The Higher Education scenario in the Southern States of India have scaled new heights. In all spheres of education, the knowledge par excellence being imparted, has encompassed not only generic degrees but also vocational and technical education. Several government initiatives, public-private partnerships, and industry-institution collaborations have proved to be an icing on the cake. With the escalation in educational achievements, Digital Learning magazine brings to you such initiatives and achievements, impact and challenges f higher education with specific focus on Southern Indian States.
Higher education equips the student with requisite skills for furthering their career growth. Some of the selected education best practices in Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and amil Nadu have been highlighted in this report that have the potential of being replicated all cross the country.
KARNATAKA
Karnataka is widely acknowledged to be the leader in Information Technology (IT). The Millennium Biotech Policy, 2000 introduced by the Karnataka government seeks to lead the tate into the next revolution in Biotechnology. Karnataka already has the training and 
nowledge base necessary to drive the revolution. The immediate challenge is to nurture nnovation, promote entrepreneurship and facilitate effective technology transfer to the end sers. Various policies of the government have sought to promote the same. Karnataka has nparalleled human resources in various areas of technology. The state accounts for about 15% share of higher education in the country. It is also the pioneer in liberalising higher education. Out of the 82 engineering colleges, only 2 are in the government sector.
The Millenn ium Biotech Policy, 2000
Karnataka’s Biotech Policy, inaugurated in 2001, has spured the growth of the biotech ndustry in the State and encouraged extensive research and development in the various pportunities the field offers. The objectives of the Millennium Biotech Policy include: To pread awareness about the investment opportunities in biotechnology, genomics, ioinformatics, biofuels, contract research, etc., to the entrepreneurial community. To ustain and maintain the present pre-eminent position of Karnataka and Bangalore in the ield of biotechnology. To outline a set of incentives and concessions for the biotechnology industry to attract investments to the State. To provide specific infrastructure as well as nhance human resources for the development of biotechnology. To encourage the growth of •
bioinformatics in Karnataka. To provide an appropriate institutional framework to achieve all these objectives.
Premier In stitutions
The premier position of Bangalore in the knowledge segment has been due to its strong radition in education and in science and technology. Institutions dedicated to, or with trengths in, the biological sciences include: the Indian Institute of Science, National Centre or Biological Sciences (TIFR), NIMHANS, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific esearch, Central Food Technological Research Institute (Mysore), Kidwai Memorial Institute f Oncology, Manipal Institute for Neurological Diseases, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and the University of Agricultural Sciences.
In dian In stitute of Science
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) was established in the days of the Maharaja of Mysore in collaboration with Tatas in 1909. It has been ranked as the 18th best university in the world. he institute has a number of departments in various areas of biology and biotechnology: Bio-Chemistry, Micro Biology & Cell Biology, Molecular Reproduction, evelopment & Genetics, Molecular Biophysics, and Ecological Sciences.
Jawahar lal Nehru Centr e for Advan ced Scient ific Resear ch
The Centre was established in 1989 by the Department of Science and Technology to commemorate the birth centenary of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The Institute’s main objective is to promote scientific research at the highest level in frontier and disciplinary areas of science and engineering.
Nat iona l Centr e for Biological Sciences
The National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore is a new center of the Tata institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. The mandate of NCBS is basic research in rontier areas of biology. The research interests of the faculty are in the following areas: iochemistry, Biophysics & Bioinformatics, Genetics & Development, Cellular Organisation & ignaling, and Neurobiology.
Biotechnology Centr e The Centre is the first of its kind in the country in the public sector, aiming at integrating all spheres of biotechnology for the cause of horticulture development. The activities of the entre include: large scale cloning, in vitro conservation, crop improvement, quality control acilities for biofertilizers, biocontrol agents and biopesticides, residual analysis of chemical esticides and fertilizers, soil, water and leaf analysis, training in mushroom handling & rocessing and dissemination of information on horticultural biotechnology.
IBM Centr e of Excellence
The Government of Karnataka signed a IBM India to promote e-learning initiative based on Open Source Technology. Under the MoU, IBM has developed an e-learning platform for Board or IT Education Standards (BITES) for higher technical and educational institutions in arnataka. IBM has also participated, along with BITES and Indian Institute of Information echnology-Bangalore (IIITB), in creating IBM Centre of Excellence devoted to the evelopment of Open Source Software. This industry-institution partnership has helped everage local alent through educational programmes and has brought existing syllabus, aculty and students on par with the emerging technologies in IT.
