SHILLONG: The state has opened the doors for another private university with the cabinet on Wednesday approving the St Xavier’s Bill, 2020.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, after the Cabinet meeting, told reporters that the draft bill was brought by the Education department and the same was approved by the cabinet.
According to Tynsong, the St Xavier’s University can be found not only in Guwahati but also in Kolkata and the national capital, New Delhi.
It may be mentioned that the proposed university will be run by the Jesuit (Society of Jesus), a religious order of the Catholic Church.
The Bill will be tabled in the autumn session of the State Assembly, which will commence today.
When asked about the concerns of allowing another private university to enter state, especially when Meghalaya did not have a good experience with CMJ University and other private universities, Tynsong said the proposal to set up the St Xavier’s University in state had gone to the regulatory board under the Meghalaya Private Universities (Regulation of Establishment and Maintenance of Standards) Act, 2012 and the board has strongly recommended for the University.
“We will not allow those things to happen again,” an undaunted Tynsong said.
The mandate of the regulatory board is to ensure that private universities maintain the standards of infrastructure, teaching, research, examination and extension of services, fee structure, and safeguard the interest of the state.
In 2011, the St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata Alumni Association, under its president Felix Raj, the college principal, devised Vision 2020, a ten-year plan which included the founding of St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata.
In 2012, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee invited St. Xavier’s College to open a university.
The West Bengal Assembly had after that unanimously approved the opening of the University on February 8, 2017, and the state governor gave his assent to the University, on January 16, 2017. The same month, Felix Raj took charge of the university as it first vice-chancellor.