Ranchi, Jan. 10: Maintaining quality benchmarks in higher education was the need of the hour in an India of mushrooming private institutes, President Pranab Mukherjee stressed while speaking at the 26th convocation and diamond jubilee celebrations of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, in Ranchi this afternoon.
Addressing a gathering of around 2,500 at the GP Birla Auditorium at BIT-Mesra where the convocation was held, the President of India, who was the chief guest at the event, congratulated the BIT for its worldwide reputation and said the institute had the potential to be among the world's top-ranked institutes.
But, "global" recognition for Indian institutes of higher education was the refrain of the President's 25-minute speech at the GP Birla hall named after industrialist G.P. Birla, the son of B.M. Birla who had founded the institute.
Addressing students, faculty and dignitaries including chief minister Raghubar Das, governor Droupadi Murmu, G.P. Birla's widow Nirmala Birla and son C.K. Birla and other family members, BIT-Mesra VC Manoj Kumar Mishra, President Mukherjee said higher education in India had seen enormous growth, giving many more students access to institutes, but added this came at a cost.
Though he called the increasing participation of private institutions in higher education a "healthy feature", the President said this "greater access" led to an "alarming state of the quality of education". "This trend of private higher education (institutes) accounts for greater student enrolment. But, it has led to an alarming state of quality of education. Therefore, we shall have to work very hard," he said.
Giving numbers to back his argument, the President said: "India at present has more than 731 universities, more than 46,000 colleges giving degrees, 30 NITs, 16 IITs and scores of management institutes. The share of private institutes was 54 per cent in the beginning of 11th Five Year Plan and has gone up to 59 per cent at the commencement of 12th Five Year Plan." Very few institutes were recognised globally, he said.
"Almost for the last three-and-a-half years since my assuming the office of the President of the Indian Republic, I have attended several convocation ceremonies where I have been stressing on the need of quality education," he said.
Apart from some noted business management institutes, the country did not have any institute ranked in the first 200 top universities in the world with ratings prepared by reputable grading organisations, the President noted. "Last year, Indian Institute of Science and Research, Bangalore, and IIT-Delhi came in the list of top ranking universities globally," he added.
At the same time, the President seemed to be pleased to come to BIT-Mesra.
Referring to C.K. Birla as "Chandra Kant", the President spoke warmly of his association with the Birlas in the long years of his public life.
Earlier, C.K. Birla, chairman of board of governors, BIT, announced to hike scholarship outlay from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 2 crore per year as GP Birla Scholarships. He also announced an investment of around Rs 200 crore to upgrade academic infrastructure in the next three years, expand courses and include humanities for a wider choice from the next academic year.
Pointing out that innovation was the proven key differentiator, he said: "The institute plans to establish the GP Birla Centre for Innovative Start-ups that will further strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the institute."
Chief minister Raghubar Das, on his part, appealed to students to "stir the entrepreneur within you and deliver to the state".
Governor Droupadi Murmu and chancellor of state universities spoke on the need for trained manpower in Jharkhand.
As many as 1,365 students, including 761 graduates and 604 postgraduates, received degrees. The President personally awarded gold medals to 12 outstanding students.
