THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, DELHI

• President, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Sh. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe Ji
• President, AIU and VC Jadavpur University, Prof. Suranjan Das Ji,
• Secretary General, AIU, Dr. (Mrs.) Pankaj Mittal Ji,
• Chancellor, Galgotias University Shri Suneel Galgotia Ji,
• Vice–Chancellor, Galgotias University Dr. Preeti Bajaj Ji,
• CEO, Galgotias University Shri Dhruv Galgotia Ji
• Faculty Members,
• Members of the media,
• and my dear students

I am happy to be present on the occasion of Association of Indian Universities’ (AIU), North Zone Vice Chancellors Meet. It is indeed a privilege to be addressing this august gathering of Teachers, Academicians, Educationists, Mentors and Administrators, who are at the cutting-edge of shaping India’s future generation. At the outset, I would like to quote the great teacher, philosopher, a Vice Chancellor himself, a diplomat and our former President, Dr. S. Radha Krishnan, and I quote “True teachers are those, who help us think for ourselves”. This simple one line not only defines the roles that our Gurus play, but also underline the extreme importance of your role in shaping the lives and futures of the students.

1. Dear Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

   The Universities of our Nation are the inheritors of the glorious legacies of Takshshila, Nalanda, Vikramshila and Uddantpuri and our teachers, those of Aryabhatt, Panini, Gargi, Chanakya, Swami Vivekanand and Guru Dev Rabindranath Thakur to name a few. Students and Scholars from across the world congregated at these temples of education to hone their knowledge and upgrade their skills. We were the unquestioned world leaders in the sphere of Academics and Higher Education, till at least the early medieval ages.

2. I would not hesitate in saying, that after a hiatus of about a millennia, Higher Education in India again received a fillip in the shape of Universities at Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad and Patna to name a few. The nationalist educational stream represented by the Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University and Vishwa Bharti University at Shanti Niketan along with the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore amongst others, provided a solid footing to Higher Education once again.
3. However, even as we made remarkable progress in setting up newer Institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS, etc. after independence, somewhere we seem to have lost our edge and focus. This is more than apparent in the fact that apart from the above-mentioned Institutions and a few others, most of our Universities and other Institutions of Higher Learning became degree distributing and graduate and post graduate producing perfunctory mills. Not only this, even Institutions like the IITs and IIMs along with other Universities of repute, became training institutions for producing young graduates for employment by Corporate Housesand feeder cadre for admissions into post graduate and research programs in Universities abroad.
4. It is a telling statement on the state of affairs in our Higher Education eco system that as many as 1.3 million students from India are studying in Universities spread across 85 countries, mostly in Anglophone Nations like Canada, United States and Australia apart from others. More than 02 lakhs students leave India for studies abroad every year at an average. Apart from underlining that their Higher Education needs are not being fulfilled indigenously, this trend also reflects the incapacity on part of Indian Universities to sustain and promote quality Higher Education. It also amounts to transfer of precious foreign exchange that could as well have gone into strengthening our own Higher Education Sector.

5. Dear Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

   Our Institutions have increasingly lagged behind in the sphere of fundamental and basic research in pure sciences as well as social sciences and liberal arts. The fact that none after C.V. Raman got a Nobel prize for research undertaken in an Indian University, is another statement that requires pondering upon. Be it Hargobind Khorana, who passed out from Punjab University, Subrahmanium Chandrashekar, who passed out from Madras University, Amrtya Sen, who passed out from Calcutta University, Venkat Raman Ramakrishnan, who passed out from M.S. University, Baroda or Abhijit Banerjee, who passed out from Calcutta University, all got recognition for their works in Universities abroad, where they went after completing their basic degrees in the Indian Universities.

6. Friends,

   Despite boasting of a robust Higher Education eco system that comprises about 1100 Universities, 42,000 Colleges and 1200 standalone Institutions that cater to more than a billion people in the fifth largest economy of the World, none of our Universities are even in the top 150 Universities of the World. The highest that we have reached is achieving 174th Rank by IIT, Delhi. JNU is between the 601 to 650 category, Delhi University in the 521 to 530 category and Jamia Millia Islamia in the 801 to 1,000 bracket on various parameters. In fact, all these have slipped further from their previous rankings.

7. To my mind, the task before us is clearly cut out. We have to strive towards a comprehensive transformation that seeks to balance academics, research, employability, specialized skilling and personality development in a holistic manner that at the same time addresses the needs and requirements of every individual student and faculty.

8. Friends,

   All of you are experts and doyens of your own fields. It is not for me to outline for you that ways and means that will be required to achieve these goals that ultimately lead toIndian Universities becoming World leaders, where students from across the World congregate for Higher Education and the trend of our students going abroad is reversed.

9. You already have many unique advantages that your peers abroad do not have. To my mind, primary among them is the commitment of the government in supporting Higher Education by providing resources. You also have a vast student pool to fill your classrooms and a burgeoning Corporate Sector to absorb your graduates. Given concerted and innovative endeavours, I find no reason, why you should not be amongst the top 100 or even top 10 Universities of the World. Let us, in our deliberations over the next couple of days, fix for ourselves, concrete goals in this direction and undertake to consistently and concurrently evaluate the steps taken for attaining these goals in a periodic manner.

10. Dear Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

    Towards the end, I would like to solicit your attention towards some issues of immediate attention, and I would like to list them;

    • Internationalization of Higher Education in India that ensures recognition of our degrees abroad through a process of mutual accreditations, degree recognition and credit transfers should be undertaken and expedited, forthwith. This would ensure that our demographic dividend is utilized gainfully, and without any obstruction, in countries that are facing a demographic decline. Countries with larger greying populations like Japan, Germany, Scandinavian Europe and others are suitable work places for our young graduates as well as specialty scholars. 
    • In this direction, strengthening of Global Initiative for Academic Network (GIAN), with additional linkages with Institutions like ICSSR, ICCR and UGC etc. will ensure seamless progression.
    • Similarly, another area of focus also enumerated in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, is the promotion of academic and research collaboration. This will ensure that the much-neededpush to research is provided through collaboration with Institutions abroad that are already excelling in related spheres.
    • Even as we go ahead in operationalizing these measures, we should simultaneously work towards promotion of Indian Higher Education abroad, with the focus on making India a receiver country of students rather than, their sender. Let India become the destination country for International students.
11. I am sure that with committed focus on the above mentioned, the theme of the Zonal Vice Chancellors Conference ‘Transformative Higher Education for Atmanirbhar Bharat’ will sooner than later achieve fruition.

I wish you all the very best and Godspeed !

Jai Hind !