Meta-university project to be launched in Hyderabad?

HYDERABAD: The meta-university project, which allows student to pick courses from across disciplines from a network of universities, is likely to be launched in the city starting from the next academic year. Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who was in the city on Sunday, held a meeting with vice-chancellors of state and central universities to discuss modalities of the launch. As per the project, while the core degree will be given by one particular university, students will be allowed to opt for courses of other universities.
The HRD ministry has decided to bring universities including Osmania University, University of Hyderabad, English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu), Maulana Azad National Urdu University and Nalsar Law University under one umbrella of meta-university.
In a confidential meeting, it was decided that the HRD ministry will pump in funds to facilitate the launch of this project starting next year. "The modalities are to be discussed again. Issues like distance between the universities should be taken into consideration. We are also thinking of offering online education," said an official who attended the meeting.
The admissions to meta-university will not affect regular admissions, officials announced. "These admissions are meant to help students who want an exposure to more than one core subject," said an official. The meta-university project was supposed to be launched first among universities based out of Delhi. "The HRD ministry thinks that Hyderabad which has so many universities should has a lot of potential for the launch of the project," said an official. Sibal had announced the project in 2011 stating that it will be launched in the academic year 2012-13. However, that plan did not work out as per schedule.