Goa Public Universities Bill sent to select committee

Porvorim: After the opposition expressed concerns, the assembly decided to send the Goa Public Universities Bill, 2025, to a select committee for detailed analysis. The House constituted an 11-member committee headed by water resources minister Subhash Shirodkar to study the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed legislation.In a rare display of agreement, chief minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds the education portfolio, did not resist the opposition’s caution against undue haste in the passage of the bill.“There is no harm in forming a select committee to study this bill. We will have Ganesh Gaonkar, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Carlos Ferreira, Vijai Sardesai, Viresh Borkar, Cruz Silva, Digambar Kamat, Chandrakant Shetye, and Deviya Rane as members,” said Sawant while the bill was taken up for consideration in the assembly.The opposition said that the bill, which paves the way for a cluster of colleges to be created, could affect the survival of local colleges and Goa University.“This bill has weak safeguards. There are no clear protections for academic independence or stakeholder rights,” said GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai. “There is no real multi-disciplinary benefit in creating a cluster of colleges if the colleges offer the same courses. Will colleges be forced to start new courses, and if yes, then will govt fund the new courses?”Opposition leader Yuri Alemao, said, “While the bill invokes the lofty aim of the NEP, it is blind to the realities of Goa. This bill should not be bulldozed through.” He said, “This bill will fragment rather than synergise the academic richness. There is no economic viability analysis.”Sawant said that in line with the NEP, all affiliated colleges should become degree-awarding multidisciplinary autonomous institutions.