangalore University are in a mess and even the harried vice-chancellor Prof H A Ranganath has also welcomed the long-delayed move. Ideally, an university can cater to about 70 to 100 colleges, but unfortunately, in the case of Bangalore University, successive administrations have permitted more and more colleges to come up without bothering about the logistical problems. A couple of years ago, the State government started the Tumkur University in the hope of shifting some of the burden from the Bangalore University, but many colleges refused to get affiliated to it for the fear of losing the “credibility” associated with an established university. Unfortunately, political meddling and lack of support from the state government have hampered the growth of the Tumkur University, which is yet to have a campus of its own.

A lot of planning has to go into the trifurcation of the university as, otherwise, it could end up being an exercise in futility as far as improving the administrative standards are concerned. Issues like geographical boundaries, distribution of colleges based on their relative strength of students and teaching staff, the administrative set-up required etc., should be thoroughly discussed before implementing the plan. The university will obviously need to take the help of the University Grants Commission and the Union ministry of Human Resources Development, both for planning and funding of the proposal and it is heartening to note that the ministry has already responded positively. The state government will do well to begin the spadework at the earliest so that it becomes a reality in time for the beginning of the next academic year.