After nearly a dozen amendments since 2005, Bihar will now have a new Act for the Bihar state universities incorporating the best practises of other states and central universities. This was decided at a high-level meeting chaired by Governor-cum-Chancellor Lieutenant General (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain on Friday to review new initiatives for improvement in the higher education sphere.Bihar governor lt. Gen. (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain (File photo)Chief minister Samrat Chaudhary and higher education minister Sanjay Singh Tiger were also present in the meeting with senior officials.The meeting focused on making the regulatory framework of higher education simple, transparent and contemporary and underlined the need for a comprehensive proposal after studying the Acts and best practices of 15 states.Hasnain also directed all state universities to fully implement all the 26 modules of the accounting and finance, employee services and academic package of the Samarth portal by December 31, 2026.He also advocated a comprehensive assessment system for evaluating institutional performance to promote institutional excellence and continuous improvement. The UGC started grading universities in 2018, but none of the state universities has made the list.It was informed at the meeting that the centralised process for the appointment of qualified and competent contract-based assistant professors on better pay-scale is being adopted for the newly-created 211 government degree colleges.With the aim of encouraging research, the proposal for the Chancellor Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Chief Minister Research Grant Scheme and Chief Minister Research Scholarship Scheme was also approved.In keeping with the need for effective implementation of the National Education Policy, 2020, all academic programs are being developed according to national standards and the course for 43 postgraduate subjects will be approved by the first week of July.The Governor was also informed about the September 30 deadline for all universities to quickly and time-bound the distribution of pending student degrees.In keeping with the Chancellor Secretariat’s earlier order, which mandated clearing all pending promotions within three months, it was also decided that there would be a time limit for teacher promotions, preventing them from dragging on for years.Former Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had also directed the VCs and registrars of state universities in 2024 to clear the backlog of promotions for teachers and non-teaching staff without delay and on a “priority basis” due to numerous complaints.Bihar Lok Bhawan’s strict guidelines last week, which included a clear timeline regarding the transfer of teaching and non-teaching staff to ensure discipline and regularity also came up during the meeting.The Governor said that the coordinated and effective implementation of all the initiatives would lead to transparency, accountability, digitisation, academic quality and student-centric governance in the higher education system of the state. The meeting also discussed in detail the structural and policy changes required for long-term reforms in the higher education system.The CM appreciated the initiatives the Governor is taking to improve higher education and said these reforms would significantly improve educational quality in the state.He said that efforts should be made to check migration of students from Bihar for pursuing general higher education.