Higher education curriculum will prioritise employment, research: Kerala Minister
The Kerala government's approach to higher education stresses both employment readiness and research excellence, says Minister for Higher Education R. Bindu.
She highlighted that the introduction of four-year honours degree programmes was a step in this direction.
The Minister was speaking at a seminar titled 'Career Planning and Management' organised by the Higher Education department as part of the Ente Keralam exhibition and expo.
Dr. Bindu noted that Kerala had initiated a transformative shift in education, aiming at enhancing students' employability and entrepreneurial capabilities. The government had implemented a credit-based curriculum allowing students to explore diverse subjects and had established incubation centres in colleges to support innovative business ideas.
She encouraged students to pursue entrepreneurship and cited a few successful student-led ventures as examples. 'Students should have the freedom to learn according to their interests,' she said, adding that institutions like ASAP (Additional Skill Acquisition Programme) were offering skill development courses in cutting-edge fields, including Artificial Intelligence.
'Kerala's new educational vision is a response to the need for a knowledge economy and aims at finding solutions to contemporary challenges using intellectual capital,' the Minister said.
V.P. Jagathy Raj, Vice-Chancellor of Sreenarayanaguru Open University, delivered the keynote presentation. Winners of the Ente Keralam-themed quiz were felicitated.
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