Srinagar, Oct 17: J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday said educate in India should be our aim and to increase share in multi-trillion dollar global education sector.
Addressing the inaugural session of the Round Table Conference of newly appointed Vice Chancellors from various universities of the country at the University of Kashmir here, he said “Educate in India should be our aim and we need to increase our share in multi-trillion dollar global education sector”.
The Lt Governor appreciated the endeavour of the Association of Indian Universities to bring together the Vice Chancellors on a common platform to deliberate on University Governance, Collaboration and promoting innovation in academic world.
Higher education institutions across the world are undergoing radical transformations. The Universities and colleges will have to formulate strategic plan, organizational readiness for adjustments aligned with NEP 2020 to stay relevant in a constantly evolving world.
”Institutions with aspirational and shared vision should focus to improve ranking. It should be our top priority and we must take bold action to achieve this goal,” Sinha said.
We are witnessing a massive growth in demand for higher education. In 10-15 years, India has contributed 74% of all new higher education institutions started in the world. We need to ensure quality of studies to provide new tools to students to face the changes and challenges, he said.
The Lt Governor said, more than 13 lakh Indian students are studying in 79 countries. As per an estimate of 2020, students studying abroad are spending approximately $30 billion annually. Despite having the largest number of higher educational institutions in the world and best facilities, not a single institution of ours is included in the top 10 educational hubs of the world, because of lack of promotion, he added.
Many countries of Global South are now focused on enrolling International students. But we are lagging behind. On the contrary, we top the list of Countries for sending highest number of students abroad. This trend needs to be reversed with transformational approach, Sinha said.
At the Conference, Lt Governor shared the efforts of the administration, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to overhaul the education system in Jammu Kashmir.
“Since September 2020, J&K is witnessing encouraging reforms in higher education sector. Universities and Colleges have been enabled to focus on demand for education outputs, industry requirements, innovation, new-age skills and to be flexible and resilient to meet the needs of tomorrow,” he said.
“To remain relevant in the future, Universities will have to function like a Professional Corporation in which each department, unit, teacher play their crucial role as a separate part and forms a complete organic mechanism,” Sinha said.
Prof. Nilofer Khan, Vice Chancellor University of Kashmir; Vice Chancellors of various universities; HoDs; senior officers and faculty members were present.
