Govt approves additional undergraduate/PG seats

Thiruvananthapuram: Anticipating a considerable spike in the number of candidates seeking admission to undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in various arts and science colleges in the state this year, state higher education department has issued orders approving additional seats in these higher education institutions.
The order issued to this effect said the department was expecting unprecedented demand for undergraduate and PG programmes in 2020-21 academic year as a result of the peculiar situation following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s expected that there could be a considerable increase in the number of applicants. The better performance of state universities in NAAC, NIRF rankings too would nudge students to opt universities (in Kerala),” the order said. The possibility of a section of students not opting for higher education in colleges outside the state following the pandemic was what prompted the government to increase the seats, the order explained to substantiate the decision.
As per the government decision, colleges may increase seats up to 70 for undergraduate programmes. For PG science, the numbers can go up to 25 and for arts the ceiling can be 25. At present, seat strength for undergraduate courses ranges up to 60. For PG courses, currently there is no uniformity in the number of seats as it ranges from 12 to 20, depending on the course and college. The government, however, made it clear that increase in number of seats should be made without inviting additional financial burden to the government.
Universities would have to evaluate the infrastructure facilities and academic capacity before approving additional seats. There are 71 government, 197 aided and 600 unaided arts and science colleges in the state. It would be up to the colleges concerned to decide whether they need to add new seats.
However, there were criticisms from academic circles about the government decision to announce the seat increase, which according to them was a decision to be taken by the respective universities only. “It’s strange that state government has no qualms in issuing orders that undermine the autonomy of universities. If the government wanted to fulfill its social obligation, it should have better requested or recommended universities to consider the option of seat increase. If this practice continues, our universities would soon metamorphose themselves into mere sub-offices of the government department,” said a former vice-chancellor, requesting anonymity.