This is a big move for the State that till date, besides some private institutes of higher education that have got national recognition, did not have any university that was not funded by the government. If Goa is serious in becoming an educational hub and for a centre of excellence in education, as announced by government in the past, this is the way forward.
The committee has it first major task when evaluating the proposals that have been received as it should ensure that only the best and the most reputed of institutes get approval. The idea of the Private Universities Act is that the these institutes should impart qualitative and industry-relevant higher education in the State. These universities will be self-financing so the fees that students pay will be relatively high. There are cases in the country where institutes have cheated students, which places greater responsibility on the committee to check the antecedents of the promoters so as to not allow any such fraud in the State.
One deterrent to potential fraudsters would be the conditions for setting up an university in the State which are rather stringent. Under the Act, the promoters of the private university have to create a permanent endowment fund of at least Rs 5 crore and own land, buildings and infrastructure facilities required for the facility. This should destroy the hopes of any fly-by-night operators that may have hoped to run operations from rented properties without having any fixed assets. This also is reassuring as it indicates that only those parties that are finacially sound will be allowed to set up these higher educational institutions in Goa.
The committee will be sifting through the proposals it has received and deciding based on them, but can Goa take another step and market itself as a location for private universities and thereby attract the attention of some leading international institutions? Currently, besides the colleges that are affiliated to Goa University, there are the Indian Institute of Technology, the National Institute of Technology, the BITS Pilani Goa campus, the Goa Institute of Management that bring students from across the country. Besides, other colleges also have international students in some of their self-financing courses. The State can, based on these existing institutions, promote itself as a location for the best in the world.
Apart from this leading to the possibility of Goa becoming an educational hub, as envisaged by the government, the private univeristies that will be set up would be expected to also lead to increasing the standard of education in the State, and raise the bar for the lone State university to match. It could lead to some exciting competition that could prove beneficial to the students who would gain from this.
Goa has already lost much time in the march towards an educational hub. This is not a new idea of the government but one that has been discussed over the past years. In January 2018, the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, pointing out that between 1,500 and 1,800 engineers are being readied every year in the State, had said that Goa is turning into an educational hub. Goa, however, has to go beyond engineering and the new universities will have to look at other courses. The Goa Golden Jubilee Development Council had suggested focusing on information and communication technology, biotechnology, pharmacology, nanotechnology, public health, new media, maritime studies, green architecture. Can Goa seriously look at these?
