The appointment of teachers to aided colleges in Kerala should be brought under the purview of the Public Service Commission (PSC), the J.A.K. Tareen Committee, set up by the Kerala State Higher Education Council (HEC) to suggest reforms in the State’s education policy, has recommended.
This, the committee’s report submitted to the council says, should be done to “prevent unfair practices, nepotism and to ensure the high standards of teachers selected.”
The selection committees of self-financing colleges should have a representative of the PSC and a nominee of the HEC, the committee recommends.
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There should be separate common Acts for professional universities, State universities, and for the State’s distance education university. A State higher education tribunal should be set up, professor Tareen told a press conference here on Tuesday.
There should be separate universities for nursing and paramedical courses, for engineering, for dentistry, law, teacher education, pharmacy, and for traditional systems of medicine (Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha).
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The existing system of affiliating colleges to a university should be done away with. Instead ‘college cluster multi-campus universities’ (CCMCU) should be set up. Under such a system, a group of colleges would come together to form a cluster and these autonomous campuses together would form a university.
Each CCMCU would have a centralised university office system, a centralised examination wing, and an academic monitoring system, the committee’s report reads.
Model colleges
Kerala should establish at least 10 model women’s colleges complete with hostel facilities. At least one women’s university should be established. All women’s colleges should be brought under this university, not as affiliated colleges but as separate campuses.
The State should also set up community colleges where skill-based courses would be on offer. There should be a Kerala State University for Distance Education.
DEC approved
Distance education courses offered by the universities should be approved by the Distance Education Council and the degrees thus awarded should be distinguishable from those offered after regular programmes.
The system of private registration of candidates for university examinations should be phased out once Kerala establishes an open university.
The Higher Education Council Act should be amended to give more powers and responsibilities to the council which is now only an advisory body, the committee recommends.