The demand for upgrading the Fakir Mohan Autonomous College to a university is gaining momentum. The former students as well the students undergoing regular courses in the college have upped the ante. Former president of the student union Harekrushna Pradhan led a silent demonstration in front of the college recently.
According to the agitating students, the GM College which was established in 1944 along the FM College has become a university. Similarly , several other colleges including that of the Bhawanipatna and Ramadevi College which were respectively established in the year 1960 and 64 have become universities in recent years. Unfortunately, however, the FM College, although meeting all the requirements, couldn’t become a university, the agitators lamented.
Besides in Khurda , Ganjam and Sambalpur districts, there are two universities, they said.
Since, there is only one university in Baleswar, FM University, for smooth implementation of education curricula in the colleges of Baleswar and Bhadrak, there is a need of another university, said Pradhan .
As many as 67 colleges of Baleswar and Bhadrak come under the jurisdiction of FM College and each year over 16,000 students take their degree exams.