Thiruvananthapuram: The Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, and the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), Wayanad, have bagged the prestigious Chancellor’s Awards 2017-2018 and the Chancellor’s Award for the Best Emerging Young University respectively for the year. While the Chancellor’s Award would bring to MG University a prize money of Rs 5 crore, KVASU would get Rs 1 crore.
Kerala Governor Justice (Retd) P. Sathasivam accepted the recommendation of the selection committee constituted by the Kerala State Higher Education Council to confer the fourth Chancellor’s Award (2017-18) on these universities.
This is the second time that both universities are receiving the respective awards. Mahatma Gandhi University had won the Chancellor’s Award for 2015-16 and Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University had received the award for the best Emerging Young varsity for 2016- 17. Prof. Rajan Gurukkal PM, Vice Chairman, Kerala State Higher Education Council submitted the recommendation to the Chancellor on Saturday at the Kerala Raj Bhavan.
The nine member selection committee constituted by the Kerala State Higher Education Council was chaired by Prof. C.N.R. Rao, National Research Professor and Honorary President, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. The committee had Prof. Ranganath H. Annegowda, Former Vice Chancellor & Director National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC), Dr. Suresh Das, Executive Director, Kerala State Council of Science, Technology and Environment, Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, Prof. Prabhath Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, Centre for Economic Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Prof. J.A.K. Tareen, Former Vice Chancellor, Central University, Pondicherry, Prof. Rajan Gurukkal P.M, Vice Chairman, Kerala State Higher Education Council, Usha Titus, Principal Secretary to Government, Higher Education Department as members and Dr. Rajan Varughese, Member Secretary, Kerala State Higher Education Council as the Convener.
The selection was based on the criteria fixed earlier for both the awards. The period of assessment was from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. Ten Universities competed for awards. The Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies and Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University were considered for the Emerging Young University category. Kerala University of Health Sciences, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University did not participate.
The Chancellor’s Award has been constituted to nurture the spirit of healthy competition among the universities was instituted by the Chancellor at the Chancellor’s Council meeting on 29th April, 2015. The State Government had provided Rs 5 crore in the State Budget for 2015-16 for the award. In 2016, it was decided to institute another award of Rs 1 crore for the “Emerging University” for the new Universities, so as to encourage them also to compete.
Last year, the Chancellor had entrusted the work of identifying the award winning universities to the Department of Higher Education, Government of Kerala, which in turn authorized the Kerala State Higher Education Council to select the varsities.
