THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is raining money for higher education sector in the State. The plan allocation for colleges from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the 11th Plan is a whopping Rs 100 crore, almost four times higher than that of the previous plan allocation. The plan allocation for the previous plan period was only Rs 28 crore.
This steep hike in the plan allocation is also visible in the case of universities also. Take the case of Kerala University. The plan allocation for the present plan period has been fixed at Rs 27 crore, which again presents a four-fold increase from the previous plan allocation of Rs 7 crore. The same is the case with Calicut University and the Cochin University for Science and Technology (CUSAT).
The plan allocation of the Calicut University this year is Rs 15 crore as against Rs 3 crore during the last plan period.
The plan allocation for CUSAT has also shown a significant increase. The plan allocation for CUSAT has gone up from Rs 5.7 crore during the last plan period to 17.22 crore during the current plan period.
The reason for the sudden increase in the plan allocation is simple. The Directorate of Collegiate Education organised a series of orientation programmes for government college principals on how to submit the application for the release of funds.
Kerala University Academic Staff College Director Jacob John Kattakkayam told `Express’ that Government principals were given proper training. And the results are evident. For the first time ever, Government colleges could secure higher number of projects funded by the UGC than aided colleges.
Kattakkayam coordinated the orientation programme and also acted as the liaison between Kerala University and the UGC.
He said that the colleges were given information on different schemes coming under merged schemes and general development funds. They were also given guidelines about specific schemes like development of ladies hostels, intensive training programme for backward classes and NET coaching for colleges with PG courses, he said.
Calicut University Registrar T.K. Narayanan said that one of the aspects which led to the increase in the plan allocation was the quality of faculty and academic performance. The university also has a high achievement in terms of parameters like annual PhD production, use of internet and development of academic software. Moreover, the botanic garden of the University is also of high quality.
CUSAT Finance Officer Sebastian Ouseph said that one of the aspects which led to the high funding was the increased thrust to higher education.