Calcutta, Sept. 13: The government is set to frame a policy for expansion of scope for higher studies in emerging fields like bio-technology.

Conscious of the increasing interest among students to pursue higher studies in bio-science-related subjects, which include bio-chemistry, molecular biology and micro-biology, the higher education council has called a special meeting this month.

?With reports of more and more students wanting access to emerging subjects pouring in from colleges and universities, we have set up a committee that will examine the requirements to run such courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The committee members will soon meet to examine guidelines that the institutions should follow,? said Subimal Sen, the vice-chairman of the West Bengal Council for Higher Education.

The committee will also examine whether universities like Jadavpur and Shibpur Bengal Engineering College, which do not have undergraduate colleges affiliated to them, can teach BSc and MSc courses in the subjects in demand.

A letter from Calcutta University (CU) prompted the council ? in charge of drawing up the government?s higher education policies ? to frame the tech-teach plan in a hurry.

A CU source said: ?We had requested the council to suggest the basic requirements to run undergraduate and post-graduate courses in the emerging areas. Once we get the suggestions, we can frame our own rules for allowing our undergraduate colleges to offer such courses.?

Responding to students? demands, the CU recently set up its own expert committee to examine how many of its more than 200 affiliated colleges were equipped to offer undergraduate courses in bio-technology. The experts opined that none was fit enough.

Burdwan and North Bengal universities have allowed affiliated institutions to offer bio-technology courses but CU?s refusal to do so following the experts? report resulted in resentment among students.