Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will lay the foundation stone of the Unnatha Vidya Bhavan, the headquarters of the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC), on the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum campus on Tuesday.
The complex that will come up adjacent to the existing office building will be constructed in accordance with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) guidelines for green buildings.
Higher Education Minister R. Bindu, who will preside over the function, said the Chief Minister will also roll out the council’s ₹99.95-crore Higher Education Empowerment Implementation Plan on the occasion.
Addressing a press conference, Dr. Bindu elaborated on the various digitisation projects envisaged under the plan. An E-Journal Consortium that aims to provide free access to e-journals for State universities will be launched with an allocation of ₹20 crore.
The KSHEC’s Brain Gain project envisages the creation of a database of Keralite-academic diaspora. The second phase of the Kerala Academic Library Network (KALNET) will focus on the digitisation of rare books and manuscripts of universities and libraries.
Other projects include the digital enablement programme DIGICOL, Kerala Institutional Ranking Framework, faculty training, online digital repository, ERUDITE scholar-in-residence programme, Cluster of Colleges, and Higher Education survey.