The government has given private universities failing to move their own, permanent campus for the third time, asking them to do so by September 15, 2015.
If private universities that are in operation for more than seven years fail to move to their own campus by third deadline, they will lose their provisional approval to run the university and will not be able to enrol fresh students after the deadline, according to a decision made at a meeting on private universities at the education ministry on Sunday.
The Private University Act 2010 requires universities to move to their own campus in seven years after establishment.
There are now 77 private universities running in the country and 52 of them have completed seven years in operation. Twenty-five of the 77 universities obtained approval in 2012 and 2013.
In January 2012, the government gave private universities one more year to move to their own, permanent campus for the second time.
The government issued the first ultimatum to errant universities in December 2010 saying that they would not be allowed to enrol students from October 2011 onwards if they failed to move to their own campus.
The Private University Act 2010 stipulates that a university must own a permanent campus on an acre of land in the capital and two acres outside the capital seven years after the operation.
So far, the universities that have moved to their own campus are the North South University, the University of Science and Technology Chittagong, the Independent University Bangladesh, East West University, BRAC University, International University of Business and Agriculture and Technology, Ahsanullah Science and Technology University, the Premier University, Stamford University, the City University, Bangladesh University of Business and Technology, the International Islami University Chittagong and the BGC Trust University Bangladesh.
The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, presided over the meeting that high education ministry and University Grants Commission official attended on Sunday.
A education ministry statement said that the meeting had decided to appeal for the disposal of all cases related to private universities engaged in ownership conflict and in running illegal outer campuses by a single bench.
UGC officials said that the universities still running outer campuses illegally included the International Islami University Chittagong, the BGC Trust University Bangladesh, the Northern University and the Southern University.
The officials said that although the education ministry and the commission had banned academic activities on outer campuses in 2007, Darul Ihsan University, the People’s University, the Prime University, the Asian University of Bangladesh and Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology were running illegal outer campus.
Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology, Darul Ihsan University, Dhaka International University, the Prime University, the IBAIS University and the Asian University of Bangladesh are mired in ownership conflicts, the officials said.
‘If needed, the government will appoint administrators in such universities to run the institutions,’ an education ministry press statement said.
The meeting decided that government would take initiatives to appoint vice-chancellors, pro-vice-chancellors and treasurers if the authorities of the universities concerned did not appoint them on their own immediately.
The government will also take steps if the universities do not submit audit report regularly.
Courtesy of New Age
