Jesuits given permission to build university in Bengal

Mangalore Today News Network

Kolkata, Dec 23, 2016: The Jesuits have been given the green light to build a university in the Indian state of Bengal 9formerly West Bengal.

The St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata Bill 2016 was passed unanimously on Dec. 15 in the Bengal Assembly, which allows the Jesuits to build a university in New Town, a satellite city of Kolkata reported The Times of India.

The new university will be run by St. Xavier’s College and it is expected to provide courses beginning in the 2017-18 academic year.

Rev John Felix Raj, principal of St. Xavier’s College Kolkata, who has been at the forefront of the initiative to set up the university, thanked the state’s lawmakers for being supportive of the move to establish the university.

"Now, we will be able to serve more students and set up another center of excellence," said Principal  Raj.

The bill provides that the university may have as many constituent colleges situated within Bengal that are established and administered by the sponsoring trust. The state’s governor will be the university’s "visitor" and president of the trust.

The governor will appoint the vice-chancellor in consultation with the university’s governing board. In state-run universities, the chancellor appoints the VC in consultation with the government. All other bodies are similar to other universities.

It will be different from other universities, such as Calcutta University. "The university can’t affiliate any college that seek affiliation," a higher education department official explained. "Only colleges with the St Xavier’s brand name, run by the Jesuit Trust, can be affiliated."

The government has turned down the proposal from the St Xavier’s authorities to set up the university on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. "There is no such precedence. So, we haven’t extended the privilege to them," the official said.