Thiruvananthapuram: Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, has won the second Chancellor's Award (2015-16). The award, which is the brainchild of Governor Justice P. Sathasivam, who is also the chancellor of the universities of the state, consists of Rs 5 crore, a citation and a gold-plated trophy.
The prize money, provided by the state government in its budget, is meant for capital expenditure for any major project in the university. The award will be presented shortly.
The university was chosen for the award based on the marks out of a total of 600 scored by it for its performance in broad components such as academics (225), teaching and pedagogy methods (60),students profile and achievements (110), academic governance (80) and other achievements (125). MGU got an overall score of 370.31 points.
Marks were awarded on the basis of a list of 37 criteria related to the performance in these areas. The quality of performance of the vice-chancellors before the selection committee also played a role in the awarding of final marks.
As many as 11 out of 13 universities in the state submitted the applications online. Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University for Art and Culture and the Dr. APJ Adbul Kalam Technological University did not participate.
The selection committee chairman was B. Srinivas, Principal Secretary to Government, Higher Education Department. The members were Suresh Das, Executive Director, Kerala State Council of Science, Technology and Environment, Thiruvananthapuram, Kulbhushan Balooni, Director-in-charge, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, V. Ramakri shnan, Director, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Thiruvananthapuram, and Rose Varghese, Vice-Chancellor, National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi. Davendra Kumar Dhodawat, Secretary to Governor, was the convener.
