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A parallel college was a privately owned educational institution in Kerala (a state of India), which is not affiliated to any university, neither recognized by any, but offers training for courses following the courseware of a university unofficially. This system works in that most of the universities in Kerala allow 'private registration', in which a student can register in a university for a course and then could pursue an academic programme without being admitted to a college or a university department. Students could learn the courseware by oneself and then appear for examination at the university. These students who pursue a 'private study' do rely on parallel colleges for tuition and guidance. Such a system had become popular in Kerala because the total intake capacity of the affiliated colleges were inadequate to contain the aspirants for higher (tertiary) education.
Parallel colleges were always small scale institutions with very limited facilities. They offered training only in 'arts' (social sciences and literature) or 'commerce' faculties (BA, B.Com, MA, M.Com) and never in 'science' or 'technical' faculties. This was because science courses required lab facilities.