Doaba to get 7th varsity

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 24

With the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today giving the status of university to Jalandhar-based Sant Baba Bhag Singh Memorial Educational Institute, it will be the 11th private university to come up in the state.

The campus is situated at Khaiyala in Adampur and is being run by Sant Baba Bhag Singh Memorial Charitable Trust. Adampur legislator Pawan Tinu is said to have put up a recommendation for clearance of the bill through Higher Education Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra under Punjab Private University Policy-2010.

GNAU falling on Phagwara-Hoshiarpur Road and Rayat Bahra University at Mohali have been two other private universities to have come up this year. After LPU came up near Phagwara, there were seven other universities to follow including Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University Fatehgarh Sahib, Guru Kashi University Talwandi Sabo, Adesh University, Bathinda, Chitkara University Patiala, Chandigarh University Gharuan, Desh Bhagat University Mandi Gobindgarh and DAV University. Besides, there are eight state universities, one Central and three deemed universities in Punjab. After clearance of the bill, the Doaba region alone will have seven universities—LPU, GNAU, DAV (all three private), Dr BR Ambedkar NIT (deemed university), PTU and Guru Ravi Dass Ayurveda University Hoshiarpur (both state universities).