KERALA
Kerala’s achievements in social development and quality of life are, no doubt, inspiring and ncouraging. The state has achieved a human development index comparable to the developed countries of the World. The state tops the literacy charts and has made constant fforts to rapidly advance in the higher education segment during the last few years. Kerala as many renowned institutions for providing higher education and training. Some f these nstitutions include – Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, National Institute of echnology, Trichy, Cochin University of Science and Technology and University of Kerala. Kera la Educat ion Gr id The Kerala Education Grid is a major project undertaken by the state overnment to provide quality education to those who are pursuing higher studies. Planned in hases with participation from premier institutions and universities of Kerala, the Grid will ultimately link all the educational institutions across the state. The Kerala Education Grid is n the process of getting deployed in the colleges of Kerala for improving the quality of higher ducation. It provides affordable and pedagogically effective online assisted learning nvironment for the colleges in any subject. The Grid proposes to address the problem of roviding quality education in colleges and universities using Technology Enhanced Learning and Teaching (TELT) by involving the teachers themselves as much as possible. It establishes network of Education Servers across colleges linked to a few Resource Centres [EGRC] and a central Education Grid Operations Centre [EGOC]. The teachers and the colleges are supported by the Education Grid project to develop quality content through its services and invoke such educational processes that effectively apply TELT methods. In this endeavour, the project draws from large volumes of content available or getting generated over the Internet or by the national level projects such as the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning [NPTEL]. E-learn ing Centr e in Kera laApart from the Kerala Education rid, global computer major Sun Microsystems has set up a Centre of Excellence in Kerala to reate a virtual university for linking all the colleges in the state for e-learning. The tie up with Sun has provided advanced information systems for the current and future needs of the cademia, government and industry. The Sun facility at the Thiruvananthapurambased Indian IIITM- K is a part of the ambitious Kerala Education Grid Project. The Centre of xcellence in Kerala is Sun’s fifth computing laboratory in educational institutions worldwide; he other four Sun facilities are in the United Kingdom, HongKong, Singapore and New ealand. While IIITM-K is the hub of the Education Grid, Sun’s Advanced Computing Laboratory will support the academic and research activities through high-end Sun servers, oftware and high quality course contents on advanced topics. The broadband fibre optic etwork being set up by the private telecom players across the state will act as the information backbone of the Grid. ‘Technical Educat ion’ hub in Malapp uram Recently, a INR 500-crore Technical Education’ hub has been proposed in Malappuram, Kerala in a bid to make the State a much sought after destination for higher education and knowledge industries. The ub, roposed by Infrastructures Kerala Ltd. (InKEL), is expected to have an International Institute of Technology, Institute of Management, International School and a world- class ulti ervices Park
ANDH RA PRADESH
Andhra Pradesh has been regarded as a hot destination for higher education both for students within the state and outside. The jurisdiction of quality education, available at every stage spreads over almost every village and town of the state. The quality and up to date education provided by the higher education institutes of Andhra Pradesh encapsulates the overall education policies and scenario, making them transparent to the people inside and outside the arena of the state. Andhra Pra desh Stat e Council of Higher Educat ion (APSCHE ) The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) came into existence on 20th May, 1988 through an Act of the State Legislature to advise the Government in matters relating to Higher Education in the State and to oversee its development with perspective planning and for matters connected therewith. APSCHE, the first of its kind in the country,
set up as per the recommendations of the National Education Policy 1986, is primarily a coordinating and liaisoning body between the University Grants Commission, the State Government and the Universities. It is the general duty of the Council to coordinate and determine standards in institutions of Higher Education or Research and Scientific and Technical Institutions in accordance with the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission from time to time. Departm ent of Higher Educat ion The Department of Higher Education deals with matters relating to education at various levels in the State. The main functions of the Department are to: Advise the Government in matters relating to higher education in the State Coordinate and determine standards in institutions of Higher Education or Research and Scientific and Technical Institutions in accordance with the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission from time to time Prepare consolidated programmes in the sphere of Higher Education in the State in accordance with the guidelines that may be issued by the University Grants Commission Promote cooperation and coordination of the Educational Institutions among themselves and explore the scope for
interaction with industry Devise steps to improve the standards of examinations conducted by the Universities and suggest necessary reforms, and so on
TAMIL NADU
Traditionally, Tamil Nadu has held a preeminent position in a number of fields of basic sciences, mathematics, literature and economic sciences. The scientific contribution of the academics and researchers from Tamil Nadu has received worldwide appreciation. Considering the scenario of higher education in the State, it can be established that the educational activities have increased manifold over the last few years. Major cities including Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichi and Madurai have established themselves as forerunners in the field of higher education. Here, we find some of India’s best professional
