Bangalore varsity suspends admissions to M.Ed. colleges

It will accommodate 135-odd students under its own PG programme

August 30, 2012 09:43 am | Updated 09:44 am IST - BANGALORE

In an unprecedented move, Bangalore University (BU) has decided to withhold admissions to seven M.Ed. colleges affiliated to it, and scrapped admissions under the management quota for the course this year. The decision was taken by the Academic Council’s “extraordinary” meeting here Wednesday to discuss the interim report submitted by BU’s B.Ed. Task Force.

Sending out a strong message to the erring colleges, Vice-Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev said: “This year, only the university quota will be filled. Managements have [defrauded] the university and the government and … the process of affiliation. Lapses by the teaching community cannot be permitted. We will give them six months. If they overcome the lacunae, they will be allowed to make admissions.”

In all, BU has under it eight colleges, including one of its own, offering the postgraduate course in education. The seven colleges in the dock are Vijaya Teachers College, St. Paul’s M.Ed. College, Smt. Mehra’s College of Education, Bangalore City College of Education, SJES College of Education, KIET College of Education (all in Bangalore) and Gold Field College of Education (Kolar).

With the council disregarding earlier suggestions to postpone admissions (counselling for PG admissions begins on September 1), BU is now faced with the challenge of accommodating M.Ed. aspirants in its own course.

It has received 766 applications under the Faculty of Education this year, including 400 for M.Ed.., the remaining for MPEd (Master of Physical Education) and others. The university and management quotas have a 50:50 breakup in private institutions, according to which BU has 35 seats and colleges have 36 (18 each under university and management quotas). This means close to 105 aspirants will lose out this year.

This is not the first time such a step is being taken in BU. In 2010, a similar measure was taken for candidates under the university quota in the Master of Finance Accounting (MFA) course due to a legal tangle.

“They (the university quota students) will be accommodated under BU’s M.Ed. course. Temporary classrooms can be arranged,” Dr. Prabhu Dev said.

Increased strength

Haseen Taj, Reader in the Department of Education, said with this, BU’s M.Ed. strength would go up from the average 35 to almost 135. “We will require a large general classroom and guest faculty to serve as guides to the students for dissertation,” she said.

Earlier, making a presentation of the findings of the Task Force, its chairman H. Karan Kumar revealed some startling facts. One college had a tyre company supervisor serving as principal for over four years (a police complaint will now be lodged for impersonation). At another, the same faculty member was associated with both M.Ed. and B.Ed. under different surnames.

Mr. Kumar also disclosed how dissertations were “sold” by faculty members for Rs. 50,000 upwards to students. “Let students get a synopsis of their dissertation approved from BU before starting on it,” he suggested. The findings on the B.Ed. colleges will be ready in a month and a half, he added.

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