THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has given the nod to the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) to implement various development projects worth close to Rs 100 crore this year in the higher education sector.
A Rs 20-crore e-journal consortium project to make academic journals and databases accessible to researchers and DigiCol project, also worth Rs 20 crore, to bridge the digital divide on campuses are the major initiatives, Higher Education Minister R Bindu said.
The major allocation has also been made for the Chief Minster's Nava Kerala Postdoctoral Fellowships and the creation of a common digital platform for academic resources in libraries, the minister added.
The proposed e-journal consortium is expected to be of immense help to researchers after the University Grants Commission (UGC) stopped free subscriptions to e-journals. As part of bridging the digital divide in higher educational institutions, Moodle Open Source Learning Management System will be implemented in all colleges.
The project to be implemented in association with the Kerala Digital University is aimed at promoting self-learning among students. Digicol is the preliminary step towards the implementation of the 'Digital Ennoblement of Higher Education' project that aims to bring the processes of teaching, learning, assessment and examination under a common learning management system.
A sum of Rs 15 crore, to be allocated for CM's Nava Kerala Post Doctoral Fellowship project, will be used to provide Rs 50,000 per month (Rs one lakh per month in the second year) to researchers for carrying out research that contributes towards the state's development. The fellowship was also instituted to utilise advanced research for hastening the pace of projects under the Rebuild Kerala Initiative.
Kerala Academic Library Network (KALNET) which links academic resources of various universities and libraries will get a major boost with the Rs 10 crore allocation. The fund will be used primarily to bring libraries in affiliated colleges also under the KALNET platform.
SHOT IN THE ARM
KSHEC to implement projects worth Rs 99.95 cr in the higher education sector
Funding of Rs 20 cr for e-journal consortium project to help researchers
Networking of libraries to get a major boost with Rs 10 crore allocation