Drop in enrolment, student migration: Did Kerala ‘miss the bus’ on private universities?

As Kerala looks to open the doors for private universities following years of steadily opposing them, the response from educational organisations has been lukewarm.

Some of the large educational groups in Kerala believe the state is late in expanding the sector for private bodies. They see some of the provisions in the new law as attempts of ‘government interference’ and also expressed concerns about monetary requirements, reservations and maintaining the minority status of potential universities.

However, the government reports that several organisations have shown interest in setting up universities even though its proposed law is yet to get the governor’s ascent. It insists that the law emphasises equally on excellence and quality as well as social justice and equity. The officials contend that the legislation, and its timing, ensure a level playing field for both public and private institutions.

Kerala Private Universities: U-turn and new law

Earlier this year, the Kerala assembly passed the State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill, paving the way for setting up private universities in the state. This was a watershed moment for the southern state with near-universal literacy and one of the highest gross enrollment ratios (GER) across the country. The proposed law has been brought by the CPI(M)-led left government, marking a stark reversal for the party that has for decades opposed any stake for private players in education.

In 1995, five activists from CPI(M)’s youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), were killed in a police shooting while agitating against a medical college being started in the cooperative sector by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government. The party also opposed setting up of self-financing engineering and medical colleges in the early 2000s.

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In 2015, a committee headed by the former vice chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi (MG) University, Kottayam, Cyriac Thomas had done a feasibility report on establishing private universities in the state, but the idea was shelved, thanks in part to the ardent opposition from the left. An activist from the CPI(M) student wing, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), in 2016 had slapped TP Sreenivasan, then vice-chairman of the Kerala Higher Education Council, for his advocacy of private varsities.

A mere five years later, in 2021, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front government, formed a ‘Commission for Reforms in Higher Education’ under Shyam Menon, former vice chancellor of BR Ambedkar University, Delhi. The panel, among other things, recommended allowing private universities in the state which, in turn, resulted in the current legislation.

Kerala Universities: A practical decision

The government asserted that the decision is less ideological, more practical. A Kerala government official told Careers360 that the reason for introducing the bill now is that the state’s public universities and colleges are in a much stronger position to compete with private universities.

“In 2015, there was a huge opposition to private universities, as the state’s public universities weren’t in a position to compete with them. Not a single university had a NAAC [National Accreditation and Assessment Council] A+ rank. They didn’t figure in either Times Higher Education or QS rankings. But now there has been a drastic change,” said the official.

The official pointed out that three institutions – Kerala University, Cochin University of Science and Technology and MG University – are ranked at 9th, 10th and 11th positions, respectively, in the National Institutional Ranking Framework’s (NIRF) list of state public universities. Of 200 colleges ranked by NIRF, 42 are in Kerala, despite the state’s relatively small size, and 40 of them are government-aided institutes.

“While the state had in the past only focused on schools, in the last 10 years our attention has shifted to higher education. Also, earlier the entire thrust was on access and equity but after 2019 we started looking at quality as well. Even though the larger objective is strengthening the public sector, we also welcome private investment with government regulation and a strong emphasis on social justice,” said the official. “We want to increase our GER to 75% by 2036. State intervention alone can’t do it. We also want to attract students from outside Kerala and make the state a hub of international education,” he added.

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NEP Factor: Countering deemed universities

There’s another reason for the change in policy. With no prospects for setting up private universities, educational bodies are increasingly looking to open deemed-to-be universities, which are governed by the central government. The state government figured that it’d be a better idea to instead steer them towards state private universities, so that it could retain control over them.

“Earlier, the colleges seeking autonomy or deemed-to-be university status had to obtain the state’s clearance. With the change in application process, the institutes can now directly approach the centre. If the state doesn’t permit private universities now, it may soon face a situation where the central government might pass a law denying any say to the state in setting up these institutions. In its farsightedness, the state has come up with this law so that it may have some control in terms of social justice, equity and other things. As it is, with the National Education Policy (NEP) being rolled out, college affiliation system is going to be phased out,” said Muhammad Rafeeq T, an associate professor at University College, Thiruvananthapuram, and general secretary of the Association of Kerala Government College Teachers, a left-aligned teachers’ body.

Private colleges’ growth

Despite not having a single private university, Kerala’s higher education sector has come to be dominated by private institutions. According to the All Kerala Higher Education Survey 2021-2022, released in March 2024, of 1,811 colleges in the state, only 202 are fully government-run. While it provides grants to 216 private institutes, 763 are unaided.

According to PA Fazal Ghafoor, president of the Muslim Educational Society (MES), one of the largest education groups in Kerala with around 150 institutes, the proliferation of private colleges, coupled with the state varsities’ control on their courses, curricula and fees, has impacted the quality and relevance of the academic programmes and ultimately resulted in low enrollment, especially in humanities and pure science courses.

