Sir JJ School of Art finally granted deemed university status under the ‘de novo’ category, which the education minister said would make it the first-of-its-kind in the country. Students and alumnus, however, said there is no clarity on how students will benefit through this.

Minister of Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil said, “Looking at the need for a unique curriculum for—Sir JJ School of Art, Architecture and Design—a proposal was submitted by the Arts directorate to the University Grants Commission (UGC) on March 19, 2020, to develop the syllabus for the benefit the students. Accordingly, a letter of intent was received and this is going to be the first university of its kind in the country. The task force formed under the chairmanship of Dr Vijay Khole had submitted the report, following which the cabinet approved the de-novo status.”

An institution that focuses on new approaches that are contemporary and unique to teaching, and is involved in research in distinctive and “emerging areas of knowledge” is referred to as “de novo.” “The cabinet also approved a fund of Rs 50,37,90,800 (over R50 crore) towards salaries and other essential expenses for this university,” Patil added.

Demand made in past

The state government had dissolved a committee set up to convert the art school into a state-level art university, a decision that was taken by the Maha Vikas Aghadi regime. A government resolution was issued in September 2022, announcing the same. There were protests by hundreds of students in the campus of the premier art institute demanding proper infrastructure, teachers and administration, which they felt will happen only if the institute is granted deemed university status under the ‘de novo’ category.

Officials then said that the plan to get deemed university status from the UGC under the de novo category was already in motion and a letter of intent was submitted in this regard. Following this, a committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr Vijay Khole, former vice-chancellor of the University of Mumbai to study the possibilities for the same.

‘What does it mean?’

Alumnus Amol Hirwadekar, who was part of protests in 2009 and 2014, told mid-day, “Our fight and protest were for better infrastructure, better administration and permanent teachers appointed through MPSC [Maharashtra Public Service Commission] exams. About de-novo status, we do not know what the proposal is. We have been requesting the higher and technical education minister and officials to make the draft of the proposal public so that people know what this is all about and how it will actually benefit students. Unless the status is just for the namesake.”

Hirwadekar added, “Clearly, we are not opposing the de-novo status. But, we are also not supporting it, as we do not know what it is and what it will mean for the students. They should have shared the draft proposal with the stakeholders, because we don’t know if they would continue admissions on the basis of merit and entrance test. There might be favouritism and partiality. Fee structure would be unaffordable for many deserving candidates. We want clarity on all these issues first.”

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