The Department of Higher Education is an administrative department under the Government of Kerala responsible for formulating policies, implementing programmes, and managing institutions related to higher education in the state. The department oversees universities, government and aided colleges, technical education institutions, professional colleges, and entrance examinations for professional courses in Kerala.
The Higher Education Department was formed to improve the standard of higher education in the state and to ensure coordinated development of university education, technical education, collegiate education, and professional course admissions.
The department headquarters is located in the Government Secretariat at Thiruvananthapuram.
The department is headed by a Cabinet Minister of the Government of Kerala, and the current Minister for Higher Education is R. Bindu.
The administration of the department is overseen by the Principal Secretary to Government, an IAS officer. The present Principal Secretary (Higher Education) is Sharmila Mary Joseph IAS. The Principal Secretary is assisted by Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Under Secretaries and other Secretariat staff as per the Rules of Business of the Government of Kerala.
The Department exercises administrative control over the following major line departments and bodies:
(Universities are governed as per their respective Acts and statutes.)
This is the government agency responsible for establishing new government colleges, introducing new academic programmes, and managing staff matters of aided colleges, including disbursement of salary to teaching and non-teaching staff.
The Directorate of Technical Education oversees all state institutions imparting technical and professional education, including government engineering colleges, polytechnics, colleges of fine arts, food craft institutes, commercial institutes, technical high schools, and vocational training centres.
Responsible for conducting entrance examinations and allotting seats to various professional degree courses in Kerala.
Functions as the state unit of the NCC, providing military training, leadership development, and youth involvement programmes within the educational institutions of Kerala.
The department also exercises administrative oversight over universities and professional institutions under the Higher Education sector in the state.