JOIN USFund for research recommended
The Commission headed by scientist K Kasturirangan stated that the fund can help in building an interface between State planning and research in higher education.
In all, the commission has submitted 26 recommendations spread across six focus areas. The commission has also finalised its draft recommendations for allowing increase in intake for UG courses in the existing colleges by permitting additional sections or shifts by making use of the existing infrastructure and teachers. All those colleges with a good track record of at least five years could be considered for this purpose.
The commission suggested that special scholarship scheme of Rs 10,000 be provided to all students who enrol for any undergraduate course apart from engineering and medical in 39 most backward taluks of State as identified by Nanjundappa Committee on Regional Imbalances. The commission has suggested the introduction of unconventional courses in Medical Electronics, Aviation, Marine Engineering, Solar and Wind Energy in select industrial training institutes of the State with an initial seed assistance provided by the government.
The commission will discuss the recommendations with the secretaries of the departments concerned for their comments and feedback. Subsequently, they will be presented to the ministries concerned for necessary action and implementation.
Following are the some of the recommendation of the commission:
Build excellence in the educational system
*To have a functioning and an effective school library with appropriate books and audio-video materials for the use of students and teachers in at least 10 per cent of the government schools, in every educational block of the state during 2009-10.
*To transform two of the existing universities into model universities in order to make them trendsetters for others.
*To strengthen and empower DSERT, DIETs, BRCs and CRCs by providing them necessary autonomy for catering to the unique needs of a district, block or cluster
Promote creation of knowledge
*To develop and depute one mobile internet van in every district of the State for the purposes of creating awareness and interest in online availability of knowledge resources.
*Create wikipedia type of portal in Kannada which will become the encyclopedia of all information in Kannada.
Improve the leadership and management of educational and knowledge institutions
*To rank all colleges (UG & PG) teaching Humanities, Social Sciences, Law and Management at the university level to start with and in the entire State subsequently.
*To increase Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education from 11.6% to 15%
*Educational Institutions performing extremely well be awarded a one-time grant of Rs 10 lakhs in the select backward districts of the state
*To introduce uniform academic calendar with specific dates for all universities of Karnataka
Promote Knowledge Applications
*To design and develop an on-line catalogue of all Kannada books and materials and other knowledge resources available in the state along with their location and availability.
*To design and develop catalogue and digitisation of medical manuscripts of the state to bring into light and enrich the traditional knowledge heritage of the state.
*Making government an effective service provider
*To make amendments to the existing policy on apprenticeship in the State in order to make it to align with the changes in job market.
Promote inter sectoral interaction
*To impart skill training in retail business, communication skills, life skills, data entry operation, entrepreneurship to the present students pursuing BA course on an experimental basis in two districts of the state