Centres of Excellence to resonate CM’s vision for ‘Nava Keralam’
The Hindu
Centres of Excellence to be set up at a cost of ₹30 crore across the State
The government's decision to set up nearly 30 Centres of Excellence in various disciplines is expected to reflect Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's thrust on empowering the State to be an effective participant in the knowledge economy as envisaged in the 'Nava Keralam' vision document presented by him at the State conference of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
A core idea included in the vision document to enable the State's knowledge society to leapfrog into the knowledge economy was elaborated upon by the Chief Minister in his dialogue with the members of the Advisory Committee for setting up the Centres of Excellence held on February 26.
“The government sees the opening of Centres of Excellence as a fruitful strategy for the State’s higher education sector to set globally benchmarked standards of research and advance through discoveries and innovations. Our goal is to empower the State to be an effective participant in the knowledge economy by being proficient in globally important fields of research and in the forefront by evolving sustainable technologies for building a New Kerala, equitable and resilient”, he said.
The Chief Minister stated that students in the State gained admission in all national institutions and performed very well there. "We are not short of higher education institutions that attract good students. But lack of in-house excellence has always been a serious problem. It may be due to various limitations in the conduct of the institution, which are perhaps academically too unchallenging for the students to maximise their ability," he said.
A Centre of Excellence to be set up at a cost of ₹30 crore will be an autonomous institution of advanced research in a leading-edge area of specialisation, run by a team of highly-motivated experts engaged in the production, application, and publication of new knowledge. The government intends to pick the lead-innovators through higher-order recruitment criteria and fund them liberally to start the centres, according to the concept note prepared by the Kerala State Higher Education Council.
The domains of research will not be limited to Science and Technology or its interfaces alone. It will include Social Sciences, Humanities and Liberal Arts to carry out interdisciplinary research.