HiEd Log

  Degree takers in colleges are falling in numbers. The trend is not just limited to one region or university. In a way this is a trend which can overhaul the way HEIs are run and the fare the HEIs offer. It can even, in the very long run, destabilise the whole segment and render many who are part of the HEIs jobless. The time taken to complete a major degree and the content offered as part of the graduation in Higher Education Institutions like colleges are apparently not a good fit for many in the new generation. The decline in the number of degree takers that is slow and steady may not be felt by the frontline colleges right now. Many of the top colleges, top in terms of quality and in the case of some, top rated in  popularity and on a slow, yet indistinct downward spiral, this declining demand may not be evident at the moment. In University of Calicut the drop in undergraduate admission registration amounts to thirty thousand plus in the year 2022, which is up from what it was the

  There are certain schools which do not permit birthday celebrations of the traditional kinds. The chocolates, cakes and the like are not let in in to the schools. This is because the kids and the parents get caught in the cake race and it puts pressure on them. To out-cake and out-toffee one another, the number and nature of the sweets distributed rise and many get caught in the competitive frenzy. Hence these schools accept books to the library or have the birthday girl /boy plant a sapling. An awareness about the anniversary of the day on which one is born can be put to many uses. A book or a tree obviously is better, for me, than joining the toffee-race.  The analogy occurred to me thinking of the growing spectacle of NAAC Peer Team reception these days in certain colleges. The spectacle is growing and is getting more and more spectacular, college after college, Peer Team visit after visit.  This is because certain HEIs in Kerala seem to have made up their minds on winning

  There are huge campuses in all countries where reputation never sleeps. The moment you drop the name of the campus, lips round for an appreciative 'oh' or spread for an admiring 'ah'! These master campuses have decades of reputation in academics and student achievements. These campuses have the spread, feel and presence with an X factor which often only those who were/are inside will be more able to feel and not always able to explain. At more visible levels, it is more about buildings, lab equipment, shady, cobbled pathways or the amphitheater. These colleges have their reputation built up student by batch over the years. Though the mammoth totality which we call campus is represented as singular, the teaching departments (depts), Cells, Clubs and similar bodies evenly/unevenly would have contributed to the status to which it has risen over decades. Still there are certain depts in these colleges which stand out head and shoulders above the rest with the sheer