NAGPUR:-68 new colleges to start this session

Here's some good news for students seeking admission in the general courses of arts, commerce ad science. The state government has
allowed 68 new colleges to start operations from 2009-10 session. Of these, Mumbai University has got the highest share with as many as 14 new institutions followed by Nagpur and Amravati universities at 13 and 11 colleges respectively. All the 68 new institutions will be operating on permanent no-grant basis.

According to sources in state's higher education department, a majority of these colleges were run by societies of prominent politicians. Union aviation minister Praful Patel's Gondia Education Society has received permission to open two colleges in Lakhandur and Paoni in Bhandara district. Similarly, former member of Parliament Naresh Pugalia's society will be opening a new college at Mul in Chandrapur. Minister of state for home Nitin Raut also managed to get a college through his society at Godhni (Zingabai Takli) in the city. Sources added that sanctioning of these colleges was part of an agenda to clear as many institutes before the code of conduct for assembly elections came into force. They added that 50 more colleges are expected to join this list soon.

The higher education department, while granting permission to the new institutions, has listed out clear guidelines. The colleges have been warned against demanding excess fees and action will be initiated against them if they flout the norms. The department has directed all the universities not to grant affiliation to the new colleges until they get a letter from joint director of higher education about them. The universities were also advised to confirm whether the new colleges had received a green signal from the state government. The affiliation report of these colleges needs to be submitted to the joint director of higher education by the universities.

The department has asked the managements of new colleges to appoint teaching and non-teaching staff and erect necessary infrastructure as per the rules and regulations as soon as possible. The department has initially granted permission to new colleges only for academic year 2009-10.