Thiruvananthapuram, Wednesday 16 March 2010: MBA courses in Tourism and Disaster Management, a postgraduate programme in computational linguistics and an M.Phil. in Women’s Studies would be among the 13 new courses which would be offered by the University of Kerala from the next academic year.

The university would also set up a Centre for International Academics to attract students from foreign countries. A Centre for Visual Communication, a Centre of Indian Classical Dance and a Centre for Folklore Studies would be set up, the Budget for the University for the year 2010-11 says.

The Budget was presented at a meeting of the Senate here by Syndicate member A.A. Rasheed. The university expects a non-Plan income of Rs.146.02 crore and as much expenditure during 2010-11. In 2008-09 the revenue deficit of the varsity was 9.43 crore and during 2009-10 it was Rs.12.03 crore.

M.Sc. courses would be offered in Medical Biochemistry, Medical Documentation, Food and Nutrition and Microbiology. M.Phil. courses would be offered in Actuarial Science and in Business Demography at the Department of Demography.

Diploma courses in Medical Informatics and in Translation Studies. A degree course in Fire Technology and Resources Management would be instituted at the University Institute of Technology. The varsity would tie up with the State Tourism Department to offer short-term courses in language, culture and arts, Rasheed said.

In addition to facilitating the entry and study of foreign students at the varsity, the Centre for International Academics would also be in charge of inter-university exchange of teachers and students, linkage programmes with foreign universities, joint research programmes and consultancy work.

A repository of theses brought out by various research departments and other university centres would be set up at the Library and Information Science Department. A facility for digital archiving of newspaper articles of contemporary relevance would be set up at the university library.

The budget sets aside Rs.50 lakh for the modernisation of the university press and to equip it to handle all of the varsity’s printing requirements.

(News agency)