Stressing upon the need for critical reforms to redefine higher education in India, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday suggested a three point formula — quality, affordability and accessibility-to achieve the goal.
He also emphasised on the need for establishing world-class varsities at home and on efforts required to change the way education is imparted in the country.
Mukherjee was speaking during the inauguration of the three-day International Conference on ‘The Future of Indian University: Comparative Perspectives on Higher Education Reforms for a Knowledge Society’ at OP Jindal Global University in Sonepat. Stating that Indian universities lacked in competing with global universities, Mukherjee said it was high time that initiatives were made to create more opportunities in research, skills development, innovation, creativity and multi-disciplinary courses.
“The prevalent state of our universities requires a very clinical examination as there is a perceived decline in their ability to serve as knowledge centers. In order to create world-class universities, we must learn from the institutions around the world. Strong, non-profit, philanthropic private universities aimed at providing quality education and promoting academic freedom need to emerge in our country,” he said.
He also added that India has a huge youth force that can be a great boon for the country only if utilised properly. “The talent of the young population must not go wasted. It will become a problem for the country at large if we don’t realise their capacity. Education is the most powerful tool to construct a strong nation,” the President said.
Present on the occasion were Union Minister of Human Resourse Development MM Pallam Raju, Governor of Haryana Jagannath Pahadia, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the chancellor of OP Jindal Global Universality and lok Sabha member Naveen Jindal.
Speaking at the function, Raju also emphasised on the importance of research and knowledge sharing across the country. He said it was important to take education, basic and higher level, to all corners of India. “Despite over 500 universities and 25,000 colleges, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is low in our country. There is a lot of disparity between rural and urban education. It is important to establish the private education sector and promote it to a level that it caters to the national requirements,” Raju said.
Expressing his concerns over the quality of education provided in universities, Haryana CM Hooda said the education system needs to be recreated in such a way that students of Indian varsities cater to their country rather than work merely for salaries. “There is a big mismatch between what is required to propel India’s economic growth and developmental goals. We need to change our university models and make them oriented towards job creation and absorption of our youth into productive activities,” he added.
The upcoming venture ‘Jindal School of liberal Arts and Humanities’ was introduced by chancellor Naveen Jindal. It will offer courses on the lines of US- based undergraduate programmes from the academic year 2014-15.
Educationists and people from other walks of life spoke at the conference. The Governor of Haryana Pahadia insisted on free and open debate to encourage quality education. “While a university must produce professionals to join the industry, it is also instrumental in the generation of social responsibility and civic society. We truly need a practical articulation of the objectives across the education community,” the Governor said.