The Academic Council of Kerala University, which met here on Thursday, decided to recognise the traditional degree courses till doctoral level of 150 universities from various countries on a reciprocal basis.
The universities were selected from the Times Higher Education listing on world’s best universities. 58 of the selected universities are from the US, 22 from the UK, 11 from Netherlands, seven from Germany, six each from Switzerland, Canada and Australia, five from Sweden, four from France, three each from Denmark and Korea, two each from Belgium, Singapore and China and one each from Finland, Ireland, South Africa, Taiwan and Israel.
The Council referred the matter of recognising the MA and MTech courses of Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Thuckalay, to the PG Board of Studies. The decision on recognising the BA History course of Alagappa University and MA Modern Arabic degree course of Madras University, both in distance education streams, was left to the board of studies. The MSc Applied Microbiology course of Madras University will be recognised for higher education purpose. The MSc Aquaculture course of MG University was denied recognition.
The Council recommended to the university to recognise the Physics and Chemistry departments of Fatima Mata National College, Kollam, as research centres. It also recommended to recognise the Economics Department of the Government Women’s College, Thiruvananthapuram, Physics Department of Bishop Moore College, Mavelikkara and Chemistry Department of SD College, Alappuzha, as research centres.
The Cashew Export Promotion Council, Kollam, was recommended as a research centre in microbiology and biotechnology.
The Council deferred the proposal for recognising the Prof N Krishna Pillai Foundation, Thiruvananthapuram, as a research centre. The Applied Statistics (regular) degree course of Calicut University will be recognised. The BSc, BEd Special Education and Mathematics (regular) courses of Avinashilingam Institute for Home Sciences will be given recognition for employment purpose.
The MSc Home Science (Food and Nutrition) degree course of Women’s Christian College, Chennai and BA Veena (regular) course of Calicut University will also be given recognition.