The Governor of Uttarakhand, Dr K K Paul has announced initiation of a ‘Chancellor’s award’ for best research paper and innovative creation for the scholars of Universities of State. The Governor made this declaration while addressing a meeting of Vice Chancellors (VC) of state universities at Raj Bhawan on Friday. He said that the award would be given to the research which is aimed at increasing productivity and is sent for patent. The award carries a citation and cash prize of Rs 20000 and would be presented every year.
Highlighting the role of universities in ensuring bright future for the youth, the governor said effort should be made to make relevant changes according to the changing global academic environment. He was of the view that the corporate investment in the educational sector should be sought but it should not be with the intention of commercializing education. Paul said that the best ranking Universities overseas are private institutions (Harvard, Wharton etc.) but all of them have a strong philanthropic base. He said that as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), universities should establish Chairs/ Professorships, with participation and funding from industry.
The Governor stressed the need for linking industry with the skill set of the students to ensure accelerated employability. “As a growing economy, India needs to club skill training and higher education for the creation of a dynamic human resource base,” he said.The Governor directed the VCs that educational institutions should be made ragging-free. Satisfied by the plans of action presented by the Vice Chancellors regarding the progress on the centres of excellence -which the Governor had directed in the first meeting which was held in the month of March - in their respective universities, he said that all special courses at universities should be linked with employment generation and skill development .He emphasized on the knowledge of English and other foreign languages to develop communication skills of the students.
Paul said that the acceptance by 177 countries of the world to observe June 21 as International Yoga Day has opened infinite possibilities of employment in the sphere of Yoga. He opined that training in Yoga along with knowledge of English and other foreign languages would be very useful for getting employment in this field. He suggested that proper action plan should be prepared to ensure that funds provided by the central government and other sources for skill development of youth were utilized optimally and asked the VCs to start short term courses in adventure tourism, cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants and food processing to improve the opportunities for employment in the hill areas.The Governor said that the colleges affiliated to the universities should aim at better instructional quality and ensure better performance by students. In this context he stressed the need for a two tier mechanism consisting of an Internal Quality Assurance Cell and University level monitoring by a Central Monitoring Committee.
In the meeting the governor reviewed the performance of the Universities, particularly on the decisions taken in the first meeting held on March 03. The meeting was attended by VC of Pantnagar University Dr Mangala Prasad, VC of Doon University VK Jain, VC of Kumaon University HS Dhami, Horticulture and Forestry University’s VC Mathew Prasad, VC of Shri Dev Suman University and HNB Medical University Dr. US Rawat, Open University’s VC Subhash Dhuliya, VC of Sanskrit University Mahavir Prasad, VC of Ayurvedic University Satyendra Kumar, and VC of Uttarakhand Technical University PK Garg. The secretary to the Governor, legal advisor to the Governor, both the additional chief secretaries of the state government and Principal secretaries of agriculture, higher, medical and technical education were also present in the meeting.