Govt rules out transfer of administrative, asset control of constituent colleges to Cluster Universities
Srinagar, Feb 9: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday said there is no proposal under consideration to affiliate or transfer the administrative and asset control of constituent colleges to the Cluster Universities of Srinagar and Jammu.
This was revealed in a reply by the minister for higher education to a question raised by the MLA Tanvir Sadiq during the ongoing budget session at Jammu and Kashmir assembly in Jammu.
Sadiq sought details about any proposal of the government to affiliate and merge or transfer the administrative and asset control of the constituent colleges to the Cluster University of Srinagar and Jammu.
"At present there is no such proposal under the consideration of the government," the minister informed the House.
The minister for higher education Sakina Itoo informed the House that the Cluster Universities of Srinagar and Jammu were established under the Srinagar and Jammu Cluster Universities Act, 2016, in line with the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), by clustering human and infrastructural resources of five existing colleges of both the cities-Srinagar and Jammu in accordance with the guidelines of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)- 1.0
The House was further informed that historic and high-performing colleges including SP College, Government College for Women MA Road, Amar Singh College, MAM College, GGM Science College and SPMR College of Commerce were placed under the Cluster Universities.
"At present the administrative control of teaching and non-teaching staff of the constituent colleges is with the Higher Education Department (HED)," the minister informed the House.
She further said that both the Universities have been allotted land for the construction of various establishments.
"Both the universities have developed their independent postgraduate schools with their own faculty," the minister said.
The Cluster Universities in Srinagar and Jammu, were conceived as an “innovative and strategic intervention” in the higher education arena in the country to provide a stimulating academic and research environment to the aspirants of higher education from Jammu and Kashmir.
The objective was to pool resources from top colleges in Srinagar and Jammu to bring all facilities there under one room for common use by students and researchers.
Since their establishment, the CU Srinagar and Jammu have struggled to gain complete financial, academic and administrative autonomy from the J&K Higher Education Department (HED).
But till date, the government is yet to empower these two institutions with the full-fledged financial and administrative autonomy.
Currently, both the universities are having autonomy for holding exams and declaration of the results.
