BU mulling over shifting out two departments from Central College

The varsity is planning to shift out the mathematics and commerce departments to accommodate more valuation work in the campus. Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Bangalore University’s (BU) Central College campus may lose two departments to make way for valuation centres. The varsity is planning to shift out the mathematics and commerce departments out of the heritage building to accommodate more valuation work in the campus.

BU Vice-Chancellor B. Thimme Gowda told The Hindu that there is a proposal to shift the maths department to the varsity’s Jnanabharathi (JB) campus on Mysore Road while the commerce department will be shifted to a new building in the Prasanna Kumar Block. “This way, we will get two buildings, along with the old stone building, for valuation work. This will also make it easier for the varsity to provide security to the evaluation centres,” Prof. Gowda said.

Earlier proposals

This is not the first time that there have been proposals to relocate departments from the Central College campus. Earlier, there was talk of shifting the department of mass communication to the JB campus.

Sources said, “The proposal to shift the department to the main campus met with opposition as students and faculty felt that the present location is ideal. It is centrally located and close to all the media houses, making it easier for mediapersons to visit and deliver guest lectures.”

As for the mathematics department, this is the second time that the proposal to shift it out of the campus has come up. Y. B. Maralabhavi, former chairperson of the department, said the plan to shift it to the main campus was mooted when D. Prabhu Dev was Vice-Chancellor. “But our faculty caters to the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering too. Shifting would have caused a problem,” he said.

Facelift

Meanwhile, the BU administration has plans to give the campus a makeover. BU, which is yet to apply for a third cycle of accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), was recently inspected by the Academic and Administrative Audit (AAA) Committee, which is expected to submit its report soon. The varsity was accredited with an ‘A’ grade in the first two cycles. The last attempt at giving a facelift was when K. Siddappa was the Vice-Chancellor.

“Then, only exterior walls were plastered. Plans to spruce it up a bit are in the pipeline. But first, we have to repair seepage in the roof and interiors,” Prof. Gowda said.