Karnataka - Bijapur   

Women’s varsity seeks Rs. 90 crore for development of new campus

New era: The new building of Karnataka State Women’s University at Torvi in Bijapur.

Bijapur: Amid severe hardships, the Karnataka State Women’s University (KSWU) established to address the regional imbalances in the State based on recommendations of Dr. Nanjundappa committee report has been successful in solving social, economic and educational problems in the region.

After functioning from a rented premises for four years since its inception in 2004, the university has now shifted to its own campus at Torvi, 10 km from Bijapur city. The university has high expectations from the University Grants Commission (UGC) team, which is scheduled to visit the university for three days from December 1.

The university had acquired 286 acres of land at Torvi village with the assistance from MECON, a government of India enterprise, which prepared a master plan to develop the campus at Rs. 115 crores. Though the government released Rs. 50 lakh for construction of buildings and infrastructure, the university needs more funds for taking up development activities. University Vice-Chancellor Geeta Bali told The Hindu that the university had prepared proposals worth Rs. 90 crore for overall development of Torvi campus. Separate proposals have been prepared for construction of hostel building, guest house, convention hall, library and examination centres.

The university has plans to demand financial assistance for construction of a health centre, gym and meditation halls, all housed in single complex. Funds were also required for developing labs and necessary infrastructure for new courses such as M.Sc. bio-technology, M.A. in Hindi and M. Com. courses. These courses require recruitment of teaching faculties, she added.

“The University Grants Commission has a set of criteria to allocate funds for new universities and colleges. Since the university is located in backward area, there are hopes that the UGC may allocate more funds for its development,” she added.

Since its inception, the university has achieved several milestones in the field of education and has made sincere efforts to shed the tag of backwardness to the district. In 2003-04, the number of students in the university was just 227 with only six postgraduate courses. In 2004-05 there were 333 students; 339 in 2005-06; 302 in 2006-07 and there are

435 students studying in fifteen post graduate courses in 2207-08, she added,

“Presently, 57 women’s colleges situated in north Karnataka are affiliated to the university in which 15,000 students are studying. If more facilities are provided to university, its jurisdiction may be extended to some more college,” Ms. Bali added.

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Women’s varsity seeks Rs. 90 crore for development of new campus

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