INDIA KERALA GOVT TO GIVE AUTONOMOUS STATUS TO EXISTING COLLEGES - TopicsExpress

INDIA KERALA GOVT TO GIVE AUTONOMOUS STATUS TO EXISTING COLLEGES IN THE STATE FROM NEXT YEAR 13TH NOVEMBER 2013 Autonomous colleges will start functioning in the state from next year, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Tuesday. He was inaugurating the zonal conference of Vice-Chancellors of various universities in Kochi on Tuesday. “Kerala is doing well in the primary education sector. But we are far behind in the higher education sector. Granting autonomous status to colleges is a part of the efforts initiated by the government to rectify this backwardness. The government has decided to start one more technical university in the state,” he said. Minister for Fisheries, Excise and Ports K Babu, who inaugurated the technical sessions at the conference, said the higher education system of India is the third largest in the world, but the country lacks efficient teachers. “Scarcity of qualified faculty is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately,” Babu said. Agriculture Minister K P Mohanan released the special edition of University News, the official newsletter of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU). The zonal conference is being held as a prelude to the AIU annual conference. This is one of the fifth zonal meeting of the AIU and heads of 104 universities in the region are expected to attend the Kochi conference, being hosted by the Kerala University of Health Sciences (Kuhas).Issues regarding management of universities in the region will be discussed at the conference. VCs will also look into the financial issues faced by universities. Shortage of efficient teachers, below average students, autonomous power for universities and lack of research papers are some of the the major issues being faced by universities. Suggestions put forward through discussions will be presented at the the 88th annual meet to be conducted at Osmania University, organisers said.