The Cabinet on Wednesday a cleared a proposal to set up an academic city of international standards in the State on the lines of the Academic City in Dubai and elsewhere.
The proposal is to form a public limited company, International Academic City of Kerala Limited, and an Academic City Regulatory Authority under the Higher Education Department. An international academic advisory committee, including teachers and scientists from international institutions, will also be formed.
The State government will have 25 per cent share in the company on the lines of Cochin International Airport Limited. The regulatory authority, which will have seven expert members, will be chaired by an educationist.
The draft proposal for establishing the academic city was submitted by a three-member committee consisting of Additional Chief Secretary K.M. Abraham, Calicut University Vice Chancellor Abdul Salam and Member of the State Planning Board G. Vijayaraghavan. They had visited Dubai Academic City for the purpose in December 2012.
The committee recommended that the Academic City of Kerala could be modelled on the lines of the Dubai Academic City. It could be established at the available land on the Calicut University campus or on locations near the Kerala University campus or the Knowledge City here.
It also proposed that Kerala organise global educational meet every year. The Kerala Academic City should be promoted globally on the lines of road shows and fairs being organised for the promotion of tourism and industrial investment.
The Dubai Academic City was playing an important role in developing a knowledge-based economy in the United Arab Emirates. A higher education centre of international standard, the Dubai Academic City had about 43,000 students from 137 countries.
