The Bangalore Central University (BCU), formerly a part of the Bangalore University (BU) is currently struggling to survive. Before the trifurcation in 2017, BU was rated as a grade A institution under the rating system of the University Grants Commission, the nodal body of higher education in India.
Last year, the parent university was divided by the state government into three parts— BU from Jnanabharathi Campus, BCU from Central College and BU (North) to function out of a campus planned to be built at Devanahalli.
The aim was to improve the quality of academics by adding more disciplines and a better, decentralised administration approach as recommended by a high-level committee.
However, now BCU has only three permanent staff— the vice-chancellor, registrar and the registrar for evaluation, compared to a total sanctioned staff of 194 posts. The university is being mostly run by guest staff and senior faculties of the Bangalore North University.
More than a year into its existence, BCU is yet to receive Rs 17.5 crore as promised by the Karnataka government. Since June 2017, the paucity of funds has forced 17 faculty members to travel between BU and BCU campuses – which are 14 km away. Often, classes are not held or are curtailed for a section of students due to this. For example, MCom first year classes are held in one campus while MCom second year classes are in another campus.
With the fund crunch, not just the prospect of opening new departments and renovating many facilities has been delayed, but the University has also not been able to hire required teaching staff.
Earlier on Monday, BCU VC S Japhet sought a one-time settlement of Rs 100 crore and held a meeting with senior higher education department officials.
“I had submitted a request to the government before the elections for the estimate of Rs 25 crore. After a review, the government agreed and allocated Rs 17 crore and asked the Higher Education Department to release the funds in three installments. But till now, we have not received a single installment,” the VC told Bangalore Mirror.
Japhet told TNM that he will speak on the issue only after a few days, adding that BCU will host a job fair on December 28.
Earlier, the same trifurcation issue had also prevented 200-year-old Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) from not getting accreditation by the National Board of Accreditation due to a shortage of staff. However, it is not clear, if UVCE comes under BU or BCU as both the universities claim it to be theirs, as the college is spread over both the campuses. While civil engineering and architecture are in BU campus, the other four departments are in BCU campus.