Affiliation Gulf

At a time when George Washington University, Carnegie Mellon et al are making a beeline to GCCcountries, can Calicut University here lag behind? "No," says vice-chancellor Syed Iqbal Hasnain, pointing out that with his university according affiliation, millions of expat Asian students will be gainers. "Quality education at affordable costs is the plan, since even the Arabs have started feeling the pinch," says Dr Hasnain. But as with best-laid plans, snags are a bother. The Calicut University syndicate conferring an honorary DLitt on UAE education minister Sheikh Nahyan Mubarak Al Nahyan has now backfired. Dr M. Sajeesh, university union chairman and lone Left member on the syndicate, in hindsight, suspects ulterior motives behind the move and is bent on kicking up dirt.