am indeed delighted to participate
in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the University Grants Commission which has contributed to the cause of higher education in the post independent India for the last five decades through several innovative schemes. I congratulate the Ministry of Human Resource Development, University Grants Commission and all those who are associated with this growth. The Universities have a major responsibility in nation building through enriching Science, Engineering and Technology and by providing value based education to students to make them moral leaders. On this occasion, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on "University Education and National Missions".
Second Vision for the Nation
We have all heard about the first vision of the Nation which commenced in the year 1857. During that period there were few universities in the country. Many of our freedom fighters were educated abroad. Lawyers, educators, poets, academicians, industrialists all of them participated in the freedom movement. It was a long drawn struggle and we got the freedom and India became independent in the year 1947. There has been substantial growth in higher education after independence and today nearly 10 million students are studying in our colleges thereby in our universities. We have designed our own higher education system and educated over eighty million students during this period who are engaged in a variety of national and international assignments. After five decades of growth our country has to face new challenges. It has a second
vision |
to become a developed India by the year 2020. We have a population of over one billion people of which 260 million are still living below the poverty line. They need education, they need habitat, they need health care, and creation of employment potential. To meet their needs we need the second vision for the nation. Our GDP is growing at an average rate of 5% p.a. whereas the economists suggest that to remove the poverty of 260 million people we have to
grow at the rate of 10% p.a. consistently for over a decade.
Partner to Developed India - Missions
How do we counter this situation? What role our educational system will play in the second vision of national development? Is an incremental change sufficient or do we need a quantum shift in emphasis for developing people who can participate in transforming India into a developed nation by 2020? Let us study
the
proposed
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integrated missions such as 5000 PURA's (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) out of 25000 PURA's, interlinking of rivers, power mission, agriculture, agro-food processing, tourism, healthcare, infrastructure development, information and communication technology (ICT), mass transportation system and critical technologies. Youth with knowledge, skill and passion are required for undertaking and completing these tasks in time.
In the next two decades, nation will witness the occurrence of many events. The vision 2020 will be put into action-oriented missions. Interlinking of rivers may get priority in the list and PURA will get into implementation by all the states. Now the university system, apart from its research focus has to become partners in national development. This will call for changes in the syllabi. The training will include several aspects that will nurture entrepreneurial skills in the students. It will also have our value systems at its core. We now know that high quality developments like PURA and the networking of rivers are missions that will also call for high quality research. In order to meet these complex requirements it has to be recognised that the university should also be a place of research. 10% of the university facilities should be allocated exclusively for research. Creation of national institute of science will also help in identifying areas where research and developments are co-located and flow from one another.
Present Status of Higher Education System
Number of schemes have been launched by UGC for the development
of the Universities |
