Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has exhorted universities to embrace digitally enabled education in right earnest and exploit the possibilities of the ‘new normal’ in the post-pandemic era.
Presenting the Chancellor’s Awards for the best universities at the Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday, Mr. Khan urged the State universities to imbibe the benefits of Internet-based education.
Pointing out that the State was poised to witness a boost in the use of technology in education through the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) project, the Governor lamented the slow progress being made by the universities in contributing substantially to offering Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) through services like Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM). He hoped that all State universities uploaded at least 50% of lectures on the online platform for wider access.
Online exams
The Chancellor also urged universities to work towards introducing online examinations in their teaching departments within a time-frame as the first step towards realising the goal of ‘Anytime-Anywhere Examination’ system.
He added that the higher education sector could not afford to ignore training teachers in the use of online pedagogical techniques so as to enable them to integrate research and teaching with digitally enabled education and render online classes more productively in tune with outcome-based education approach.
Higher education
Highlighting the predicament faced by the State that lagged behind in higher education standards despite enjoying high levels of literacy and social awareness, Mr. Khan said such issues would have to be addressed at the earliest since the State’s future possibilities hinged on the progress of the sector.
The Governor presented the Chancellor’s Award for 2019 to the Vice Chancellors of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences Universities, the winners in multidisciplinary and specialised categories respectively.
While Mahatma Gandhi University and CUSAT shared the Chancellor’s Award for multidisciplinary universities in 2020, Kerala Agricultural University was selected the best among emerging/specialised universities.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan presided. Higher Education Minister R. Bindu, Additional Chief Secretary (Higher Education) V. Venu, Kerala State Higher Education Council vice chairman Rajan Gurukkal and member secretary Rajan Varughese, and Vice Chancellors of various universities were in attendance.