Tamil Nadu has the second largest intake capacity in the country in engineering and
polytechnic education. The intake capacity of engineering colleges has reached the level of 35,230 and that of the polytechnics has reached 47,500
educational institutions including: Indian Institute of Technology-Chennai, Madras Institute f echnology, Anna University, Christian Medical College-Vellore, Annamalai University, IT-Trichy. There are certain factors that make Tamil Nadu a preferred destination for higher education. It has adequate educational institutions, efficient and committed teachers, strong ducation policy of the government and infrastructural facilitates for professional education. he participation of central and state-run universities in the educational movement is worth oting. The varsities have set guidelines for various purposes including diverse academic eaching, admission and infrastructural development. Nat iona l Programm e on Technology n han ced earn ing
The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning is an initiative by all
seven Indian Institutes of Technology
(IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore for creating course contents in engineering and science. The video courses in the programme would comprise of approximately 40 one-hour lectures for each course and the web supplements would contain ufficient materials that a teacher can cover in approximately 40 lecture-hours. The contents ould be based on the model curriculum suggested by All India Council for Technical ducation (AICTE) and the syllabi f major affiliating Universities such as Anna University (Tamil Nadu), Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (Andhra Pradesh) and Visvesvaraya Technological University (Karnataka). The first phase of the project was ormally launched on September 3, 2006. Policy Note of the Higher Educat ion Departm ent ccording to the Policy Note of the HigherEducation Department, the Government of Tamil Nadu has devoted special attention for strengthening the higher education system in the State to respond to the new and emerging demands. Initiatives of the Tamil Nadu Government have been to focus on consolidating the existing educationalfacilities and infrastructure and to provide balanced attention towards technological education as well as high quality arts and science programmes. The graduates of the technical institutions in Tamil Nadu have shown outstanding performance in the industry, both in India and abroad.
The policy of the Government is to consolidate this capacity and improve the
quality of the output from these institutions,
rather than increasing the number of new institutions. For this purpose, the Government has initiated programmes for upgradation of the engineering curriculum and syllabi at frequent intervals in order to capture the new developments in the technologies of the market place.
The recent trend of declining quality of arts and science education has been taken into account by the government. Many of the postgraduate programmes in arts and sciences, even in prestigious institutions have failed to attract the brightest students. Recognizing this trend, the Tamil Nadu Government has undertaken special initiatives to maintain its leading role in the field of arts and sciences in the coming years. For this purpose, special attention has been devoted to revamp and restructure the postgraduate arts and science programmes in the colleges and universities of Tamil Nadu. Higher Educat ion for the Un derpr ivileged The Sowbhagya Higher Education programme in Chennai District, Tamil Nadu, supports students from the underprivileged sections who have progressed to higher education such as college or a diploma programme. This initiative was introduced in 2003 by Asha-Silicon Valley’s Support- A-Child programme. In 2003, there were 5 students pursuing college education in
fields such as Information Technology and Commerce. Today, the number has increased several folds.
The IC T Academy
The ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTACT), with its headquarter in Chennai, is a non-profit
autonomous organisation, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975.
Tamil Nadu’s ICT Services and Manufacturing commands a share of 11% in total in India, and it aspires to capture 25% claiming the strongest hold in this respective sector. The governing body of ICTACT comprises of utonomous board of directors with representations from the Government of Tamil Nadu, leading companies in the ICT industry with presence in Tamil Nadu, leading educational Institutions and Industrial bodies such as CII, NASSCOM and Mait. It trains students in significant industry related courses. The novel initiative undertaken by the Tamil Nadu government strives to streamline the education pattern with the needs and challenges of the ICT industry, meeting the international standards. It would assist Tamil Nadu in a big way to claim a stake hold on being the largest ICT Services and ICT Manufacturing provider in India with a share of 25% targeted by 2011. Additionally, it would
also boost the direct and indirect employment in the ICT sector both in Tamil Nadu specifically and in India at large. ICTACT is sure to have an indelible impression revolutionizing the education system. The higher education programme is a collaboration between Asha-Silicon Valley and Asha-Chennai. Asha-SV provides funding and works with Asha-Chennai to monitor the student’s progress; while Asha- Chennai administers funding and provides ongoing counseling to the students. It can be easily said that higher education scenario in the Southern States of India has moved several folds forward. The sector has seen tremendous changes in the past few years and newer and better educational initiatives would only provide further impetus to the system
