IT infra centralisation indispensable for higher education institutions: Gurukkal

It would expedite automation and facilitate optimum use of available resources in universities

Kerala State Higher Education Council vice chairman Rajan Gurukkal has advocated the need to integrate IT infrastructure in the higher education sector.

Dismissing concerns that technological centralisation could impair functional autonomy, the academic feels the initiative taken by the government in the direction would serve to expedite automation and facilitate optimum use of available resources in universities.

The academic also endorsed the implementation of the Kerala Resource for Educational Administration and Planning (KREAP), which is aimed at implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in institutions and creating a special cell for the purpose.

The adoption of ERPs in a major way figured among the recommendations of the commissions that were mandated with reforming the sector. The system is aimed at coordinating various functional units of universities and encompasses all activities including the academic, examination, administration, finance and planning components.

“Although a few universities have initiated efforts at setting up the business system of the ERPs in their respective institutions, they are a long way off due to various reasons,” Prof. Gurukkal told The Hindu.

He cites the digital illiteracy of administrators, the lack of interaction of technologists and the precedence of manual file processing as some of the factors that have hindered modernisation.

“Keeping in view of the way how higher educations thrives the world over, I am convinced that centralisation of the IT infrastructure is indispensable to resolve the retardation in computer automation. Centralisation brings down the burden of multiple regulations, their frequent modifications, and mixing up of written tradition with digital practices, which makes the system dubious and prevents technology from functioning successfully. Technological centralisation will also help auditors to quickly access the data and produce accurate results easily,” he says.

According to Prof. Gurukkal, most key areas in universities were already centralised and technological centralisation would serve to further improve the quality of service, enhance transparency and increase efficiency in planning, implementation and monitoring of activities. He adds that technological centralisation would not adversely impact staff pattern.