State's new plan to pull public universities out of choking debts

To save the institutions, authorities have outlined a raft of measures among them a change in funding formula, adoption of renewable energy to cut costs on electricity bills which account for the biggest expenditure, reserving 30 per cent of government consultancy services to universities, commercialising university research and entering into private-public partnerships to improve on infrastructure.

Change in funding is touted to be the remedy to chronic financial woes in most public universities. State technocrats on Friday painted a gloomy picture of how the current funding model drove universities into debt.