Katra, 16th November 2019. The North Zone Vice Chancellor’s Meet was inaugurated at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU), where Shri Girish Chandra Murmu, Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory (UT), was the Chief Guest.
On the occasion, the LG congratulated Prof. RK Sinha, the host & Vice-Chancellor, SMVD University, and Dr. (Mrs.) Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU), for organizing the meet on an important theme, titled ‘Developing Employability and Entrepreneurship as Cornerstones in Higher Education’ which reflects the commitment of AIU & SMVDU to create a dialogue amongst its various stakeholders of higher education.
While addressing the audience, the LG praised the SMVD University for ably balancing itself between the safety of girls and quality education, while following the Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s motto ‘Beti Bachchao-Beti Padhao’ beautifully. Since India has the highest number of young population in the world, he emphasized that the higher education institutions must exploit and create opportunities for the young. While making a comparison with China and its education system which provides specializations in many traits and branches, he said that higher education institutions must introspect whether there is something lacking in their curriculum, and to find out what is it? Is it related to the innovative aspects that would enable graduates to acquire the competencies required by employers or the skills required to be self-employed?
The LG said that though economic growth of India is slow but it is the fastest growing economy in the world, and hope that this Meet will create a dialogue which will be helpful not only for increasing employability, but also for achieving Shri Narendra Modi ji’s dream to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024. He said that training students for a career at the higher education institutions is not enough but rather students need to be prepared to work in the dynamic global environment. This includes developing among students the skills and important attributes as demanded by the labor market. These skills are important as they enable graduates to meet the demands of the new knowledge economy, which is characterized by flexible workers.
Prof. Ravindra Kumar Sinha, Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, presented a report highlighting past achievements and future action plans. He gave details of the placements and publications brought out by the university, research projects sanctioned to the faculty and the various workshops and conferences that have organized in the recent past. He said that the university is poised to be a center of excellence with the blessings of Mata Vaishno Devi ji, which is apparent from the improvement in the ranking from 94th in 2018 to 85th rank among the Engineering and Management institutions in 2019 the MHRD NIRF Ranking.
Sixty Vice-Chancellors and Directors of various institutions were present at the Meet, including Shri Talat Parvez Rohella, Secretary, Higher Education, J&K; Prof. Ranbir Singh, VC, National Law University (NLU, New Delhi; Dr. (Mrs.) Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Registrar, SMVDU to name a few. Shri Rohella stated that how girls’ education is prioritized in Jammu and Kashmir, and informed about the other completed and ongoing projects related to the growth and development of employability and entrepreneurship; Dr. Mittal briefed the LG about the vision and new developments of AIU. Prof. Ranbir Singh highlighted through an anecdotal account how Indian youth in doing wonders in the US and other countries. The Newsletter of AIU was also released during the inaugural ceremony, and Dr. Rama Devi Pani, Editor, Newsletter, AIU, reported that many new changes have been made in the newsletter. The inaugural ceremony ended with a felicitation to the dignitaries on the dais, and a vote of thanks was presented by Dr. AK Das, Director, Quality Assurance, SMVDU.
