Non-performing colleges must be shut down: UGC

VADAKARA: Colleges that do not achieve a certain degree of success should be shut down, University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Prof Ved Prakash said here on Sunday. He was speaking on the sidelines of a national seminar on ‘Higher Education — Challenges and Opportunities’ held at the Vadakara Town Hall. He said that every single institution needed to be a centre of excellence. “If you are not churning out good students regularly, you have no business being in the game. Educational institutions run by minority organisations have a right to function but should do so while not compromising on quality,” he said. He added that higher education must remain available to students at an affordable cost and it is upto the state government to ensure that no child is denied access to higher education due to a want of money.Ved Prakash was the chief guest of the seminar which was organised as part of the Vision Vadakara 2025 of Central Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullapally Ramachandran. Speaking at the seminar, Prakash said that higher education was vital as it provided the tools to children for their natural development and would enable them to make a living. During the past 64 years, the Indian education sector has made remarkable progress, setting up the largest public education system in the world, but the fact that not one Indian university was present among the top 100 universities in the world, was indicative of the problems that the sector currently facing, he added.  Mullappally Ramachandran, in his inaugural address, said that Northern Kerala was lagging behind the rest of the state in the education sector.“There are only a few national-level institutions in this part and no world class institutions. Malabar has been out of the radar of higher education policy makers. ,” he said.