Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced sweeping measures to reform the state’s higher education sector while presenting the 2026–27 Budget in the Legislative Assembly. The government will implement the Rohith Vemula (Prevention of Exclusion or Injustice) Act, 2025, aimed at preventing academic and social harassment of students based on caste across all government, private, and deemed universities.

Named after Rohith Vemula, the PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad who died by suicide in 2016, the Act seeks to create a safer and more inclusive academic environment for marginalised students. Siddaramaiah also announced plans to conduct student union elections in colleges and universities to foster leadership, responsibility, and democratic participation among students.

To expand higher education opportunities, the government will provide 25 acres of land for the establishment of a private Vachana University in Basavakalyan. Additionally, the Karnataka Higher Education Transformation Project, with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and a budget of Rs 2,500 crore, will develop 40 Government First Grade Colleges and 11 polytechnics as model institutions. Nine centres of excellence will also be set up to promote entrepreneurship and a start-up culture.

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The Budget includes approval to fill 2,000 teaching posts across First Grade Colleges, engineering colleges, polytechnics, and the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE). Another 1,000 posts in public universities will be filled in phases. Infrastructure upgrades for women students are planned in 25 degree colleges, three polytechnics, and three engineering colleges with more than 50% female enrolment, with a total allocation of Rs 31 crore.

The government will establish new First Grade Colleges in Chadachan, Belagavi Rural, Narasimharaja, and Maski, as well as residential colleges in the Kalyana Karnataka region at Rs 18 crore each. In alignment with emerging industry demands, 15 new courses will be introduced in polytechnics and the Government Engineering College in Chitradurga, covering Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Mining, and Automation Engineering.

Furthermore, the UVCE development project will receive an additional Rs 100 crore this year to align with IIT standards. Female guest lecturers in government colleges, polytechnics, and engineering institutions will also be entitled to 90 days of maternity leave from the next academic year, Siddaramaiah announced.

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