Agriculture Minister T. Siddique has said that universities should focus more on research works than political activities.

He was at the University of Calicut campus at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district on Thursday (July 23, 2026) to open its 58th founding day celebrations. Mr. Siddique said a university should not confine its role into a “factory producing certificates” but develop itself as a centre churning out graduates who are knowledge carriers. He urged the university authorities to look back and correct the mistakes that could have happened in the past decades.

T.V. Ibrahim, MLA, was the chief guest at the event. Vice-Chancellor P. Raveendran said the university was planning to set up a special academic zone on the main campus where at least 30,000 students, including those from other countries, could be able to pursue their studies. Interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary courses too would be launched, he added.

Chandrabhas Narayana, scientist, Jawahalal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, who delivered the keynote address, said that the scenario of students from Kerala migrating to other States for their studies should be seriously looked into. Calling it a brain drain, he said that the academic conditions and infrastructure in other States should be compared with the situation in Kerala. Mr. Narayana said that artificial intelligence was making progress in all academic streams and sought an inter-disciplinary method to stay relevant in the future.

Published - July 23, 2026 07:58 pm IST