Govt. to set up tech. varsity

By K. Ramachandran

CHENNAI, AUG. 27. As a State with one of the largest intakes in engineering and polytechnic education, the Tamil Nadu Government proposes to bring all engineering colleges under one roof by establishing a technology university.

The university will be an affiliating type. It will create the climate for students and teachers to excel in the highly competitive world of scientific and technological development, said Mr. M. Thambi Durai, Education Minister, moving the demands for grants to the Education department today.

The Government was also exploring ways of revamping the mode of payment of fees collected by self-financing institutions. From the next year, a methodology would be evolved for collecting fees through nationalised banks, and thus exploitation and harassment of students and parents by some institutions prevented.

Earlier, in his reply to the budget debate, the Minister continued his criticism of the All-India Council for Technical Education for not taking the State Governments into confidence before sanctioning colleges, though `Education' was a subject in the Concurrent List.

He said the pathetic situation of 15,000 seats remaining vacant in engineering colleges arose because the AICTE had approved 63 new colleges, without the State Government's concurrence. ``The AICTE does not respect the States.''

The AICTE Chairman had asked the Government to take action against erring colleges (which collected more than the government-stipulated fee) through the police. ``What would happen if we use the police? We saw what happened when the police acted,'' he remarked amidst grin by some members.

Mr. Thambi Durai said the government colleges planned to start self-financing job-oriented courses such as B.Sc Microbiology, BCA and Visual Communication. They would charge a nominal fee to benefit poor and rural students.

Placement cells in colleges

To help students secure jobs immediately after completing college education, placement cells would be set up in all 60 government arts and science colleges, where industries and business houses would be asked to conduct campus interviews.

To encourage women appearing for the all-India services and Central services examinations, the Government proposed to set up coaching centres initially in Chennai and Madurai and later in all district headquarters.

Another proposal spelt out in the policy note talked of introduction of basic health science in undergraduate courses.

The syllabus would be designed to equip students with knowledge on diseases such as AIDS, cancer and Hepatitis B and preventive measures.

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Section  : Southern States
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