Kapil Sibal : National Accreditation Authority, autonomy to universities

Government on Saturday set up a committee of Vice Chancellors to study Common Entrance Test for admission into professional courses and optimum utilisation of the infrastructure in Universities.Kapil addressing a press conference in Hyderabad last evening,informed that the Group of Ministers had already cleared the draft bill for creating the National Accreditation Authority,same would be put before the Cabinet soon for approval and then would be tabled in the Parliament. He said that there would not be any more deemed universities,all the existing universities are required to go through the accreditation process with the standards that has to be adhere by all universities .
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal constituted the committee, consisting of seven Vice Chancellors, at a meeting in Hyderabad.The committee would also suggest ways for migration of students from one University to another.The government is considering holding a national-level entrance test for admission into courses like medicine and engineering, commerce and economics.
The committee will examine the possibility of such tests and suggests modalities.
Sibal, who presided the meeting of Vice Chancellors of CUs at Hyderabad Central University, said the infrastructure in the existing Universities remain unutilised after the class hour.
These facilities could be put to use for education, training and skill-development and also courses can be started under Public-Private-Partnership to maximise the use of assets by the institutes, Sibal said.If some universities teach only morning classes in some subjects, the assets of the university are lying waste for rest of the time.Universities should devise their own plan to utilise the assets to the maximum and they can use the money for university development, he said.

The Minister said the committee will meet every four months to clear bottleneck if any.The idea is to give greater autonomy to the universities, he told reporters.

Minister skips the inauguration of a new building of Institute of English and Foreign Languages because of student protest in support of Telangana staged a demonstration at the Hyderabad Central University . Later the police dispersed the students and brought the situation under control.