63 New Degree Colleges to Come up in Mumbai

With 63 new degree colleges coming up in the Mumbai University, Class XII students will have more degree college options this year. Out of the 63 colleges, 12 will come up in the Mumbai region, 12 and a similar number in Thane and Navi Mumbai put together. The Palghar region's share will be 15. Raigad and Sindhudurg too will have a few colleges. The new colleges will get government sanction June 15 and the total number of affiliated colleges will go over 800.

According to research, professional courses like law have gained popularity suddenly and courses like arts, science and commerce have lost students. Over the past years, enrolment in law courses have seen a jump of over 100%.

However, the state government is likely to give permission to only 11 law colleges in the university's jurisdiction. A principal said, "If more colleges want to set shop, the government may consider sanctioning more as there is a huge demand for law colleges."

One of the law colleges proposed for the Mumbai region will be exclusively for women and of the 63 proposed colleges, seven are for women. Seven night colleges are also planned.

Siddharth Kharat, deputy secretary of the higher and technical education department, said the perspective plan has been prepared taking into consideration several factors. "The state will stick to the plan while giving sanction to new colleges. The application documents that have come from the state's universities will be scrutinized; the final nod will be given by the state by June 15."