Kerala plans to establish a cooperative university soon

The Kerala government is considering the creation of a cooperative university. This plan follows the guidelines set by the Private Universities Bill. The Registrar of Cooperative Societies has been asked to prepare a proposal for this. The aim is to unite all educational institutions in the cooperative sector. Currently, the Central Government is also setting up a national cooperative university, converting the Institute of Rural Management Anand in Gujarat. This new university will have the power to establish colleges in different states. In Kerala, there are concerns about how this impacts local institutions. The state has 13 cooperative training colleges and 16 training divisions, as well as several engineering and nursing colleges managed by the Cooperative Academy for Professional Education (CAPE). The state's goal is to bring all these under one university. If the cooperative university cannot be established, Kerala may have to align its training colleges with the central cooperative university instead. A previous attempt by CAPE to set up a cooperative university was abandoned due to high infrastructure costs. The new Bill allows for a private multi-campus university if it has at least 10 acres for its headquarters. If CAPE and the Cooperative Union can meet these requirements, the cooperative university in Kerala could soon become a reality.