Students from the socially and economically backward strata seeking admission in a Deemed Medical Colleges will get a scholarship of up to Rs 9.1 lakh under the state’s scholarship scheme from the 2022-23 batch.
Based on a formula, the state government, which has been asked to extend its post-matric scholarship schemes to needy students from deemed universities by a court order, has drawn up the list for all professional courses. But the scholarship will be capped at a certain amount – which will differ for every course (see box). For instance, MBBS scholarship amount will be capped at Rs 9.1 lakh, while for an engineering course, it will not exceed Rs 1.1 lakh pa.
The state issued the gove-rnment resolution (GR) exte-nding the benefits of Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Merit Scholarship to deemed varsities. Earlier, it was only for private unaided institutes.
The state has also made it mandatory for these varsities to follow the admission and fee guidelines as prescribed by the University Grants Commission (Institutions Deemed to Be Universities) Regulations, 2019. From now on, deemed varsities will have to provide the fee details of their courses on their portals. These universities will also have to inform the state about existing and new courses offered and the number of students enrolled every year, within a month of admissions.
The state’s higher and technical education department drew up the plan based on the recommendations of a three-member committee led by Justice (Retd) MN Gilani. Former vice-chancellor of a state university R S Mali and chartered accountant Sanjay Panse, who were former members of Fee Regulating Authority, were on the panel.
An official said the panel offered three formulas, of which the formula for weighted average – a calculation that takes into account the varying numbers of students in every college in the data set – was selected. To discourage students to opt for varsities outside the state, the panel recommended a discounting value, which will be 10-20% lower than the cap decided for that particular course.
Over 14,500 students from 21 deemed varsities in the state are likely to benefit from the scholarship scheme. The higher education, medical education and social welfare departments will issue independent GRs for schemes under them.
