A team from Parliament’s estimates committee will meet senior officials of Calcutta and Jadavpur universities on Tuesday to discuss ways to develop the institutions.

The interaction between 30 members of the committee with the vice-chancellors, pro vice-chancellors and the senior faculty members of the universities will revolve around 17 important issues.

Government grants, research facilities and the National Knowledge Commission’s recommendations are among the topics on the agenda.

The universities have sent preliminary reports to the committee, informing the members about their views on the matters to be discussed. The issues will be dealt with in detail at the meet at a city hotel on Tuesday.

“The estimates committee sent a fax recently informing us of the visit on October 30. The team will hold discussions on various aspects of higher education and the administrative and academic reforms necessary to develop our university,” said a senior official of Jadavpur University.

Officials in the state higher education department said the committee did not select more universities from the state as Jadavpur and Calcutta universities are the only ones recognised as centres of excellence by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Nine universities in the country have been awarded the centre of excellence status by the UGC so far.

“We will be in a position to elaborate on the committee’s visit after Tuesday’s meeting,” said Suranjan Das, the pro vice-chancellor (academic affairs) of Calcutta University.

According to the university officials, the National Knowledge Commission’s recommendations will be dealt with extensively in the meetings. The Knowledge Commission has advocated the establishment of an independent regulatory authority for higher education. The commission has also called for the UGC’s role to be redefined.

The estimates committee will examine whether the universities’ plans for administrative and academic reforms are consistent with the policies of the Centre, said the institutes’ officials.

The team is also expected to look into the areas of special interests of the universities and suggest ways to boost efficiency.