Even though it is more than a year now that the Kerala State Higher Education Council mooted a National University for Police Sciences and Internal Security (NUPSIS), the project remains resolutely on paper. The project has had to brave administrative crosswinds, principally from the Finance Department, and an adverse note from an Additional Chief Secretary.
Latest ‘development’
The latest ‘development’ on this front is that the government has decided to appoint a nodal officer to study the project and submit a feasibility report. Such an officer is yet to be appointed. If set up, NUPSIS would be the second institution of its kind in the country.
The N.R. Madhava Menon committee which drafted the NUPSIS project has envisaged the varsity as a national, non-affiliating, ‘truly autonomous’ institution that not only teaches and trains but also assists the Central and State governments in “policy planning, policy evaluation, programme development, and problem solving in security-related issues.” The varsity would also be a think tank for professional management of internal security.
The Madhava Menon committee has mooted five types of courses for the police varsity — a four-year degree programme of Bachelor of Police Sciences, a two-year postgraduate degree, M.Phil and doctoral degrees, short-term diploma and certificate courses, and a one-year executive development course for senior officials of the security apparatus modelled on the course offered by the National Defence College, New Delhi According to the committee’s report, the Chief Minister and the Home Minister would be the Chancellor and Pro Chancellor respectively of NUPSIS. The Governor would be the Visitor, with very little administrative powers.
21-member board
The 21-member Board of Management (BOM) would be the key decision-making body of NUPSIS and would have six government secretaries/joint secretaries, two MLAs, and four nominees of the State government from industry, science and technology, and higher education.
The varsity would also have an advisory council which will have as its members the Director General (DG) of the Bureau of Police Research and Development, the Director of the National Police Academy, the DG of the Central Industrial and Security Forces, the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the State Police Chief of Kerala, and the Director of the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Sciences, among others.
