Calicut varsity’s ASCENT project to bridge gap between degrees and industry demands

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Six strategic sub-projects are part of the Advancing Standards for College Empowerment and Transformation (ASCENT) project, proposed by the University of Calicut (CU) for its 445 affiliated colleges.

According to a detailed project report (DPR) presented by N. Mohammedali, Director, College Development Council, at a meeting of college principals and college managers held on the university’s main campus at Tenhipalam in Malappuram on Tuesday (September 22), the project aims to bridge the gap between conventional degrees and modern industry demands.

There is a proposal to create a repository of over 50 new-generation undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma, and certificate courses focussing on digital technology, fin-tech, algorithmic media, and entrepreneurship. The authorities believe that it will relieve affiliated colleges of curriculum drafting-burdens while allowing them to rapidly introduce market-driven, career-oriented programmes that attract modern student aspirants. Another plan is to launch an ‘ASCENT Magazine’, a quarterly coffee-table publication managed by the university’s public relations wing.

Career development add-on programmes could be introduced to enable regular college students to pursue simultaneous certificate and diploma tracks co-delivered by vetted industry partners. It will be backed by an expert monitoring committee and a transparent cost-sharing revenue model between the university, colleges, and industry.

Customised capacity-building workshops, tailored specifically to the unique needs of self-financing and aided colleges, are also on the anvil. While self-financing colleges will receive support on operational agility, rapid scaling, and digital office management, aided colleges will have to focus on research grant acquisition, heritage preservation, and advanced optimisation in the ranking framework of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).

An Institutional Enterprise Resource Planning system, a complete academic and administrative management software, will be introduced. It will be developed entirely by the Calicut University Computer Centre. Offered on an affordable annual subscription basis (starting at ₹40,000 for up to 500 students), it is expected to standardise institutional activities, streamline data collection, and unify student lifecycles from admissions to mark entry. Another plan is to have a university-level college rating system, a digital evaluation framework inspired by the NAAC and the NIRF criteria. It is expected to categorise colleges into six distinct operational groups (government, aided, self-financing, and autonomous variants).

Opening the event, Vice-Chancellor P. Raveendran said that a comprehensive plan should be chalked out to stop the dropping out of students from colleges. Pro Vice-Chancellor P. Rasheed Ahammed and Syndicate members T.M. Vasudevan, A.T. Abdul Jabbar, C.P. Hamza, K. Pradeep Kumar, P. Madhu, A.K. Shahina Mol, A.K. Anuraj, and A. Ahamed Kabeer, among others, were present.

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