Shillong: The Meghalaya cabinet on November 4 approved the St Xavier’s University Bill, 2020.
The draft bill was brought by the education department and the same was approved by the cabinet.
The bill will be placed in the autumn session of the State Assembly on November 5.
Speaking to media persons, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said, “St Xavier’s is one of the most successful universities in the country. The Calcutta Jesuits have established St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata at New Town in Kolkata in 2017.”
The St. Xavier’s University Meghalaya will be run by the Jesuits of Kohima Region working in the North East. Before submitting the Letter of intent to the Government, a team of Jesuits visited other Jesuit universities in the country. This is the third Jesuit University in the country after Xavier University Bhubaneswar (XUB), Odisha and St. Xavier’s University Kolkota (SXUK) West Bengal.
The Meghalaya government has set up a regulatory board under the Meghalaya Private Universities (Regulation of Establishment and Maintenance of Standards) Act, 2012.
The regulatory board will ensure that private universities maintain the standards of infrastructure, teaching, research, examination, and extension of services, fee structure, and safeguard the interest of the state.
The board will ensure that the student community gets quality education and avoid the commercialization of higher education.
Tynsong said the proposal to set up the St. Xavier’s University had gone to the regulatory board and the board had granted its recommendation.
With the setting up of the St Xavier’s University, Meghalaya is set to compete with Assam and Nagaland that have the Assam Don Bosco University and St. Joseph’s University respectively.
The North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) is the only central university in Meghalaya that students look up to but no other private universities that have mushroomed in the state.