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New Delhi : On the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima, the HRD Ministry has organized a national conference of Vice Chancellors & Directors of Higher Education Institutions of India in New Delhi on July 27, 2018. Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar chaired the conference. Minister of State for HRD ( Higher Education) Dr Satya Pal Singh was also present on the occasion.
The three- day Conference started on July 26 and will conclude on July 28, 2018. All Vice Chancellors of Central Universities, State Public Universities, Deemed to be Universities, State Private Universities, Directors of Central Institutes such as IITs, IISc., IIMs, IISERs, IIITs, NITs and other central institutions participated in the conference.
Speaking on the occasion, Javadekar said that Guru is the real guide of a person to achieve success in his/her life. He also informed that last year on the occasion of Guru Purnima, we launched SWAYAM platform and in a very short span, more than 24 lakh students have registered for it. It is a huge success in providing quality, affordable and any time learning to all. He hoped that with the active participation of the universities, the number of users will further increase from 24 lakh to 2.4 crore by next year.
The Minister said that this conference is different from previous ones because for the first time the HRD Ministry has invited not only VC’s of Centrally funded Universities and Directors of Central Institutes such as IITs, IISc., IIMs, IISERs, IIITs, NITs but also invited all Vice Chancellors of State Public Universities, Deemed to be Universities, State Private Universities because our aim is to break the walls of separation for the betterment of the education sector.
The Minister further said that all research projects of MHRD including IMPRINT will be opened to teachers and students of all Universities. Of course, the selection will be strictly on merit. In order to check Plagiarism, Turnitin software will be made available at no cost basis to all Universities in the country. The Minister also informed that e-Shodh Sindhu mass bargain journals will now be available for all Universities at affordable cost. He further said that from now on other than centrally funded Universities also can call foreign Professors to their institutions under GIAN initiative, according to a PIB release.
Dr Satya Pal said that research & innovation is the key factor in revolutionizing the higher education scenario of the country. He further said that in order to improve quality of the education ‘Guru’ must be respected more than any staff in all the educational institutions. He also pointed out that Indian higher educational institutions apply very less number of patent applications. It must be increased if we want to become an Worls leader (Vishwa Guru) in the field of education again, he said.
Delivering the welcome speech, Secretary (Higher Education),HRD, R Subrahmanyam said that the purpose of the conference was to set focus for the educational advancement of the country. Our prime focus is on promoting Research & Innovation, which will make significant gains in the higher education space and also promote excellence in our institutions.
The HRD Minister released the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report 2017-18 and Higher Education Profile of All India and States for the year 2017-18. On this occasion, he also released Swachh Campus- A manual for Swachhta Ranking of Higher Education Institutions. It was followed by the Presentation on Quality Mandate by Prof D P Singh, Chairman, UGC.
Dr Vijay Bhatkar was felicitated by the Union HRD Minister on the occasion. He is one of most acclaimed and internationally acknowledged scientists of India. He is at present the Chancellor of Nalanda University. Prior to Nalanda responsibility, he was the Chairman of Board of Governors of IIT Delhi from 2012 to 2017. He is best known as the architect of India’s national initiative in supercomputing, where he led the development of India’s first supercomputer Param in 1990.