AGARTALA, June 20: Expressing concern over lack of quality academic institutions, President Pranab Mukherjee today called for placing a special focus on improving quality of education and making higher education accessible to all.
Addressing 10th convocation of Tripura University here, he said the central universities should take a lead for bringing about transformation in the way knowledge was imparted in the institution.
He said lack of quality in higher academic institutions had been pointed out by an international survey that had ranked not a single Indian university within the top 200 universities in the world. Underlining that high economic growth will rely increasingly on the knowledge economy, Mr Mukherjee said a sound higher education system was imperative.
The President noted that higher education institutes were absent in many parts of the country depriving many good students from remote regions to pursue higher studies.
This he said has resulted in enrollment rate of 7 per cent for the 18-24 years age group in India, much lower compared to 21 per cent in Germany and 34 per cent in the US.
“To rectify this situation, we must increase accessibility of higher education and take it to the door step of our population,” he said.
The President underlined the need of moral and value based education and encouraged innovation.
Referring to India’s past glory in higher education, he said, there was no reason why the past achievements could not be repeated by Indian students in today’s world. (UNI)
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