The rush to find seats in such colleges will taper over the coming years with the BMC passing a proposal to allow schools to start colleges in their campus.

Until now, a plot reserved for a municipal primary school, a primary school or secondary school could be developed by a public authority or a private party purely for purpose of running a school. On Friday, the improvement committee of the BMC approved a proposal to allow colleges on all such plots.

In its reasoning, the BMC has said that since the state government through a notification dated March 2003 has doubled the Floor Space Index (FSI) granted to educational institutions to 4, it is not practical to consume the additional area only for the purpose of a school.

In case schools decide to expand using the benefit of the additional FSI, they can be allowed to run degree colleges replete with Arts, Science, Commerce and other fields provided that they have used half of the FSI for running a school-cum-junior college.

“Very soon children can look forward to doing their college education in the same campus that they have attended their schools which in all likelihood is in close proximity to their residence,” said improvement committee member Amin Patel.

The proposal states that colleges will be allowed to function provided that they have the approval of the controlling education department of the state or central government.

At present there are 530 colleges in city that are affiliated to the Mumbai University. This year the university has recommended 150 more colleges to the government for affiliation.