Governor Baby Rani Maurya has directed the officers concerned to ensure that all the pending issues related to the universities at the government level are resolved within three months. She was addressing a conference of the vice- chancellors at Raj Bhawan on Thursday.
The Governor said that the universities should not become mere degree- providing institutions but they should keep research and employment at the centre of all its decisions and activities. While underlining that original research works and number of patents tend to enhance the reputation of the universities, she said that the universities based in the state should strive hard to figure in top fifty universities of the country.
She directed the additional chief secretary who was present at the meeting to resolve all the pending issues related to universities within a period of three months and stressed that the selection and appointment process of teachers must be made transparent. On a stern note, the Governor said that the proposals for the affiliation of institutions should not be sent to the chancellor's office without ensuring basic required facilities and standards.
She said that since each university has been established with a view to achieving specific goals, each one should work as a ‘centre of excellence’ in its chosen area of research.
Invoking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve to double the income of the farmers by 2022, the Governor said that the agriculture and horticulture-based universities should take up the cudgels for increasing the income of the farmers in the mountainous areas of Uttarakhand. Similarly, the technical university can work on developing models for Start-Up industries in the state, she suggested. Directing the VCs to pay special attention to the quality of PhD, she said that the subject of research could be related to any social, economical or cultural aspect of the state.
She added that the curriculum of the universities must be employment- oriented and courses must be designed in accordance with the developing needs of the industries.
The Governor directed the higher education department to give necessary permission to Sridev Suman University for the creation of new posts at the earliest. She also instructed the universities to contribute to providing training for the disaster management. The Governor said that the progress reports of the work done by the universities for social awareness should be submitted to her. She further directed that a common web portal for all the universities should be created.
During the conference, discussions on preparing a calendar of examinations, results and convocation ceremonies were held. Similarly admissions and appointments in the universities, activities related to the social obligations of the universities were also discussed. The Governor also reviewed the efforts of the universities in preventing migration from the rural areas, collaboration with farmers, initiation for environmental conservation and programmes for the adopted villages.
The meeting was attended among others by all the VCs of the universities based in the state , additional chief secretary ( ACS) Dr Ranbir Singh, ACS Om Prakash and secretaries- Amit Negi, Nitesh Jha, D Senthil Pandiyan and Indudhar Bodai.