Excelsior Correspondent
RAJOURI, Nov 2: Urging policy planners to unlock the full potential of education as a driver for growth and jobs, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today highlighted the need to revisit various academic programmes of the universities to tailor curricula for enhancing the possibilities of employment of pass-outs in the world of cut-throat competition.
He said the universities are coming under intense pressure to ensure that their graduates are employable, for which placement cells are urgently required to be activated. “A full-fledged campus placement cell with independent officers has to be established both at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University and the Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora, so that graduates are readily absorbed in the ever-expanding job market,” he observed.
The Chief Minister said this while chairing a high-level meeting of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) here today, during which he took wide ranging decisions to improve its functioning.
This was the first visit of the Chief Minister to the university after Prof. Javed Mussarat took over as the new Vice Chancellor. The Chief Minister had last visited the University on June 6, earlier this year.
Minister for Horticulture, Haj & Auqaf, A. R. Veeri, Minister for CA&PD and Tribal Affairs, Ch. Zulfkar, Minister for Education, Naeem Akhtar, Minister for Transport, A. G. Kohli and Advisor to the Chief Minister, Prof. Amitabh Mattoo were also present on the occasion.
Asking planners to shift towards looking at skills and their effective utilization, Mufti Sayeed, who is also the Chancellor of the University, asked the VC to give him a blueprint of how he plans to revitalise the university and create strong linkages between education and jobs, which will spur placement of pass-outs.
To augment the requirement for paramedic staff for upcoming medical college at Rajouri, the Chief Minister asked VC to initiate the process of establishing a nursing college. “The VC must also explore enhancing intake capacity of such courses which have a huge demand in the job market,” he stated.
Mufti Sayeed also emphasised upon diversification of higher education to provide right mix of more vocational skills that serve the job market better. He said besides improving quality of higher education, an increase in attention is needed to improve relevance of higher education. “We need to create the right kind of environment to have a better match between skills and jobs,” he explained.
Reiterating his resolve to make J&K a true ‘Knowledge Society’, the Chief Minister said universities can no longer act as independent academic force and need to dovetail major portion of their activity with the needs of the students so as to ensure their employability. For this, he called for forging close partnership with sectors like industry, civil service and world of entrepreneurship that have the potential to employ trained professionals in large numbers. “Cooperation between universities and industry needs to be intensified at all levels for which our campuses need to become vibrant placement centres,” he stated.
Noting with concern existing gaps in university infrastructure, despite funds being parked with the university for a pretty long time, the Chief Minister said he will depute a joint team headed by Administrative Secretaries of Education and Public Works Departments to the university to take a firsthand review and the steps to be taken to ensure that work on the projects is given a start.
Mufti Sayeed also sanctioned Rs.1 crore for construction of a modern Guest House, which can be utilized during various functions, especially the University Convocations. On the demand raised for sanctioning a ‘Central Instrumentation Facility’ for advanced research at a cost of Rs.5 crore, the Chief Minister asked the VC to prepare a Concept Paper for examination of the Planning Department.
In order to improve connectivity from downtown Rajouri to University campus, Mufti Sayeed asked Transport Minister to deploy a fleet of four buses exclusively for ferrying the students. The VC said the university will purchase two buses which will run within the campus to facilitate the movement of students.
In his address, Naeem Akhtar asked the Vice Chancellor to initiate the process for registration of the university with BoPEE, enabling it to optimally utilize its intake capacity in different graduate and under-graduate programmes. He also asked the university to evolve a Tracking System which monitors the status of the pass-outs in the job market.
Later, the Chief Minister visited the departments of Management Studies, Computer Sciences and Information Technology where he interacted with the faculty members as well as the students.
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