KOCHI : The All Kerala Private College Teachers Association (AKPCTA) has alleged that the International Education Meet (IEM) has failed in its stated objective of evolving a consensus on the agenda of repositioning higher education in the State.

Thomas Joseph, president of the association, said the academic and political leadership had spoken in different voices during the meet. There was consensus only on sharing their mutual distrust and in zealously guarding their respective turfs. The policy paper drafted by the Vice-Chancellors has called for increased financial support for higher education from the Government.

On the contrary, Union Minister for Non-Resident Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi in his valedictory address stressed the need for resource mobilisation from non-Government sources to sustain the higher education system. Mr. Ravi had categorically stated that it was difficult to stretch public resources beyond a point.

While the Vice-Chancellors wanted academic, administrative and financial autonomy to be granted to universities and colleges "expeditiously", Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, in his online address, recognised the need for wider consultations before taking such a drastic step, which was bound to have far reaching consequences in the State.

Mr. Joseph said that while the Vice-Chancellors demanded "prompt steps to enact necessary law to implement the 104th constitutional amendment in Kerala," Education Minister E.T. Mohammed Basheer had made it clear that he would rather wait for the outcome of pending court cases on the issue.

Mr.Joseph said this statement implied that no law would be enacted during the tenure of the present Government. While the Minister had been stressing the need for individual institution to attract foreign students, the Vice-Chancellors want nothing less than "a new international university based in Kerala, with an international curriculum, international faculty and an international student body."

Even as the Vice-Chancellors demanded greater public funding for higher education, they had also sought freedom to raise and spend resources on their own. They wanted universities to be given freedom to charge higher fees from foreign students and those from high-income group families, even without prior approval from the Government.

The AKPCTA demanded that universities should divulge the details of the MoUs signed with foreign delegates who attended the meet.

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