Private varsities dither over opening campuses in Telangana State

Hyderabad: Lack of clarity on the approvals left several private universities from other parts of the country to step into Telangana to start their campuses.

According to sources, so far 11 institutions have expressed their interest and five were recommended by the screening committee to the State governments for its approval.

However, four out of the five recommended institutions are from Telangana and only one institution from outside of the State has so far expressed its interest, the sources added.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the State Higher Education Department (SHED) said that the State has different rules as per the Telangana State Private.

Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Act, 2018.

As per the existing procedure, the State government will not allocate any lands to the prospective applicants.

The applicants have to purchase on their own extent of land to meet the land requirements stipulated in the Act.

Besides, the applicants will have to make substantial sums as deposits to show their financial capability for the establishment of a university and to develop the required infrastructure.

A senior official of the SHED pointed out that taking all the factors into consideration the prospective applicants will have to invest around Rs 100 crore to start a private university.

The applicants are appreciating the transparent process adopted for the selection of potential applicants. But, the glitch is that there is no assurance of any sort to the applicants concerning the granting of approvals.

This, in turn, discouraging the applicants from other States to establish their institutions in Telangana.

"The applicants are hesitating to invest a whopping Rs 100 crore without any credible assurance from the State government so that there is no hindrance once the applicants start implementing the projects," he added.

However, such assurance cannot be given at the level of the SHED or Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) and it has to come only from the political authority like State Higher Education Ministry or the Chief Ministers Office.

Until this bottleneck is resolved top-ranked private universities running their campuses in other parts of the country will continue to hesitate to take a plunge and step in starting their campuses in Telangana, the official pointed out.