With Sharnbasva University Act 2002 coming into force on July 29, 2017, the prolonged efforts of Sharanabasaveshwar Vidya Vardhak Sangha (SVVS) to establish a private university in Kalaburagi and bring all its colleges under it finally has yielded positive results.
Addressing a media conference at his office, Dr. Sharanabasavappa Appa, president of SVVS, said that the campus of the private university mentored by SVVS would come up at a sprawling 60 acres near Sharana Sirasagi village off Afzalpur Road on the outskirts of Kalaburagi. All the higher educational institutions, including four engineering colleges, would be affiliated to the new university.
As per the information provided, 10 faculties — Engineering and technology, Business Studies, Social Sciences, Science and Technology, Computer Applications, Education Technology, Fine Arts, Languages, Agricultural Sciences and Technology and Health Sciences — would be opened in the initial years. A total of 91 programmes, including 10 undergraduate, nine postgraduate courses and 17 integrated courses in engineering and technology faculty, would be offered. The university is scheduled to start functioning from current academic year.
The university would have a total intake of 3,000 students for various undergraduate and postgraduate courses every year and 15,000 students would be studying in the university after five years.
Responding to a query, Dr. Appa, who is also Chancellor of the new university, said that he had no thought of establishing any medical colleges under the university. “There are already four medical colleges in Kalaburagi and we don’t want to open one more in the near future. However, the postgraduate nursing courses would be offered from the university,” he said.
Pointing at the initiatives of SVVS for the women empowerment, Dr. Appa said that special quota and fee concessions for women would be introduced in every course to promote higher education among women.
“Of the four engineering colleges run by our group of institutions, one is exclusively meant for women. We have filled even management quota with just government fee structure,” he said.
“Realising the need for women empowerment, Doddappa Appa, the seventh head of Sharanabasaveshwara Temple, had opened a Kannada primary school exclusively for girls in 1934 itself. Now, we are moving on the same direction,” he added.
