Delhi will soon have its own Meta University. The concept of meta university is a new one and a step taken by four universities in Delhi – Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi University (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.

Under this system, the universities will pool in their resources and will offer courses at the postgraduate level. It will offer flexibility and cross university education, between participating universities. The concept of meta universities is quite popular in the West.

It will provide students the choice to pick up and study a course in one college and later transfer it to another college. It will be university free from physical boundaries and will enable sharing of learning resources by using technologies available and thus benefiting students.

A part of meta university will be launched by July this year, on an experimental basis. Delhi University (DU) and Jamia Millia Islamia will jointly start a master’s programme in mathematics, Prof Dinesh Singh, DU’s vice-chancellor told Governance Now on Wednesday. This course will have a combination of online teaching, classroom studies and project work. It will not have more than 10 students in the class.

The concept of meta university was even discussed in the CABE meeting held in Delhi on Wednesday.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal said the proposed concept is a collaborative platform for a network of universities with a view to utilise, create and synergise among different programme activities.

He also said that the state universities and other state institutions could take similar innovative measures to bring a paradigm shift in higher education.