Kochi: The Mahatma Gandhi University which is bursting at its seams at the main campus at Priyadarshini Hills in Athirampuzha in Kottayam is toying with the idea of starting satellite centres and the 25 acres at Muttom in Thodupuzha which is at its disposal is said to be identified as the first in this series.
The 25 acres is adjacent to the University College of Engineering at Muttom run by the Centre for Professional and Advanced Studies (CPAS) society formed to run SF institutions detached from the direct control of the varsity.
“The university is currently situated on 122 acres at the Priyadarshini Hills campus and there is hardly any scope for environment-friendly expansion on the campus now. Hence, it has to look for satellite campuses and such campuses can make it more vibrant also. Already Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, has such satellite centres,” said a senior official of the university.
He said that the university which secured 34th rank in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) this year will get '50 crore under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) programme of MHRD. The state government arm KIIFB has also sanctioned '135 crore. “These funds can be used for the expansion programmes,” said the official.
He said that already Kannur University which was established much later than MGU has 40 university departments while Kerala University has even more departments. “MGU continues to be an affiliating varsity while it has only 18 statutory departments and there is a lot of scope for
expansion for this prestigious university,” said the official. He said that the issue will come up for deliberations in the Syndicate soon.
Apart from the statutory departments, the main campus of the university comprises administrative block, Pareeksha Bhavan, inter-university centres, inter-school centres and convergence academia complex, among others.
