Cusat opposes move to hive off two departments

KOCHI: The Syndicate of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) will oppose the move to merge the School of Marine Sciences and Industrial Fisheries now under the varsity with the proposed Fisheries University.

Reliable sources at the university told The Hindu on Tuesday that the next Syndicate meet will request the government not to go ahead with the proposed merger. It is learnt that senior Syndicate members had met Education Minister M.A. Baby and requested him not to remove two major schools from the university.

The move is part of the ongoing efforts against the merger with the proposed �Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. Students of the School of Marine Sciences and Industrial Fisheries have also stepped up their agitation against the merger move.

Sources said that the bifurcation of the departments including marine biology, atmospheric science, marine geology and geophysics, physical oceanography and chemical oceanography will deprive the research status owned by Cusat. According to official estimates, nearly 40 per cent of the research under the university is being carried out by these departments.