The Gujarat Assembly on September 16 passed the controversial Gujarat Public Universities Bill, which makes sweeping changes in the affairs of the public universities including ending student politics by removing the senate and syndicate system while concentrating the powers in the hands of the State government.
The Bill is aimed at unifying the different Acts to smoothen the governance of 11 public universities in the State and properly implement the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP), as per the State government.
While Higher Education Minister Rushikesh Patel called the Bill a “milestone”, the Opposition Congress said it would kill the autonomy of the public universities as the stringent provisions of the bill infringe on the autonomy of the universities and are detrimental to academic freedom and internal functioning of the varsities.
