Kerala govt may bring new law on sanctioning deemed universities

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government mulls introducing a new law to regulate the approval of deemed universities in the State. The policy framework regarding this would be finalized soon.

The Higher Education Council that was appointed to study about the feasibility of deemed universities have given a detailed report to the government. All the decisions in this matter would be taken based on the findings in this report.

Currently, there are two deemed universities in the state. The Kerala Kalamandalam is run by the state government, while the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research is an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Education.

There are 22 autonomous colleges too in the state. Many of these colleges could be transformed into deemed universities in the future.

As per the latest information available on the University Grants Commission’s Deemed to be University Monitoring Portal, two aided autonomous colleges and three government colleges in Kerala are eligible to become deemed universities.

The institutes require ‘No Objection Certificate’ issued by the state government to become deemed universities. As per the UGC’s Deemed to be University Portal, College of Engineering, Trivandrum, Thiruvananthapuram Government Women’s College, Kozhikode National Institute of Technology, Kochi Rajagiri College of Social Sciences and Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram are eligible to be deemed universities.

The Higher Education Council was appointed when a few aided colleges wrote to the government seeking their approval to become deemed universities.