Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Monday said the government will not issue licences to new private universities in the state, saying they are "not needed in a small state".
Even as calls are growing louder against the State government for allowing as many as 17 private universities to be set up in the State, Governor and Chancellor of universities H.R. Bhardwaj has given his approval to eight of them. This means that eight of the Bills that were passed by the Legislative Assembly and Council are now Acts, paving the way for their enforcement.
Students taking admission to technical institutions affiliated to the Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU) across the state are likely to see a change in fee structure as fee in all technical courses running in private engineering and management colleges in the state is being fixed.
While most private engineering colleges have decided to resume classes next week, government colleges are awaiting a notification from the Higher Education Department to reopen.
In a major setback to private engineering colleges operating without proper infrastructure and required faculty, the state government has ordered a "physical inspection" to ascertain the actual facilities available in the institutions.