PANAJI
The Goa Legislative Assembly’s Select Committee has decided to consult Goa University and various State-run and private colleges on the Goa Public Universities Bill 2025, that proposes setting up a cluster of universities in the State.
The Select Committee, chaired by Minister Subhash Shirodkar held its first meeting on Wednesday, wherein an interim discussion was held to consult the stakeholders like the GU and college managements to understand the pros and cons of the Bill. The meeting with the stakeholders is scheduled on November 19.
Speaking to media post meeting, Shirodkar said that the members have come up with some good suggestions that included taking the educational experts, colleges into confidence. “We have decided to call Goa University, representatives of college management and principals to discuss the likely impact of the proposed bill on the existing Varsity and colleges. Only after consultation with them, we would be in a better position to understand the ground reality,” he said.
The Bill, introduced during the monsoon session in August, proposes establishing clusters of State Public Universities in Goa and for which a provision of Rs 25 crore has been made. The bill was strongly opposed by the opposition parties who said that the cluster of universities could affect the survival of local colleges and GU.
Agreeing to the demand of the opposition, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant referred the bill to the 11-member Select Committee
Goa University is currently the only State public university, which was established in 1985. The government has already introduced Goa Private Universities Act under which a total five private universities have been granted permissions to set up their campuses.
Later speaking, Goa Forward Party MLA and committee member Vijai Sardesai reiterated that the bill will badly affect Goa University and will have far reaching consequences on the academic structure of Goa. “We have requested that the committee consult those who are involved in education sector and take their views,” he said.
The other members of the committee are Aleixo Sequeira, Deviya Rane, Krishna Salkar, Nilesh Cabral, Chandrakant Shetye, Reginaldo Lourenco, Carlos Ferreira, Cruz Silva and Viresh Borkar.
