History of University Legislations in Bihar (1917 to 1985) (An Old and Rare Book)

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The subject of this study, "A History of University Legislations in Bihar (1917-1985)", grew out of a discussion with Professor (Dr.) J. C. Jha, Head of the Department of History of the Patna University, Patna, and formerly pro- fessor of Indian Studies, University of Trinidad (West Indies), my esteemed supervisor, Part of his keen interest and scholarship in the areas of modern Indian history has been responsible for this exploration of the cause of higher education in the universities in Bihar. It is difficult to express my deep indebtedness to him.

Often the demand for setting up a university would come from the people of the State with growing conscious- ness on their part to get to a better higher education for those who would be educated. But higher education as it grew up in the beginning in Bihar was still out of a part of the usual colonial expectations of the British. Later a popu- lar government in the State capital was only too willing not to respond to more independent and vital aspirations of people of the State. The result was a series of legislations to give a shape and meaning to the content of higher educa- tion in the State of Bihar.

But aspirations or mere legislation cannot be enough as far as good education is concerned. Sometimes these legislations served as a mere lip-service to the cause of higher education. Proliferation in the number of univer- sities without caring for the standards of higher education proved to be harmful to it. Mass entry of students to the institutions of higher learning in the wake of the great democratic rush for the acquisition of a viable economic status in life proved too much for the State government's restricted and rigorous mode of promoting knowledge and excellence through the universities.