Three Day National Seminar

Kannur University Research Centre, Central Library and University Union organise Three Day National Seminar onHigher Education in India: Challenges and Prospects. on 2011 December 13,14,15  at  University Campus,Mangattuparamba

Preparatary Session will be held on 10.30 am Nov.26

Venue:Seminar Hall, Mangattuparamba Campus

Education plays a crucial role in effecting social change in all over the world. Indian Education has the task of building a society which is egalitarian, free of caste and gender discrimination, secular and democratic. In the initial years after independence, the Indian state undertook the colossal task of building up the infrastructure for public education. However the efforts undertaken for this hardly matched the requirements of the seething millions and even after more than six decades of Independence, we have half of our population deprived of basic literacy. The situation took a turn for the worse in the nineties, when the education sector had to face the onslaught of neoliberalism as the country moved to adopt the new economic policies. The encroachment on state autonomy in higher education in the form of over arching legislation has centralized it further. The process has been accentuated in recent times with a lot of new reforms implemented overnight including the setting up of foreign universities in India. There was a paradigm shift in the way education, especially higher education was perceived. Knowledge was perceived as a commodity and education as a commercial activity. The attempt to orient education towards market set off the processes of privatisation, commoditization, commercialisation and corporatization. On the one hand there is a case of inadequate funding on higher education and on the other hand market forces have been given freedom to dictate terms to the institutions of higher learning including policy- These have a deleterious impact on intellectual self reliance and social justice in higher education. The past decades have also witnessed mounting attacks on the democratic rights of the students. The private universities and self financing institutions for professional education in the country are seem to be not in favour of exer cising democratic rights of the students and teachers.

 The seminar is an attempt to assess all these changes in the higher education scenario in the past two decades with a view to formulating a vision for the way ahead. Relevant papers addressing particular concerns in specific areas coming under the ambit of the topic like issues concerning research and knowledge production in social sciences, natural sciences, Information Technology, languages and cultural studies, social justice, democratic rights of student and teachers etc are welcomed. Those who intend to present papers are expected to send a soft copy of abstract of 1000 words with the complete title and name and address of the author on or before 15th November 2011. (Mail id nshe2011@gmail.com) Registration fee for Student/ Research scholars is Rs.300 and Teachers/ FDP/ members from other Institutions is Rs.500. The DD shall be drawn in favour of Chairman, Organizing Committee, payable at State Bank of Travancore, Kannur University Campus Branch. (For Cash transfer SBT A/C 67162585770). For details and online registration visit www. nshe2011 .org

Dr. A P Kuttikrishnan (Pro Vice Chancellor),   Chairman, Academic Committee