GUWAHATI, April 1 � The Assam Government has earmarked a special infrastructure development fund of Rs 1,000 crore to upgrade the infrastructure of the State universities to the level of Central universities. The government is also planning to set up new universities to ensure that the number of affiliated colleges under each university is brought down to 50 or less, said Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Replying to the discussions on the Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University (Amendment) Bills in the State Assembly today, the minister said that the government has already received proposals from the universities on infrastructure development and the special fund would be released within the financial year 2013-14. He said that the government would bring the teachers and non-teaching staff of the Gauhati and Dibrugarh universities under the government�s pension scheme, but the universities would have to take permission from the government for appointment of non-teaching staff.
The minister said that the State universities would have to maintain financial discipline and progressively bring down the teacher-non-teaching staff ratio. He said that according to the norms of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the teacher-non-teaching staff ratio should be 1:1 but the ratio in the Gauhati University is 1:5, which resulted in huge overhead expenditure. He said that the government wants the universities to bring the ratio down to 1:1.5 progressively to give more stress on improvement of the standard of education.
GUWAHATI, April 1 � The Assam Government has earmarked a special infrastructure development fund of Rs 1,000 crore to upgrade the infrastructure of the State universities to the level of Central universities. The government is also planning to set up new universities to ensure that the number of affiliated colleges under each university is brought down to 50 or less, said Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Replying to the discussions on the Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University (Amendment) Bills in the State Assembly today, the minister said that the government has already received proposals from the universities on infrastructure development and the special fund would be released within the financial year 2013-14. He said that the government would bring the teachers and non-teaching staff of the Gauhati and Dibrugarh universities under the government�s pension scheme, but the universities would have to take permission from the government for appointment of non-teaching staff.
The minister said that the State universities would have to maintain financial discipline and progressively bring down the teacher-non-teaching staff ratio. He said that according to the norms of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the teacher-non-teaching staff ratio should be 1:1 but the ratio in the Gauhati University is 1:5, which resulted in huge overhead expenditure. He said that the government wants the universities to bring the ratio down to 1:1.5 progressively to give more stress on improvement of the standard of education.
