New Delhi, Dec 14 (UNI) President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said as India strove to eliminate poverty, become a middle-income country, top academics should set up systems that could scout for and support cross-category collaborations.
Addressing 46 heads of Central Universities/Institutes of Higher Learning here, he said India has set itself for
sustainable development and each of these institutes would be instrumental to the realisation of the country's
socio-economic goals.
"The Central Agricultural Universities can support our national goal of promoting sustainable agriculture, productivity and supporting our farmers with useful research. The same is true of all other institutes linked to different areas be it pharmaceutical, aviation, oceanography, petroleum and energy, IT, Design, Architecture and others," he said.
Though each of them was doing well, the President urged them to raise the bar further.
"As our economy grows we need to acquire the scale and efficiency that is greater and better than the best in the world.
These institutes have the mandate to lead research, to provide skilled talent, to spur innovation and to set an agenda for sustainable and climate-friendly development."
The 46 heads of Central Universities/Institutes of Higher Learning are from the fields of agriculture; pharmaceuticals; aviation; design; footwear-design; fashion; petroleum and energy; maritime studies; planning and architecture and information technology.
"Promoting top-class research is paramount and so are innovation and entrepreneurship as well as industry–academia linkages. We need to find ways to fill up vacancies, create and utilise alumni-based endowment funds and complete infrastructure projects," he told the academicians speaking at the concluding session.
During the conference different sub groups comprising heads of various institutes made presentations on issues such as promotion of research; promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship among students; building industry-academia linkages; filling up of vacancies including faculty from foreign universities; creating alumni funding and enhancing alumni activities; completion of major infrastructure projects in a time bound manner.
He said while developing their specialisations, these institutes should collaborate and learn from each other. This was possible for institutes in the same field. It was also possible across categories. For example, advances in Information Technology could aid architects and town planners to design Smart Cities that minimise use of energy. All of them should set up systems that could scout for and support cross-category collaborations which might hold creative promises to solve many of our problems.
The President said great institutes of learning were different due to the leadership they nurtured and built. The heads of leading higher education institutes must discharge their key role as leadership mentors for the next generation of academic-administrators. This, he said, would ensure that the country had "a ready talent pool of directors, deans and administrators who can conceive, establish and administer our institutes of higher education."
Union Ministers for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Human Resource Development, Commerce and Industry, Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare also addressed the conference, an official release here said.
UNI SD ADG 1746