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A
few months before hon'ble union minister A.
Fatami, while inaugurating regional centre
(Bihar and Jharkhand) of the National Institute
of Open Schooling, spoke about opening of an IIT
and conversion of a state run university into a
central university as can be observed in his
speech
"We have decided to accord the status of central
university to a university in Bihar, for which
Patna University is best qualified, and to open
an IIT and an IIIT, also among the long-standing
demands of the state."
Bihar has been fighting since long for a central
university and excellent canters for higher
education and researches in different
disciplines. Of course, these announcements are
very good for Bihar and if implemented will open
new avenues for the development. The matter of
giving a cap of central university to a state
run university is of great concern, however.
Which university will become a central
university is not yet clear.
Since student life I have been hearing now and
then that Patna University will get the status
of central university but not seen yet. However,
there has been demand for this for last several
decades and probably in the next 2-3 years it
may become first central university of the sate
if promise of hon'ble union minister comes true.
At present Bihar is going with eight state run
universities namely Patna University, Magadh
University, BR Ambedkar Bihar University
Muzaffarpur, L.N. Mishra University Darbhanga,
Tilka Majhee University, Bhagalpur, Jai Prakash
University, Chhapara, B. N. Mandal University,
Madhepura, and Vir Kunwar Singh University,
Arrah.
If we look at the spatial distributions of
institutes/colleges under these universities
from their main office locations, call for
reorganization becomes easily obvious. For
example A. N. College Patna, College of
Commerce, is situated in the heart of Patna but
it is under Magadh university with university
office at Gaya. There are several others such
circumstances and need no mention as they are
well known. Since it has been running as it is
for many decades and I too opine that it will be
not so much problematic if it remains so,
however, with the announcement of central
government to accord status of central
university to one state run university, it will
be very important to consider it.
Out of these state run universities Patna
University has its own glory, academic
performance and contributions in the development
of state. It will be not out of place to mention
that it is the seventh oldest university in the
Indian subcontinent and have produced many gems
in different areas of knowledge. As per website
http://puonline.bih.nic.in/profile.html of
Patna University, this university at present has
13 constituent colleges and 31 PG centers. In
this way it is the smallest university in Bihar,
however, ranks first in candidate for becoming a
central University and probably nobody will
oppose its conversion. One of the aims of
establishing central university in any state is
to foster the education system of the concerned
state with the central funds. Previously too I
have been writing that state is fetching very
less portion of central fund for higher
education due to absence of central institutes.
Obviously, conversion of Patna University into a
central University will make some difference.
But PU may fail to fetch funds up to expectation
due to small number of colleges functioning
under it. Thus it will be a wise step to
reorganize the universities of Bihar. There are
many colleges/institutes which are situated
either in the heart Patna or in the fringe areas
but are not under the Patna University.
Obviously, inclusion of these institutes under
Patna University will add a great value for the
sate when Patna University will become a central
University.
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