By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: William Carey University (WCU) Chancellor Dr Ken Gnanakan admitted that the CMJ University episode was a wakeup call for other private universities.
According to him, the irregularities in the functioning of CMJ University, exposed by the former Governor RS Mooshahary, has been a warning for other private universities in the State.
WCU Chancellor also believed that there was a need to improve the State legislations on private universities in conformity with the laid down norms of the University Grants Commission.
“There are flaws in the State legislations which require to be further improved to avoid any kind of collision with the norms of the UGC,” Dr Gnanakan said.
“Our university is functioning as per the UGC regulations,” the WCU Chancellor added.
Recently this year, the State government has constituted the Regulatory Board (RB) as per the Meghalaya Private Universities (Regulation of Establishment and Maintenance of Standards) Act, 2012 to ensure that private universities maintain the standards of infrastructure, teaching, research, examination and extension of services, fee structure, safeguard the interest of the state as a whole and student community in particular by emphasizing on quality education and avoiding commercialization of higher education.
While claiming that his university was making a unique attempt by trying to integrating higher education with the socio-economic and environmental realities, Prof Gnanakan said that he was confident that his university will emerge as a distinctive institution.
Informing about the permanent campus of the university, he said in the next two and half years, they are going to come up its permanent campus at Umsning in Ri-Bhoi district.
“We have legally purchased a land about 8 acres at Umsning for the setting up of WCU campus there and our investment will cost around Rs 5 crore” Prof Gnanakan said.
ACTS Groups of Institutions is the sponsoring body for WCU.
The permanent campus of WCU will be constructed adjacent to Grace City, a 500 acre township campus proposed to come up near Umsning.
Prof Gnanakan informed that his university has entered into a partnership with Grace City for business ventures like food processing industry, fisheries and other activities which will be started a few years later.
The private University was established as per the William Carey University Act, 2005 and functions from a rented building opposite St Anthony’s College, Shillong.