Varsities should be made more universal to flourish: Moily

Updated on: Monday, November 22, 2010

The Indian university system, which was once the best in Asia, has fallen on "bad times" and needs a revamp, Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said.

"There is need to revamp the entire university system and define the size, scope and operation of universities very clearly. India's universities need to be made more universal if they are to flourish", he said in his address at the sixth convocation of the SRM University near here.

Recent tendency by most of the universities to add programmes with the aim of generating more funds must stop, he said.

Pointing out that the latest ranking of world universities shows that India has a long way to go in higher education, he said, "Its once proud university system, the best in Asia after the second world war, has fallen on very bad times".

"It is not that Indian university education has languished altogether. The IITs (even though they have a lot to answer for), IIMs and a host of other universities such as Delhi and JNU have brought high quality higher education to India", he said.

Quoting a recent National Association of Software and Services Companies study, he said only ten per cent of graduates from B-schools and less than 25 per cent students from engineering institutes were actually employable, while the rest were "unemployable".

"In fact, there is a widening gap and mismatch between education and employment", he said, adding "the education system is churning out job seekers in such a large number that employment of the educated has assumed monstrous proportions".

He also appealed to students to work selflessly for the country, strengthen its great traditions and values, particularly, its pluralistic ethos.
"You must also be sensitive to the welfare of the under privileged sections of society and to environmental concerns", he said.

Varsities should be made more universal to flourish: Moily

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