Despite the high level of literacy, near universal enrolment in elementary education, and higher indices of social and human development among Indian States, Kerala has not made an impressive headway in higher education. Several studies show that there is ubiquitous relationship between ‘place’ and educational opportunities. Learners’ choice in enrolling to a programme and or an institution of study is largely driven by the geography and physical access to these institutions. This aspect has been widely covered in the Western context, but there are not many studies in the Indian context, especially so in Kerala. In this article, we propose a spatial-metric tool to assess disparity in educational opportunities by assigning a fixed dimension to define the ‘catchment’ area of an institution. We integrated our results with a model of higher education opportunity markets proposed in earlier studies for better understanding. This provides information about the graded nature in the choice of opportunities available in a region and its spatial distribution. Such regions are further classified as regions of negligible opportunities (education deserts) and abundant opportunities (education oases). The spatial-analytical tool proposed here can be recreated and applied across different regions employing various socio-economic and other relevant components of interest. This can have significant implications in educational planning and administration of a region.
<i>Many studies have pointed out that the learner’s
choice in opting a programme or the institution of study is largely driven by
the institution’s geographic proximity. By assigning a constant buffer radius
(geographic reach) for every institution, proximity analysis demarcates regions
of lower and higher number of institutional choices available for a learner
belonging to that region. Such geographic regions of educational deserts and
educational oasis have been identified with respect to institutions of arts and
science undergraduate programmes in the state of Kerala. The understanding of the relationship between
the geography and the density of educational intuitions in a region will assist
the educational planners and administrators and particularly beneficial in
learner or parent perspective</i>
<i>Many studies have pointed out that the learner’s
choice in opting a programme or the institution of study is largely driven by
the institution’s geographic proximity. By assigning a constant buffer radius
(geographic reach) for every institution, proximity analysis demarcates regions
of lower and higher number of institutional choices available for a learner
belonging to that region. Such geographic regions of educational deserts and
educational oasis have been identified with respect to institutions of arts and
science undergraduate programmes in the state of Kerala. The understanding of the relationship between
the geography and the density of educational intuitions in a region will assist
the educational planners and administrators and particularly beneficial in
learner or parent perspective</i>
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