Bihar universities set up 5 years ago yet to get own campuses; learning disrupted

NEW DELHI: Three new state-government run universities in Bihar – Patliputra, Purnea and Munger – celebrated their fifth foundation day on March 18 but at temporary campuses. None of them have their own buildings.

In March 2018, Bihar government established these three universities to meet local requirements, reduce the strain on existing institutions and improve the state’s gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education. However, like the other 14 state universities, students of Patliputra University, Purnea University and Munger University are also facing delays in academic sessions due to shortage of teachers and other administrative reasons.

In the absence of their own campuses, all three Bihar universities are functioning from temporary offices in colleges affiliated to them. The state government has allotted land but teachers believe it will be another five years before they have permanent campuses.

Students and teachers said they lacked even water, sanitation and properly-equipped classrooms. Online admission and examination portals, linked to official websites – have frequent glitches and payment gateway crashes cause students to lose money.

“There should be a library, reading room and other facilities in a university. But, we do not even have fans, toilets or water. We pay Rs.300 as university portal fee in a year but in the last five years, have not experienced its smooth functioning,” Sunny Jha, second-year M.Com student of Munger University, told Careers360.

Despite such strained infrastructure, Bihar state universities are set to introduce the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) from the upcoming academic session.

3 Bihar universities, 228 colleges

The three universities are together in charge of over 220 colleges that were earlier affiliated to other universities.

Purnea University was carved out of Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University (BNMU), Madhepura, and comprises 15 constituent colleges and 32 affiliated colleges. It has 22 academic departments and plans to start 58 courses. At present, it operates from the campus of the constituent Purnea College.

Patliputra University, Patna was carved out of Magadh University and is currently functioning from a temporary campus at Kankarbagh, Patna. All colleges of Patna and Nalanda districts that are not affiliated to Patna University are now in its jurisdiction. It has 15 departments and proposes to start 30 more. The university has 26 constituent colleges, 110 affiliated colleges, two girls colleges, and three minority colleges.

Munger University was carved out of Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University (TMBU), Bhagalpur. It is currently running from the campuses of RD College and DJ College, Munger. It has 20 departments. At present, there are 17 constituent colleges, 17 affiliated colleges, five single faculty education colleges and one affiliated law college in Munger University.

No space

The lack of space and infrastructure is impacting the quality of education.

“This university has completed five years but not been able to award any degrees. The PG departments are operating from different constituent colleges without proper infrastructure. Students hardly come to class due to inadequate facilities and barely know their teachers. The university does not have qualified computer operators, administrators or lab technicians,” said Bicky Anand Yadav, senate member, Munger University.

AK Thakur, president of Patliputra University Teachers Association, said teachers face the same problem as Munger University with PG departments spread across different colleges.

“The land for this university was acquired in the Bakhtiyarpur area of Patna eight months back but no further action is being taken,” said Thakur. “There is neither non-teaching staff nor a proper number of teachers. There is no space for teachers to sit together. If a teacher teaches students of more than one discipline, they have to run from one college to another to take classes.” The PG departments are spread across different Patna colleges. Humanities and social science subjects are in College of Commerce, Arts and Science; chemistry and physics are in AN College; commerce is at BD College and biology, botany and zoology run from TPS College, he said.

“The Bihar government notified this university without having a plan of proper resources,” said Vinod Kumar Jha, general secretary, Purnea University Teachers Association and head of the chemistry department.

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Bihar University: Administrative problems

Students face numerous hurdles in their dealings with the university administrations.

“There is no proper infrastructure to take care of the university's website. We want to secure admission and pay fees but the site fails and we pay fees again and again in the hope the excess paid will be refunded. But the university does not give any refund,” said Kishan Kaushik, BSc final-year, Patliputra University.

Document verification processes are also replete with problems.

“There is just one window for students to approach officials for administrative work,” explained Jayant Kumar, in BA final-year at Purnea University. “This causes a huge crowd during the examination-related documentation process.”

With the institution feeling more like an obstacle course, absenteeism is rampant.

“Students are writing exams without attending classes. Even though teachers want to take classes, there is no classroom available,” said Kumar.

Land grant delays

According to reports in the Times of India and Hindustan, Munger University has been allotted 120 acres for its new campus. Purnea University has received 37 acres near the Purnea aerodrome and Patliputra University, 10 acres near the Bakhtiyarpur Engineering College in Patna.

Ranjeet Verma, former and founding vice-chancellor of Munger University, said that the university initially got significant support from the state government but the covid pandemic affected that momentum.

“Seven cabinet ministers graced the inaugural function of the administrative block which was inaugurated by the chief minister Nitish Kumar on December 2, 2018. The state government also approved 12 schools of studies in the university….Around 115 teaching posts were sanctioned last year on the proposal made in 2019,” he said. “The land for the permanent campus was finalised on Munger-Bhagalpur four-lane highway. The delay is mainly on account of the pandemic.” Verma’s term ended in March 2021.

On the condition of anonymity, an official of Purnea University said: “Although the government has allocated land to us, we are yet to receive funds for construction. We have met government officials several times and are hoping to receive the money soon.”

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Bihar’s GER

The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of Bihar has improved with the functioning of these three new universities. The GER is the ratio of the youths enrolled to the total population of youths of college-going age. In India, GER is calculated for the 18-23 age group. However, it is still far below the national average.

Bihar’s GER increased from 11.6% in 2018-19 to 15.9% in 2020-21, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE). GER at the national level stands at 27.3%. Bihar is aiming at a 30% GER by the end of 2030. The number of colleges per lakh population in the age-group 18-23 years is lowest at eight; the national average is 31. The average enrolment per college in Bihar is above 1,800 students – the highest in the country.

In line with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, all state universities in Bihar will introduce four-year undergraduate courses from this academic session 2023-24.

Kanhaiya Bahadur Sinha of Federation of University Teachers Associations of Bihar (FUTAB) doesn’t think Bihar’s universities are ready. “There is a shortage of teachers in Bihar universities and goals of NEP can not be achieved without fulfilling the vacant posts,” he said. “The exit and entry policy is disastrous for states like Bihar where students do not attend classes.”