Centre seeks report as Kerala plans International Arabic University

Kasaragod, Sep 5: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked central agencies to report on aspects of “national concern” said to be involved in a proposal for setting up an international Arabic university in Kerala, top officials privy to the development said.

The move comes on the heels of Additional Chief Secretary K.M. Abraham and Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson officially opining that that it will be appropriate for the government to get the MHA to examine the proposal.

In response to a Cabinet note asking if a special officer could be appointed for the proposed international varsity, the top State officials indicated that some key factors may need to be addressed with regard to the proposal itself.

One was that the proposal implied drawing funds from abroad and various other sources for the university. The State Finance Department, anyhow, had stated its inability to fund the varsity, needing an outlay of about Rs.100 crore.

The Kerala State Higher Education Council had recommended promulgation of an ordinance to set up the varsity and the draft had suggested formation of an ‘International Arabic University of Kerala Fund’ that could enable the varsity to accept donations from abroad, apart from using Union and State government support.

But the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission had no approved guidelines as yet for allowing international varsities in the country, it was pointed out.

The officials had also questioned the rationale itself of establishing an international Arabic varsity when two State universities had Arabic departments and colleges were offering the language to the students. In addition, Arabic did not figure among the country’s scheduled languages, they noted.

That apart, they also reminded that a union decision on allowing international varsities was still pending before Parliament.