“When the self-financing sector was opened, both LDF and UDF governments permitted colleges left and right without any quality considerations. The syllabus, though, has remained static, be it at aided or at self-financing colleges. The number of students took a nosedive, especially in the southern districts. The aided colleges have centuries-old obsolete courses, as the government can’t afford to pay salaries for new ones. Even the unaided institutes couldn’t start new programmes as their affiliating universities didn’t have syllabi for them. Hence, the students now are looking for niche courses abroad and migrating out of the state,” he said.

Drop in enrolment: Out-migration

While the Kerala government has contested the claims about the drop in enrollment, it did cite the outward migration of students as one of the reasons for introducing the bill.

According to a study by the Kerala State Higher Education Council, the state accounted for 4% of 1.32 million Indian students going abroad for education in 2022, even though the state’s share in the country’s population is less than 3%. The Kerala Migration Study Report 2023, prepared by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation and the International Institute of Migration and Development, estimates the international student migration from Kerala to have doubled since 2018.

However, the jury is still out on what’s driving the exodus and if private universities can make a difference. Ghafoor believes those aspiring to study abroad are looking for employment opportunities and exposure. “For many, especially the girls confined to their homes, it’s a chance to set free,” he said.

ZA Ashraf, general secretary, Centre for Information and Guidance India (CIGI), a Kozhikode-based non-profit, added, “The establishment of private universities may provide more educational opportunities within the state, but it is uncertain whether this will significantly reduce student migration. The main issue is the quality and diversity of courses and programmes. If private universities can offer diverse courses and specialisations, they can attract students who would otherwise migrate to other states or countries.”

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Social equity

Ghafoor said that Kerala has “missed the bus” on private universities, as the state’s higher education market has saturated, while the number of aspirants is on a decline due to the falling gross fertility rate. There’s little appetite in the state’s educational bodies now to set up new institutes, he felt.

Then there are the conditions and restrictions on starting private universities. The bill requires a university’s sponsoring bodies to have a corpus fund of Rs 25 crore and at least 10 acres to set up a multi-campus university. It also provides for 40% of seats in each course to be reserved for permanent residents of Kerala. Among these, the state's reservation policies for historically-marginalised communities are to be implemented.

The law also mandates a students’ council with 10 elected representatives and presence of state representatives in all three decision-making bodies – the governing, executive and academic councils. While there’s no provision to regulate the fees, the state wants the universities to offer scholarships to the marginalised students, without specifying their quantum.

According to the government official, these provisions distinguish Kerala’s law from other states’ policies on private universities. “Kerala has always had thrust on social equity. We can't have anything that would neglect the idea of social justice. We have focussed on quality and excellence as well as equity and access. That's not the case elsewhere,” he said.

However, for the educational institutions, these represent the government’s attempt to exert control over them. “The bill was much needed, but it’s much too late.…There’s too much government interference in administration. The government nominees in all bodies, reservations and all sorts of provisions are there,” said Fr Martin Mallath, general counsellor at the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), a Kochi-headquartered Catholic congregation that runs several prominent educational institutions around the country, including Bengaluru’s Christ University, a deemed-to-be university.

Mallath added that the law doesn’t offer any clarity on whether private universities established by minority-run managements will be conferred minority status. He also sought a “consensus” on the matters of scholarship and fee regulation.

Education bodies have also questioned the land and infrastructure norms prescribed in the legislation. “Educational institutes are usually set up in a gradual manner – initially the requirements for the first batch are fulfilled and then new facilities are added. However, with the Rs 25 crore deposit, we would need at least Rs 75 crore to build a university. No organisation in the history of Kerala has ever started an institute with such a huge investment,” said Ghafoor.

The government has dismissed these concerns. “They basically want a banana republic, with complete freedom to do whatever they want,” said the state official.

Despite their apprehensions, both MES and CMI didn’t rule out the possibility of applying for private universities under the new law. The government official informed that eight-to-10 firms, including some of the major management bodies in the state, have approached them.

‘Nothing promotes quality’

While the government and private bodies believe that opening up private universities will be a net positive, some remain skeptical.

“There’s nothing in the bill that promotes quality. The land requirement is inadequate. A university needs to have proper infrastructure to offer quality. These institutes would just be glorified colleges,” said Rony George, general secretary of the Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association, another left-aligned organisation.

The teacher also suspects that private universities will also adversely impact public universities. “Once private institutes come up, the government starts withdrawing from the education sector,” he said.

However, the government contested the claim, highlighting the Rs 6,000 crore it spent on higher education in the last four years.

Rafeeq, too, expressed confidence in the state’s plan. “We don't think that private universities pose any challenge to public ones. Here public education institutes are well established... The attitude of the state government is very important…. Other states are providing all facilities to private bodies, while not filling posts of teachers in aided institutes. Their attitude is similar to the central government's,” he said.