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Published: Friday, 25 March, 2016 04:10 PM

Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani addresses at EPSI National Conference

  • Smt. Smriti Irani announces major relief to private institutions from in the regulatory controls of UGC and AICTE in the EPSI’s National Conference on Making India a Global Hub for Quality Higher Education held at Bengaluru on March 22, 2016
  • More Autonomy is being stipulated to private sector institutes and universities

Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), a national body representing the private universities and colleges across the country, convened a one-day National Conference on “Making India a Global Hub for Quality Higher Education” today at Hotel Lalit, Bengaluru. The conference was inaugurated by Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Hon’ble Minister of HRD, Government of India among a host of senior dignitaries and academicians. Sh. T B Jayachandra, Hon’ble Minister of Higher Education and Sh. Sharan Prakash R Patil, Hon’ble Minister of State for Medical Education, Karnataka Government were also present on the occasion.

EPSI

More than 300 Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors, Directors and Principals from the Higher Education institutions attended the Conference. The Conference discussed the road map for “Making India a Global Hub for Quality Higher Education” and addressed some of the pressing issues related to higher education viz. globalization, student’s mobility and improving the access of quality higher education to the poor students. Financing Higher Education and the Challenge for Equity & Access; and roles of values in Higher Education were deliberated upon in two plenary sessions.

Dr. G Vishwanathan, President-EPSI raised the issue of UGC’s regulation of 2010 which is creating a lot of difficulties for deemed universities. Some high courts have already raised questions about the validity of these regulations and have demanded these to be withdrawn. He said that the higher education sector has not been getting the benefits of liberalization. “While Goddess Lakshmi has been liberated, Goddess Saraswati is still under chains”, he added.

In his Valedictory Address, Dr. H. Chaturvedi-Alternate President-EPSI said: Higher Education Institutions can contribute a lot in India’s future economic growth, similar to Higher Education institutes in Singapore, Malaysia and Dubai. We already have a large number of Universities which are attracting foreign students. In the next five years, we propose that the current number of 33,000 foreign students may become 5 lakh which will be a boom for Indian economy and Indian Universities.

Responding to this, the Hon’ble Union Minister for HRD said that the MHRD is working towards providing greater autonomy to Higher Education Institutions.

Acknowledging the significant role of the private institutions in bridging the industry academia gap through multitude of initiatives; Smt. Smriti Irani made following announcements which will bolster the spirits of the Private Higher Education Institutions:

  1. Institutions under AICTE, if they are accredited by NBA for 5 years will get automatic approval for the next five years.
  2. University Grants Commission and other regulatory bodies should become enablers for private institutions with a good performance record. Affiliated or Accredited colleges performing well shall be given autonomous status. Those colleges/institutions which are NAAC accredited with highest grade of accreditation and have completed 10 years of existence should be encouraged by the State for giving autonomous status.
  3. Universities with 2F or 12 B status will be allowed to run specialized skills-based programs in the second shift.
  4. Moving towards transparency, the requirement of having a nominee from Ministry of HRD on the Governing Board of Private Universities shall be discontinued for self financing universities.  

Smt. Smriti Irani appealed EPSI to work towards launching a world-wide outreach program to showcase the strengths and the positive work of the Indian education system and enable global exchange. EPSI should also promote the ‘know your college’ portal of AICTE.   Smt. Smriti Irani appealed to EPSI and its members to provide scholarships for the girl child and the differently-abled students.

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