Higher Education Minister R. Bindu has said the government will appoint three commissions to overhaul the higher education system.
Replying to a discussion on demands for grants in the revised Budget for 2021-22 at the Assembly on Tuesday, Dr. Bindu said a higher education reforms commission will be entrusted with recommending steps to modernise the sector and prioritise programmes.
A university laws reforms commission will be tasked with assisting the government in reforming outdated university statutes and Acts. Thirdly, an examination reforms commission will be formed to overhaul the examination system.
She added that a common admission system would be implemented for all State universities. By way of reform, candidates who would be allotted unique code numbers would be able to opt for any course provided by universities in accordance with the eligibility norms. Mark lists and certificates would be made available on cloud-based platform DigiLocker. The facility would serve to simply certificate verification and, thereby, foreign students and those who aspired to travel abroad for work.
While the government had announced 30 inter-university centres in the budget, Dr. Bindu said, steps were under way to upgrade seven centres as centres of excellence this year. These included the Inter University Centre for IPR Studies, International Commercial and Environment Law, and the Inter University Centre for Space Sciences at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), Institute of Multidisciplinary Programme in Social Sciences and Institute of Intensive Research in Basic Sciences at Mahatma Gandhi University, Inter University Centre for Renewable Energy at Kerala University, Inter University Centre for Diversity Studies at Kannur University, and the Centre for Malabar Studies at Calicut University.
A research enhancement council was being considered to coordinate and improve quality research being undertaken in research centres at universities and elsewhere in the State.
A ranking system that incorporated the ranking criteria adopted by global ranking agencies, including the Academic Ranking of World Universities (or Shanghai Ranking) and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, would be introduced for universities and colleges, Dr. Bindu said.
While the higher education institutions would be ranked on the basis of academics, research, citation, international linkages and revenue from industries, their achievements over five years would also be factored in, the Minister said.