The Central University of Kerala (CUK) will set to script a major milestone nine years after its inception, with the rolling out of its activities entirely from its campus here from next academic session.
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will dedicate the university’s eight new academic building blocks at a function at 11 a.m. on April 29. The institution has laid out a clear roadmap for its future expansion, envisaged to be executed by 2022, to turn the region into a leading educational hub.
Off-campuses
Situated close to National Highway 66, which will soon be turned into a 45-metre-wide four-lane stretch, the Tejaswini Hills campus, will now accommodate all the three off-campuses housed in rented buildings at Vidyanagar, Padannakkad, near Neeleswaram, and at Kuniya.
Work on the new building blocks, costing ₹210 crore, was formally inaugurated in September 2015 by Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda. The buildings will house various departments imparting 21 courses — 12 in science stream and the remaining nine on social sciences and literature, Vice Chancellor G. Gopakumar told The Hindu here.
The university will strengthen infrastructure on the 310-acre campus here in the next four years.
The Union Ministry of Home Resource Development has given the green signal to execute the works in a time-bound manner, Dr. Gopakumar said.
Apart from the three hostels, two more would be built to accommodate research and postgraduate international relations wards.
By 2022, the university will complete work on 14 more building blocks, including a modern guest house to accommodate 100 visitors, besides other buildings for the needy.
New course
Dr. Gopakumar said the university would offer two-year PG course in Yoga from July next. It has already begun diploma course in Yoga, with an intake of 30 students. The university will seek the support of faculty members of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana – S-VYASA, the Bengaluru-based deemed university.
It is also planned to start undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Education.
The campus has set apart 50-odd acres for a postgraduate medical institute with research facilities. The proposal requires consensus from leading political parties and civic society representatives.
It could address the problems faced by the endosulfan victims and their kin, Dr. Gopakumar said.
The University, that recently was listed among the top 5 per cent institutions by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, has also allotted space for developing landscape by planting saplings to turn the campus green.
The CUK besides having an under-graduate International Relations centre in the State capital city, has a Law Department at Tiruvalla in Pathanamthitta with an intake of 40 students a year.
