The Bangalore University

The Bangalore University has for long been a key aspect of the educational climate of  Bangalore . This University owes its existence to Mysore University from which it emerged first as an outfit at the Central College campus which has largely Victorian style structures in the heart of the city. For long all the educational institutes of the city and its surroundings were affiliated to this university. Today the trend of creating independent private Universities have been the order of the day owing to huge demand for education and the inability of Universities to meet dead-lines. I used to know Mr. Thimappa who was the vice-chancellor of this university and was an eminent and eloquent speaker and an scholarly person per-se.

The main campus of the Bangalore University can be seen on Mysore road called as Jnanabharathi  and is a junction on this stretch of highway and the Mysore-Bangalore railway line runs overhead and there is a Jnanabharathi railway station near-by where only passenger trains stop. This campus like any other University campus in the country is impressive with many buildings and departments over a large area..apparently it appears this area and the areas adjoining it have been some kind of forest once upon a time.

It appears to me that the British made a mistake of not creating an " I Ed S  " Indian Education Service on the lines of other civil service like the IAS where youngsters are taken to hold academic posts in statutory institutions. There is so much of clamor and uncertainty when the Govt. has to appoint a Vice-Chancellor to some university for the sheer confusion it creates for want of a clear-cut and merit based formula. Simply said some of the better academicians do not get into the post or is difficult for them to sustain for long. A service as mentioned above would give instantly a pool of people who can govern a University. It is high time the Government embarks on creating such a service or move some of the existingand willing  IAS ; IPS and similar cadre into I Ed S and formally initiate them through some mechanism and the yard stick or guideline must be the ABILITY TO TEACH.

Bangalore University has produced many distinguished luminaries in various feilds and has a legacy of its own which the University has to preserve and let that culture of Compassionate teaching for personal excellence for which educational processes in this part of the world was known for since time immemorial continue to be a guiding factor as always.