Kerala University to delve deeper into research activities

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The University of Kerala envisages a master plan to make a paradigm shift in academics by giving thrust to research activities. The new move comes in the wake of the varsity losing this year’s Chancellor’s award due to low research output and improper fund utilisation.  As part of its first step, the new Vice-Chancellor V P Mahadevan Pillai has requested the state government to fill the vacancies of faculty members in the research sector. 

Mahadevan Pillai told ‘Express’ the preparation of masterplan is underway for strengthening the research sector and it would soon be submitted to the government for final ratification. He also raised apprehensions over the acute shortage of faculty members in the research sector which has been a handicap of the varsity for years. 

“In the last syndicate meeting we have decided to make our varsity as a centre of academic excellence. In the research sector, there is a huge dearth of faculty members. There are over 110 vacancies and efforts are on to fill them. I have also recommended the government to create 50 more posts as several new departments have started functioning on the university campus here. There is an urgent need for appointing teachers or tutors in the research sector. Then only, more students will come and more PhD thesis papers would be published.  Hence the process has begun and a comprehensive plan is underway to boost the research sector. Once the appointment process is over, we expect to admit at least 600 to 900 students,” Pillai said. 

He also pointed out that the university officers are planning to strengthen the plus points and to convert the minus points to plus at the earliest. The Internal Quality Assurance Cell of the university has begun efforts to improve the quality of the academics. Recently, many colleges under Kerala University lost their NAAC rankings and this made the university reconstitute the academic system especially the research segment. However, he expressed satisfaction on the infrastructure of the university. 

Faculty members in the university departments/affiliated colleges having a doctorate, with minimum two years of teaching/research experience after acquiring the doctorate and having a minimum of one post-PhD research publication in journals, are eligible to supervise the research work of a PhD candidate. 

Earlier, the varsity had begun a dedicated web portal for research activities. The portal was launched in 2011 and the usage of the portal is also very low due to a shortage of faculty members and students.
 MG University was declared as the winner of Chancellor’s Award-2018 due to its fund utilisation at the research sector. The winner gets a cash prize of `5 crore.  

The new move comes in the wake of the varsity losing this year’s Chancellor’s award due to low research output and improper fund utilisation. 
A comprehensive plan is underway to boost the research sector  
University officers planning to strengthen the plus points and to convert the minus points to plus