A student being felicitated by governor SC Jamir at the fifth convocation at VSSUT, Burla. Telegraph pictures

Sambalpur, Dec. 19: Concerns over shortage of qualified teachers and researchers in higher education institutions in the country were expressed during the fifth convocation of the Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology at Burla today.

Delivering the convocation address as the chief guest, former director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, K.L. Chopra exuded hope that a sizeable number of university graduates would pursue teaching and research work.

“Some 650 universities, 3,600 private engineering colleges and numerous management institutions are starved of qualified faculty. I hope that the next generation would take up teaching, a very noble and satisfying profession. Teachers are the pillars of the knowledge society,” said Chopra.

Governor S.C. Jamir, who is also the chancellor of all state universities, stressed on the need for quality faculty and research in universities. “It is true that India has the largest education system in the world. But, our concern is always on quality… we lag behind even smaller countries. Our focus should be on securing quality faculty, which produces best of minds. Further, we need to realise the importance of research to push our development and address societal needs,” said Jamir, who chaired the convocation.

He also sought to motivate the graduates by talking about the pursuit for professional growth and success in life.

“Education is a lifelong process and the thirst for knowledge should remain unquenched and that attitude will only drive to expand one’s horizon of knowledge,” he said.

Vice-chancellor of the university B.K. Nanda said 522 students were conferred with their degrees in BTech, MTech and MCA courses. Similarly, nine students received university gold medals and 13 others were given silver medals for their achievements in graduate and postgraduate programmes.