Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Monday asked the Directors and Chairmen of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to come up with strategies for readying the country both with manpower and quality teachers.
Simultaneously, Irani continued with the Centre’s efforts in bringing students of North Eastern States to the mainstream education of the country. She asked the IITs to develop a special programme for NE students and emphasised that the students in these States need to be exposed to the best of the institutions in different parts of the country.
By putting the plan into action, the Ministry nominated IIT Guwahati Director to coordinate the efforts in this regard and submit a report by the middle of August.
At a Retreat with Directors and Chairmen of 16 IITs in Goa, Irani said they needed to come up with at least ten goalposts that India should reach both nationally and internationally in a time-bound manner. A committee consisting of Directors and Chairmen of IITs has been constituted to map various disciplines with respect to their requirement for meeting national manpower goals.
She also asked IITs to develop a framework for rankings with a view to rank institutions world over as per the thrust areas for developing countries. She pointed that there was a need to redefine the discourse on ranking so as to serve developmental needs of the nation.
The interaction was focused on issues related to augmenting Research & Technological Innovation for meeting national development agenda, enhancing Industry-Academia collaborations, expanding Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), framework on Ranking System that would reflect national concerns and leveraging alumni networks.
The Union Minister also highlighted the need to develop quality faculty not only for new IITs, IIMs, IISERs but also other institutions in the country. She asked the Directors of IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Kanpur to come up with a National Initiative on summer/winter lectures by best of the foreign and the national faculty.
Irani informed IITs Directors and Chairmen that the Government planned to come up with a National Innovation Policy. She asked IITs to suggest curriculum changes at the school level so as not only to align with higher education institutions but also to help in setting up innovation laboratory at district level throughout the country with a view to infuse a culture of research and innovation among students. She asked the IITs to help set up Centers of Excellence in Central Universities.