PRESIDENT HOLDS MEETING WITH VICE-CHANCELLORS
OF CENTRAL UNIVERSITIES
The President, Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam took a meeting today at Rashtrapati Bhavan
of Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities in his capacity as
Visitor of these Universities. The Vice-Chancellors of 15 Central
Universities attended the meeting. Union Human Resource Development
Minister, Minister of State for HRD, the Chairman of the UGC and
senior officials of the HRD Ministry also attended the meeting.
The objective
of conducting such a meeting was to make an appraisal of the performance
and functioning of the Central Universities, their achievements
and problems. Suggestions to improve the Visitor – University
interface within the statutory framework were also discussed.
The President
observed during the meeting that our education system should be
employment oriented. While passing out from Universities, graduate
students should also have in their possession a diploma in a professional
course besides a degree. This will help students in getting employment,
he said. Dr. Kalam said each University should be known for its
core competence and this core competence should be well-known
to attract the pool of talented teachers and students interested
in that particular field. The President also laid emphasis on
research undertaken in science and non-science subjects. He said
research and teaching should go together.
There should
be breakthroughs in research in University campuses, the President
observed. Quality of the teacher, their capabilities of dovetailing
research and teaching activities are very important for the over
all development of educational standards, Dr. Kalam said. The
Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Dr. Murli Manohar
Joshi also laid emphasis on the quality of teaching and research.
Some mechanism, he said should be evolved to improve the quality
of teaching. It was suggested that a committee could be formed
to go into this issue.
Most of the Vice-Chancellors
raised the issues of inadequate funding, infrastructure problems,
fee structures, strengthening of visiting faculty and streamlining
the appointment of Visitor’s nominees. They also pointed out that
a new category called technical staff should be recognised besides
the present two categories of teaching and non-teaching staff.
The Vice-Chancellors of the Universities from the North-Eastern
States wanted smooth flow of funds from the non-lapsable pool.
The President stressed the need to fill all the vacancies in the
faculty in all Central Universities. The President asked the Chairman
of the UGC to address the issues raised by the Vice-Chancellors.
The Chairman responded to some of the issues which were raised.
A power-point
presentation was made on the Vision of a developed India by 2020.
The President explained to the Vice-Chancellors how University
education could contribute to national development through a mission
mode approach in making India a developed and prosperous country
by 2020. This, the President said is possible only if we know
what kind of capacities we want to give our youth. These capacities
he said should include research and inquiry, high technology,
creativity and innovation, entrepreneurial leadership and moral
leadership.
