Thiruvananthapuram: Finance Minister KN Balagopal said that radical change will be brought in the higher education sector. It has been announced that a total of `200 crore has been set apart for universities at` 20 crores each. Apart from `20 crore for start-up incubation centers in universities and international hostel facilities in universities.
1500 new hostel rooms will be started. 150 international hostel rooms will also be started. An amount of `100 crore has been set apart for this. 100 crore will be allocated through KIFB to renovate hostels. The Medical Tech Innovation Center at Thiruvananthapuram will be constructed for `100 crore. 50 crore has been earmarked for setting up a Genomic Data Center. The first step will be to work with the University of Kerala. The project is expected to cost Rs 500 crore in five years, he said.
Small industrial units will be set up with state-of-the-art technical facilities along with engineering colleges, art colleges, and polytechnics. This will enable students to be part of the economic production process and to be trained along with their studies. A pilot project has been announced to launch in all the 14 districts of Kerala. I set apart `25 crore for this.
