No Indian university among top 200, time to redefine edu: Prez
20 March 2013 6:57 AM IST
President of India Pranab Mukherjee at the 90th annual convocation of University of Delhi held at Vice Regal Lodge on Tuesday, deplored the pedagogical conditions prevalent in Indian universities, and pointed out that ‘No Indian university finds a place amongst the global top 200 universities.’
Mukherjee, while addressing the convocation gathering, said, ‘If we are to redefine the way education is imparted by our educational institutions, the time is now. According to an international ranking of universities, no Indian university finds a place amongst the global top 200 universities. This we would agree, is simply unacceptable. We must develop our universities into global leaders, and for that, the best practices in other countries should be carefully studied and adopted with necessary changes to suit our conditions.’
Mukherjee also said, ‘The question that we should now ask ourselves is whether we are satisfied with the progress that we are making in the educational sector. An honest answer would reveal that we have miles and miles to go before we can say that we have arrived. The education sector is today confronted by problems relating to both quantity and quality. It may be heartening that the density of educational institutions in India has increased from 10 to 14 institutions per 1,000 sq km during the Eleventh Planperiod. But it is disheartening that many places in our country do not have a higher educational institution that are within the practical reach of aspiring students.’
According to him, the time is now to make innovative changes in the educational sector. ‘We had organised a conference of the vice-chancellors of the central universities in Rashtrapati Bhavan in February. During the meeting, we had arrived at some conclusions on the immediate, short-term and medium-term measures that need to be taken to bring in the necessary changes in our education system to address the nation’s requirements. The prime minster, the human resource development minister and the vice-chancellors were agreed on the urgent need to address the challenges that we are facing in the sector. I am happy to note that the Ministry of Human Resource Development has started the implementation of the decisions taken in right earnest. We hope to show substantial progress by the time we hold the next conference in February 2014.’
On this, 90th Convocation, 400 doctoral, 6,500 post graduate and 65,000 graduate degrees were awarded to students in a variety of disciplines ranging from medicine to fine arts. The deans of colleges, director of south campus, proctor, treasurer, registrar, heads of departments, principals, executive council members were part of the convocation ceremony.
Mukherjee, while addressing the convocation gathering, said, ‘If we are to redefine the way education is imparted by our educational institutions, the time is now. According to an international ranking of universities, no Indian university finds a place amongst the global top 200 universities. This we would agree, is simply unacceptable. We must develop our universities into global leaders, and for that, the best practices in other countries should be carefully studied and adopted with necessary changes to suit our conditions.’
Mukherjee also said, ‘The question that we should now ask ourselves is whether we are satisfied with the progress that we are making in the educational sector. An honest answer would reveal that we have miles and miles to go before we can say that we have arrived. The education sector is today confronted by problems relating to both quantity and quality. It may be heartening that the density of educational institutions in India has increased from 10 to 14 institutions per 1,000 sq km during the Eleventh Planperiod. But it is disheartening that many places in our country do not have a higher educational institution that are within the practical reach of aspiring students.’
According to him, the time is now to make innovative changes in the educational sector. ‘We had organised a conference of the vice-chancellors of the central universities in Rashtrapati Bhavan in February. During the meeting, we had arrived at some conclusions on the immediate, short-term and medium-term measures that need to be taken to bring in the necessary changes in our education system to address the nation’s requirements. The prime minster, the human resource development minister and the vice-chancellors were agreed on the urgent need to address the challenges that we are facing in the sector. I am happy to note that the Ministry of Human Resource Development has started the implementation of the decisions taken in right earnest. We hope to show substantial progress by the time we hold the next conference in February 2014.’
On this, 90th Convocation, 400 doctoral, 6,500 post graduate and 65,000 graduate degrees were awarded to students in a variety of disciplines ranging from medicine to fine arts. The deans of colleges, director of south campus, proctor, treasurer, registrar, heads of departments, principals, executive council members were part of the convocation ceremony.
Next Story
