Guwahati: Facing a tremendous financial crunch, Cotton University is planning to lease out varsity land to generate revenue and a panel has been set up to look for ‘space allocations within the university premises.
There has been an enormous financial crunch that the university is facing due to a lack of government-aided funds.
The decision to lease out the land within the varsity was taken on March 8, 2024, in the 34th Executive Council Meeting where a Standing Committee was constituted to look after space allocation in university premises to outside parties for generation of revenue.
The Chairperson of the Standing Committee is Prof. Arup Kumar Hazarika, Dean, of Life Sciences and HOD Department of Zoology, Cotton University.
The other five members of the Standing Committee are Prof. Rakhee Kalita Moral, Dean, Languages, Literature and Linguistics, HOD, Department of English, Cotton University, Prof. Manjit Kumar Bhattacharyya, Dean, S/W, Cotton University, Prof. Daisy Das, Dean, Human and Social Sciences, HOD, Department of Economics, Cotton University, Rajiv L Sarma, Executive Engineer, Cotton University and Ram Chandra Das, Head Assistant, Cotton University.
Cotton College was established in 1901 by Sir Henry Stedman Cotton, Chief Commissioner of the former British province of Assam.
It was the oldest institute of higher education in Assam and all of Northeast India.
Cotton College became a constituent college of Gauhati University in 1948, and then of Cotton College State University when it was established in 2011, by an Act (Act XIX of 2011) of the Assam Government.
The Cotton University Act, of 2017, was enacted to resolve problems between the college and the university.