The Karnataka legislative Assembly Wednesday passed a Bill amending the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000 (Karnataka Act 29 of 2001), to constitute new universities such as Bidar University, Haveri University, Kodagu University, Chamarajanagar University, Hassan University, Koppal University, Mandya University and Bagalkot University in the respective district headquarters.

Once the new universities come into force, colleges located in these districts will be affiliated to the respective district universities and their affiliations from previous universities such as Gulbarga, Mysore, Karnataka and Vijayanagara Sri Krishnadevaraya universities, among others will be withdrawn.

With regard to the establishment of new universities there will be an approximate expenditure of Rs 14 crore per annum towards the annual recurring expenditure at Rs 2 crore for each university in the proposed legislation.

Among these new universities, Chamarajanagar University will comprise 18 colleges, Hassan 36, Haveri 40, Bidar 140, Kodagu 24, Koppal 40 and Bagalkot 71. The unitary university at Mandya will comprise all first-grade colleges of the district.

According to Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, the establishment of eight new universities is in line with the objective of National Education Policy 2022, which envisages one university in every district. The departments of finance and planning have already given their consent for setting up new universities that will now function with a new concept in a lesser space with limited human resources and reduced expenses.