Minister hints at bifurcating Bangalore varsity

State Government to hold meeting with stakeholders to set the ball rolling

Higher Education Minister R.V. Deshpande, on Monday, stirred a hornet’s nest by hinting that the proposal to divide Bangalore University (BU) is still alive. This, despite the Governor and Chancellor H.R. Bhardwaj opposing it. He was speaking to presspersons here on Monday after launching the live telecast of EDUSAT programmes for polytechnic students.

To a query on anomalies in the results of students of BU, he said the university had become “unwieldy” with over 600 institutions affiliated to it.

“The Governor’s office has sent some pointers. We (the Higher Education Department) will examine them, discuss it with the various stakeholders and take action,” he said.

The Minister’s remark got the thumbs up from both the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University B. Thimme Gowda, and K.R. Venugopal, Special Officer of DVG Jnanavahini.

Scientific divide

Prof. Gowda told

The Hindu that the division of the varsity – one of the biggest in the country – will allow concentration on academic reforms.

“We are not against the bifurcation. But we want it to be done in a scientific manner. The geographical division needs to be scientific, not roadwise. Also, we want to retain the identity of the varsity by keeping its present name with no prefix or suffix of ‘north’ or ‘south’,” Prof. Gowda said. He also maintained BU’s stance in retaining the Central College campus with the Bangalore University under all circumstances.

On the other hand, Prof. Venugopal, even while stressing on the need for the creation of a new university as per the norms of the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development, said the Central College campus would go to neither Bangalore University nor DVG University. “It will be converted into a Centre for Excellence and comprise five other colleges in the area,” he added.