Kerala universities may be allowed to develop and operate their own enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems after complaints about the functioning of K-Reap, the common platform currently used by universities in the state. Higher education minister Roji M John announced the policy direction at a meeting convened by the Kerala State Higher Education Council.
The meeting examined how universities can shift to separate ERP platforms without disrupting services shared between institutions. The issue arose after universities reported concerns about K-Reap, which was developed by a Maharashtra-based company. The minister’s decision opens the possibility of a more decentralised digital system in which individual universities manage their own institutional software.
University of Kerala officials told the meeting that the institution had decided to move away from K-Reap and adopt a custom-developed ERP system. The decision makes the university an early example of the transition being discussed across the state’s higher education system, although the report does not specify a timeline for implementation.
A key concern identified at the meeting was continuity in inter-university services. If universities begin using separate ERP platforms, systems will need to exchange information and support services that involve more than one institution. The council therefore proposed developing a common software system to manage services shared by different universities while allowing institutions to maintain their own ERP platforms.
The minister also directed universities to integrate their ERP systems with the Academic Bank of Credits and the National Academic Depository. These linkages are intended to ensure that academic records and credits can move through the digital systems used by higher education institutions. The directions apply to university ERP systems as they are developed or adopted.
Degree certificate delivery was another part of the minister’s instructions. Officials were told to ensure that degree certificates are made available to students through DigiLocker on the day examination results are declared. This places the timing of digital certificate access alongside the results process rather than treating certificate distribution as a later administrative step.
The developments put the design of Kerala’s university technology architecture at the centre of the state’s higher education administration. The immediate administrative task is to balance institutional autonomy with common digital services and compatibility with national academic record platforms. The Kerala State Higher Education Council is expected to continue discussions on the proposed common system as universities consider their ERP arrangements.
