THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Labs, libraries and playgrounds of the College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) will soon begin to buzz with activities well past sundown as the eight-decades-old institution will become the first state-run college to extend its campus hours till 9pm.
Though institutions such as IITs and IIMs function well beyond class hours, the continuance of campus activities beyond sundown is a first for colleges in the state. Higher Education Minister R Bindu will inaugurate the extension of campus hours on February 15 at a programme named ‘Yaanam Deeptham’ and also launch a new students’ centre building and a central computing facility in the college.
The college had submitted a proposal to extend the campus hours to the government after V Suresh Babu took over as principal in April 2022. The higher education department which went through a detailed report from the college, on how the campus would function, responded positively to the proposal. The department has also reportedly asked other professional colleges too to explore the feasibility of replicating the CET model.
“The research, academic and physical education activities of the college are expected to improve a lot through this. All arrangements for making the laboratories, libraries, physical education and other facilities functional till 9pm has been made in the campus,” Suresh said.
Students who access fab labs for various research projects are expected to benefit the most. The college has around 1,400 post graduate students and around 250 researchers. In terms of physical education, students preparing for various sports competitions and fitness enthusiasts will find the access to playgrounds and fitness facilities till 9 pm helpful.
According to the principal, the class hours in CET will go on as usual from 9 am to 4 pm. The service of the faculty will be requisitioned after class hours if the need arises. However, he admitted that security in the campus needed to be improved further along with the extension of campus hours. Securing the campus with a compound wall on all sides and surveillance using more CCTV cameras are being planned.
“The extension of campus timings is part of the institution’s long term vision of functioning round-the-clock. However, there are many challenges for achieving this objective as ours is not residential campus like IITs and IIMs. We will come up with a detailed proposal soon for a residential campus model,” Suresh Babu said.