The Kerala government is putting in a lot of thought, investments and planning to bring about timely and radical changes in the higher education sector and to introduce new courses which will attract students from across the country and abroad, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
The attempt is to make Kerala a hub of higher education and take the universities and the courses to international standards, he said, in reply to a calling attention motion by Eldhose Kunnappilly, MLA, on Monday on how students no longer wanted to pursue higher education in the State.
This requires huge investments in terms of money, effort and innovation but the government was determined to do wherever was necessary to bring about the changes in university education suited to the times, said Mr. Vijayan.
Earlier, replying to Mr. Kunnappilly, Minister for Higher Education R. Bindu said that unlike before, the universities and colleges in the State were now beginning to figure among the top institutions in the country.
Curriculum development, faculty improvement programmes and modernisation of courses, improving the infrastructure of universities were all being taken up. The State is now in a position to offer quality education and new-generation courses to students, she said.
Four universities in the State already figure among the first 100 ranks of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The proportion of students getting admitted to higher courses in the 18-23 years age group in the State is 38.8%, against the national average of 27.1 %, she said.
She also appealed to the Opposition not to unleash a campaign “vilifying” the universities and courses in the State, which could only result in more brain drain.
