Kozhikode: This could be emblematic of the poor state of higher education in Kerala. None of its universities could achieve the quality score necessary for offering online courses. The universities are now hoping that the norms would be relaxed.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had invited proposals from eligible Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in the country to offer courses in the online mode, including degree courses, from the academic year 2019-2020. The new bid by the Ministry of Human Resources Department (MHRD) is expected to improve the country's gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education from 2 per cent to at least 30 per cent. The objective is to make higher education as easily accessible as cash has now become to a bank account holder.

To ensure that quality would not be compromised, the ministry had set a fairly high National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) rating as the basic standard an HEI has to achieve to offer online courses. Meaning, only those Universities which have a NAAC grade of minimum A+ will be eligible. A+ is the second highest of the eight grades evolved by NAAC; A+ has a point average range of 3.26 and 3.50. The ‘grade’ is the outcome of the NAAC assessment process. Though it is not an absolute measure of quality, it is a relative indicator of where an institution stands in the quality continuum.

An alarm beep was set off in the state when none of its universities managed to achieve the cut-off NAAC grade necessary to offer online courses. Nonetheless, the universities in the state are hopeful. They might not have the necessary NAAC grade but top university authorities say that they easily meet other criteria and an inadequate NAAC score would not be much of an issue. The institutions can submit applications from January 7 to 31. Though they can offer courses – six months certificate course and one year diploma, the examination would be conducted at the supervision of an examiner.

In Calicut University, the Academic Council had agreed to upload 28 courses, developed by them. According to vice-chancellor K Mohammed Basheer, the University has approached the government for the successful upload of the online courses. “The state government agreed to take up the issue with the MHRD, and they are hopeful that all issues would be sorted out. We already have UGC approval for courses in the distance education mode. All of them can be provided online, too. While we applied for the distance education mode course also, these rules were there and we could overcome them. So, we expect that everything will turn out positively for the online courses also,” Basheer said.

Kannur and Kerala universities also responded that they are hopeful of surmounting the NAAC hurdle. Kannur University vice-chancellor Gopinath Ravindran said that instructions were given to the teachers to present proposals for online courses. “The implementation part will take some time anyway, so we are hopeful that the university can successfully proceed with the courses,” he said.

VP Mahadevan Pillai, vice-chancellor of Kerala University, was also optimistic that at least by the next academic year, if not this month, they would be able to start the online courses. “Currently three to four courses are ready, and we are hoping to increase the number to at least 30. Kerala University has been consistently getting good score in the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF). So that would be an added advantage for us,” he said.