Concerned over the factors that ail higher education in Kerala, academicians have called for priority in overhauling curricula before ushering in innovation in governance.
The idea was first mooted by Kannur University Vice Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran at a deliberation on higher education organised as part of the Kerala Looks Ahead virtual conclave on Tuesday.
Taking a dim view of the quality of syllabi and questions posed during examinations, Prof. Ravindran attributed the lacunae to the lack of exposure of the teaching community to best practices within and outside the State. “While the syllabi of most universities are mostly long lists of topics, course objectives are seldom published on university websites,” he said.
He also highlighted the fact that Boards of Studies did not comprise scholars or experts from outside the respective universities.
The academician’s view was echoed by Shyam B. Menon, Professor of Education, Delhi University, and former Vice Chancellor of Ambedkar University, who called for a balance while constituting faculty. While its core community should comprise full-time teachers, an extended faculty should also be drawn from various fields on part-time or contractual basis.
Prof. Menon also cautioned against treating public higher education institutions as government departments. Universities must be allowed the autonomy to determine what their mission and thrust were from time to time.
While pointing out that the universities in the State were mostly multi-disciplinary, Kerala State Higher Education Council vice chairperson P.M. Rajan Gurukkal said departments functioned as ‘disciplinary silos’ that defeated the pursuit of attaining ‘interdisciplinarity’. He called for strengthening academic practices by ‘debureaucratisation and decentralisation’.
In his opening remarks, Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel said governments had a crucial role in establishing common platforms and data facilities that were accessible to all stakeholders. While the future of mankind relied on sharing data, an interdisciplinary approach was necessary to resolve crisis like that induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ronald J. Herring, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, elaborated on the potential of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in higher education. Calling such courses “the best educational experience”, he said they facilitated a cross-disciplinary approach in learning.
National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration Vice Chancellor N.V. Varghese; Daniel Little, Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan; Devika P. Madali, Professor, Indian Statistical Institute; Sukhadeo Thorat, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment executive vice president K.P. Sudheer; and Kerala State Planning Board member B.; also spoke.
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