From Our Correspondent

MUMBAI : On late August 30 evening Mumbai University Senate approved the perspective plan for academic year 2011-12 listing new colleges that the university deems the city requires.

It includes science, arts, commerce and professional courses such as engineering and law. The plan has recommended that 185 new colleges be set up. Of these Mumbai will have 43 new colleges and Thane will have 59 new colleges.

Now college managements will apply and the university will clear them in accordance with the perspective plan and send it to the state government, which will take a final call on it.

The Bombay University College Teachers’ Union (BUCTU) opposed the plan because of the way the distribution of colleges had been done. “The committee has not even taken the student population projections of various areas into consideration. There is no clarity on how many students from each area are passing out of class XII,’’ said senate member Madhu Paranjpe.

Earlier, the university’s academic council and management councils had cleared the perspective plan with about 173 new colleges, but 12 more were added when the plan was tabled in the senate.

"The additional colleges included are proposals from backward areas, which have a large concentration of tribal students. Enrolment of students from the weaker section has to rise, hence we supported the plan,’’ said another senate member Vaibhav Narwade.

Some senate members also suggested the university should apply more scientific methods to prepare the plan. Different parameters like need of a particular area, number of students passing out of Class 12 and industry requirements should be considered.