Thiruvananthapuram: Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel has said that the invasion by private universities with profit motives can be curbed only by improving the quality of the universities in the state.
He was speaking at a conference held to discuss the formation of State Assessment and Accreditation Centre (SAAC) here on Thursday.
Mr Jaleel said that this could be achieved to an extent by improving the ranking of institutions from the state in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The institutions have also been able to publish the results of the examinations in a time -bound manner recently, said Mr Jaleel.
He hoped that the classes for higher education institutions in the state could be reopened along with schools. The government has decided to create 1300 new teaching posts in the aided colleges. Of them, half will be sanctioned during this academic year and the rest in the next academic year.
Only colleges with SAAC accreditation will get new courses, additional seats and financial assistance. SAAC will function under the Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC).
Accreditation of more than one agency was advantageous to higher education institutions. The main objective of the regulation was to permit the formation of assessment and accrediting agencies, government or semi-government agencies, apart from the existing accreditation institutions, like National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).
