Bhubaneswar, Dec 25: Curriculum needs to be updated every year in order to prepare our youths for the modern world, Chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof Ved Prakash has said.
Advising universities and institutions of higher education to hold annual workshop to ensure this, he said universities failing to do this will lag behind.
Addressing a seminar lecture on ‘Role of Research on Massification of Quality Higher Education’ at KIIT University here, he said with a Gross Enrollment Rate of 23%, India has achieved “massification of higher education he stressed that research universities are need of the hour.
Arguing against compartmentalization of disciplines, he pointed out that new knowledge is always found at the intersection of disciplines.
“We need universities that have inspiring living and learning environment and are able to produce most scientific and talented workforce”, the UGC Chairman stated. “I believe higher education is a state responsibility. However, in India we have bright instances of private initiatives in higher education. Madan Mohan Malviya, who established Banaras Hindu University, Rabindra Nath Tagore, who set up Santiniketan, Syed Ahmad Khan, who set up AMU, and JRD Tata are the most prominent examples. I am happy to see today that with the establishment of a promising university like KIIT, Dr. Achyuta Samanta has joined this league of great men.”
He along with Director Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training Dr Shimla, went around all the campuses of KIIT University and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences. Quoting Jawaharlal Nehru, he said, “A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search for truth.” KISS is the brightest example of humanism in education, he said.
Complementing Samanta, he said, “It required commitment and passion of the highest order to achieve this.” Role of teachers will continue to remain paramount despite the trend towards online education, he told a large audience of faculty of KIIT and other institutions.
Underscoring the importance of research universities to generate new knowledge, he said, there is a need to transform our institutions from a learning system to knowledge system. “Future of higher education lies in quality and research”, he insisted.
Dr Shimla said, “I am awestruck by the campuses of KIIT, which is comparable to the best institutions of the world. KIIT is beyond imagination and its founder is a living legend. It has bloomed even beyond imagination of its founder in such a short span of time”.
