Fee hike in pvt engineering colleges capped at 10%: Minister Ashwath Narayan
"COMED-K entrance test will be merged with CET from next year"
Bengaluru, June 22: Limiting the hike in fees for engineering courses in private colleges for the current academic (2022-23) at 10 per cent as against the demand for 25 per cent, the Karnataka government on Wednesday said from next year COMED-K entrance test will be merged with Common Entrance Test (CET).
At a meeting chaired by Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan, with representatives of KUPECA (Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association), an agreement was reached for fee hike to be capped at 10 per cent, the Minister's office said in a release.
The fee hike is applicable to those students who have been allotted government seats in private engineering colleges.
Further, KUPECA representatives assured that they would voluntarily extend support to the government to take action against those who collect an extra fee by any other means.
"KUPECA had demanded a 25 per cent hike in fees as there had been no increase for last two years, from 2020-21. But, on consultation, they finally agreed to a 10 per cent hike," Narayan said.
It has also been decided to cancel the COMED-K exam from next year and instead, it will be merged with the CET and conducted at once at the All India level.
The eligibility for admission will be based on the ranking students secure in the merged CET and seat sharing will continue as at present.
Minister Narayan said the modalities for merging COMED-K with CET will be worked out as the next course of action.
While, the government's Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) conducts CET for admissions to various undergraduate professional courses in the state, the Consortium of Medical Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) entrance exam are for admissions to undergraduate engineering courses at private engineering colleges in the state.
ಸದ್ಯ ವೃತ್ತಿಪರ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಕೋರ್ಸ್ ಪ್ರವೇಶಕ್ಕೆ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಮತ್ತು ಕಾಮೆಡ್-ಕೆ ಪ್ರತ್ಯೇಕ ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಪ್ರವೇಶ ಪರೀಕ್ಷೆ (CET) ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಿವೆ.
— Dr. Ashwathnarayan C. N. (@drashwathcn) June 22, 2022
ಮುಂದಿನ ವರ್ಷದಿಂದ ಒಂದೇ CET ನಡೆಸಲು ಖಾಸಗಿ ವೃತ್ತಿಪರ ಶಿಕ್ಷಣ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳ ಒಕ್ಕೂಟ ಸಹಮತ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಪಡಿಸಿದೆ. ಈ ಕುರಿತು ಶೀಘ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಪ್ಪಂದ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲಾಗುವುದು.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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