Bhubaneswar: The state govt has significantly liberalised the policy for establishment of self-financing degree and professional colleges by doing away with separate state-prescribed infrastructure and faculty requirements and further easing the financial obligations for promoters.The higher education department said the move is aimed at facilitating the setting up of higher educational institutions and aligning the state’s regulatory framework with the Centre’s higher education deregulation initiative.Under the revised guidelines, the state govt will no longer prescribe separate minimum infrastructure and faculty requirements for establishing self-financing degree and professional colleges. Instead, institutions will be required to comply with the norms and standards laid down by the respective statutory and regulatory bodies, including the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), National Medical Commission (NMC), Indian Nursing Council (INC) and other competent authorities, as applicable.The higher education department has directed regional directors of education at Bhubaneswar, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Balasore and Jeypore to implement the revised norms with immediate effect.Officials said there are around 197 self-financing degree colleges in Odisha, with the highest number affiliated to Utkal University.Additional secretary Dharanidhar Nanda, said the decision was taken after careful consideration to promote the ease of establishing higher educational institutions and align the state’s policy framework with the Govt of India’s deregulation initiative in higher education, known as Deregulation 2.0. Under the Deregulation 2.0, Centre scraps minimum land ownership and strict infrastructure requirements for private universities and colleges for these institutions to invest in faculty, research and technology than the idle land assets.The state’s decision also brings its norms closer to those prescribed by national regulators. While Odisha earlier had separate land and faculty requirements for self-financing degree colleges, the UGC prescribes a minimum of one acre in urban areas and five acres in rural areas for establishing a college. The UGC also mandates 30 acres for setting up a private university.To further simplify the process, the govt has also relaxed the pledge money requirement. The pledge amount has now been fixed at Rs 5 lakh for unaided self-financing and professional colleges. Consequently, an educational agency or trust seeking to establish such an institution will now have to deposit Rs 5 lakh, compared to Rs 15 lakh required under the policy introduced a decade ago.While institutions no longer would be required to maintain any prescribed minimum balance in their current accounts, they must ensure that the balance remains sufficient at all times to meet the salary requirements of their employees for at least two months, the revised norms state.
