A bill allowing to admit non-Gujarat students in technical self-financed colleges of Gujarat passed in assembly

Gandhinagar, 28 February, 2012

Self-financed professional technical colleges and institutes will no longer have to compulsorily admit a large number of students from Gujarat.

The state government today tabled the Gujarat Vyavasayik Technical Shaikshanik College Pravesh Niyaman and Fee Nirdharan Vidheyak 2012, a bill in Gujarat assembly to make the changes. The bill was passed with majority in the assembly.

The Gujarat Professional Technical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) (Amendment) Bill, 2012, gives the right to the state government to lay down procedures and rules for colleges and institutes, mainly those that are self-financed and do not receive any government grant. This allows the colleges to attract only “quality students” instead of concentrating only on Gujarat board passouts, as is the case at present. There are 46,000 seats in Gujarat’s engineering and pharmacy colleges, of which approximately 10,500 seats had not been filled up last year.

State Education minister Ramanlal Vora said, “The new law will allow non-Gujarat students to take admission in the state, creating a competitive atmosphere for the state’s students, which is missing right now.”

According to initial details available, when no student is available to fill vacant seats, the state government will permit to admit non-Gujarat students through a notification in which number of permitted seats and names of permitted courses will be defined. Those colleges declared as ‘Gunotkarsh kendra’ will only be suitable for exemption under this bill. A regulatory body will take decision on bar of fees.