Dr. R Bindu, Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice, Kerala State, and Prof. Shivaji Panicker (image-Facebook/Dr. R Bindu)

Kerala: The Kerala government constituted a Class 1 Commission to study, review, and recommend revisions to the curriculum and academic activities of higher education Fine Arts colleges operating under the technical education sector, aligning them with contemporary academic and cultural needs. The Commission, appointed by the Department of Higher Education, has submitted its final report under the leadership of Chairperson Prof. Shivaji Panikkar, one of India’s most distinguished art educators.

Prof. Panikkar led the 11-member Commission in formulating a comprehensive and long-overdue set of proposals aimed at revitalising the Fine Arts education sector in Kerala. The state government is expected to examine the report in detail, with further steps to be guided by expert review and public consultation.

The Commission began its work on February 1, 2025, holding seventeen online meetings and organising a one-day workshop attended by seventeen deputed faculty members from six Fine Arts colleges across the state.

Prof. Panikkar shared with Timeline the exclusive recommendations suggested by the Commission to revamp fine arts colleges in the state to better align with current academic and professional practices.

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Key Proposals and Structural Changes

• Initial proposal for a New Art College in northern Kerala, preferably affiliated to Kannur University and dedicated to the memory of the late KCS Paniker.
• Changing the administrative authorities of the Fine Art Colleges at Trivandrum (under Kerala University), Thrissur (under Calicut University), and Mavelikara (under Kerala University), run under the Department of Technical Education, must be brought under UGC norms.
• Bring all three various administrative authorities over the Colleges of Fine Arts to be brought under a single academic and administrative authority. Either the special rules of DTE and DCE be amended urgently based on the UGC guidelines in order to bring all the six colleges under one authority. Or all the fine arts colleges be brought under a newly formed university for visual arts.
• Separate the Department of Painting at SSUS, Kalady, into a separate faculty, which currently is under the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
• The RLV Government College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura, affiliated to M.G. University, Kottayam, to be made a separate College of Visual Arts, separated from Music and Performing Art Disciplines, and to implement UGC norms.
• The Raja Ravi Varma Centre of Excellence for Visual Arts, Mavelikkara, be reconstituted as the Raja Ravi Varma Department of Visual Arts, and the process of relocating the institution through acquiring necessary land, building the infrastructure, appointing necessary staff, and research and educational programmes be done in a time-bound manner.
• Currently used nomenclature, ‘Fine Arts’, to be changed to ‘Visual Arts’. We recommend that the College of Fine Arts be changed into the College of Visual Arts.
• Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) be changed into Bachelor of Visual Arts and Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) be changed into Masters of Visual Arts (MVA).
• A Department of Graphics/Printmaking be created and an MVA Printmaking programme be established.
• The existing undergraduate programmes in Painting, Sculpture, Applied Arts and Mural Painting of the Fine Arts imparting institutions be restructured within the structure of the semester system and the content be thoroughly revised.
• Four important new postgraduate programmes, namely (1) Intermedia Practices, (2) Curatorial Practices, (3) Art History & Visual Studies and (4) Interdisciplinary Media and Design Practices.
• All the six fine art colleges in the state start art history departments.
• Additional proposals for infrastructure that is new classrooms, studios, library space, etc., equipment, common studios, exhibition galleries, studio spaces, faculty cubicles, hostels and other facilities.
• Each new programme proposed in the report be provided with a Professor, one Associate Professor and one Assistant Professor.
• Proposals for staff and student selection and criteria for staff selection and promotion.
• Periodic workshops on teaching methodology and content improvement in each field of specialisation.
• The new norms for admissions of students have been formed and put across.
• A semester and credit system be implemented.
• The new evaluation/assessment criteria and norms of the student’s performance are also reworked and proposed.
• Co-curricular activities such as artists and scholars in residencies, visiting faculty, artists sharing their works, and periodic studio visits and interaction with artists.

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