Amritsar to have one of the 14 world class university

Patiala, Jun 12 (UNI) The vice chairman of University Grants Commission Prof Mool Chand Sharma today said an act will be formulated for setting up 14 Central Universities of world class standards in India.

Talking to UNI soon after the foundation stone laying ceremony of Rajiv Gandhi University of Law at Siduwal village near here, Mr Sharma said that the universities would be located in Amritsar, Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Bhubaneswar, Greater Noida and Guwahati.

The locations have been decided keeping in mind the connectivity and the infrastructure which such universities would need, he said.

The state governments would be requested to identify adequate land in or near the selected cities, Mr Sharma said adding the contour and shape of such world class universities would be defined shortly.

He said that UGC will help to establish 370 Colleges in districts where access and participation rates are lower than the national average. Most of these districts also have a concentration of SCs, STs, and minorities.

He further said that 373 districts in India were having Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) lower than the national average which has been identified by the UGC.

Out of 373 districts, 11 districts have lower than 3 per cent GER, 79 districts have GER between 3.1 to 6 per cent and 143 districts have GER between 6.1 to 9 per cent. About 140 districts have a GER above 9 per cent but below the national average and 91 districts proposed to be covered on priority as they have less than 4 colleges per 1 lakh of student population, Mr Sharma elucidated.

Regarding pay fixation of university employees, he said that decision will be taken after Prof G K Chadha committee for pay review would submit its report.

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