With the proposal to carve out a new varsity from Bangalore University (BU) now on fast track, the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), a constituent college of Bangalore University, could well be divided into two.
Sources involved in the process of setting up the Bangalore North University ( the DVG Jnanavahini University) believe that UVCE, which is part of the roughly 15-acre Central College campus at K.R. Circle, may be divided into two colleges. The aim is to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by creating more seats (through more colleges) in different locations. While Bangalore University, which will function out of the Jnana Bharati (JB) campus, will cater to the south of the city and surrounding villages, DVG Jnanavahini University would be based in Hoskote.
Centenary
The division of UVCE into two colleges, sources said, is in accordance with the recommendations of the report on Bangalore University’s bifurcation submitted by the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC), making the probability of UVCE celebrating its centenary in 2016 on a new campus very real. With this, the college, ailing from poor infrastructure for several years, will have a real shot at getting better facilities. However, for a few years, the departments of UVCE located on the K.R. Circle campus, which will come under the new university (like the Central College campus), will function out of the same campus.
This new proposal is only an addition to the long list of plans that have been made over the years for the 96-year-old college.
Even with the present plan to divide the engineering college into two, there are talks about shifting all the courses to Bangalore Uinversity’s Jnana Bharati campus and keep it under the Bangalore University’s jurisdiction.
Earlier, apart from suggestions to convert it into an Indian Institute of Technology and Centre for Excellence, there were also proposals to delink the UVCE from Bangalore University and bring it under the purview of Visvesvaraya Technological University.
