Both the Houses of the State Legislature adopted four more private university Bills on the last day of the budget session amid protest by the Opposition parties, who took exception to the indiscriminate and the hurried manner in which approvals were being granted to the private universities raising suspicion of involvement of “business interests”.
The state government has recommended the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) not to extend the approval of three engineering colleges in the state for the academic year 2013-'14.
Eleven private dental colleges of Punjab have admitted 456 students to the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course even though they had “not qualified” the 2012 Pre-Medical Entrance Test (PMET), according to a “most urgent” communication of the Dental Council of India (DCI).
We welcome the government's plan to set up an accreditation council which will independently review the academic standards of private universities. This will increase transparency of the institutions, allowing people to know university rankings and to ensure healthy competition among private educational institutions and quality education overall.