The University of Kerala has planned a significant revision of its course curricula to make them outcome-based and research-oriented. It has also set sights on encouraging research projects to foster academia-industry collaborations.
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Such aspirations find mention in the university’s annual Budget for the 2022-23 fiscal presented by the Syndicate subcommittee on finance convener K.H. Babujan at a Senate meeting chaired by Vice Chancellor V.P. Mahadevan Pillai on Friday.
Mr. Babujan, who undertook the responsibility for the sixth consecutive time, presented a balanced Budget that anticipated a revenue and expenditure of ₹771.29 crore.
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An allocation of ₹50 lakh has been made to revise the syllabus and examinations of postgraduate courses in its teaching departments to accord priority for research. A similar allocation has been made to reform syllabus to usher in outcome-based learning in affiliated colleges.
The university will also organise a ‘researchers’ festival’ at the Karyavattom campus for an outlay of ₹50 lakh to enable a convergence of research guides and scholars in affiliated colleges and teaching departments. The University College of Engineering, Karyavattom, will be upgraded as an engineering research centre with an allocation of ₹40 lakh to foster collaborations with the university departments of computer sciences, future studies, optoelectronics and communication, and artificial intelligence.
Kerala University will explore the possibility of establishing offshore campuses abroad, including in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, after obtaining approval from the Central and State government, and the University Grants Commission.
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Two hostels having 125 rooms each will be constructed on the Karyavattom campus to accommodate 250 female and male students each.
An amount of ₹50 lakh has been earmarked to promote faculty exchange with universities in the country and elsewhere to boost academic and research activities. Allocations of ₹2 crore each have been made to transform the Karyavattom campus as both ‘carbon-free and green’ and ‘model’. The first endeavour involved tapping solar energy and bringing down electricity consumption from the present annual usage of 19.41 lakh kW.
The university hopes to create a model campus at Karyavattom through adequate infrastructure facilities and by developing a ‘Navodhana Veedhi’ (renaissance road) as a tribute to the social reformation movement in the State and its leaders.
Some of the other announcements include the creation of a virtual Information Technology (IT) cadre, opening up the facilities of the Central Laboratory for Instrumentation and Facilitation (CLIF) for all researchers, including those from affiliated colleges, establishing a permanent valuation and a question paper storage centre on the Karyavattom campus, and nurturing a ‘Smrithi Vanam’ on the campus in memory of the late poet and environmental activist Sugathakumari.