Union Minister for Road Transport & highways and micro, small and medium enterprises Nitin Gadkari held a webinar with FICCI higher education committee. The webinar was organized today between 12-1 pm. The committee discussed the online education and the avenues the Indian higher education in coming times. The minister said that the educational institutes must look for economic independence and must not solely depend on the Government funds for their benefits and the quality improvements.
The institutes can also look for foreign investments and take up joint ventures with industries to provide quality education to the Indian students. This would be quite helpful in the coronavirus crisis in the country. The partnership with industry and the Government of the institutes would make the operations much more sustainable as per the Minister.
In this year’s Budget, the Government has increased the allocation for education by 5 per cent. This is equivalent to INR 99 crores in the year 2020-21. The higher education has been provided with almost 40% of the budget allocation and the primary focus of the Government was on primary education. Those who could not go through the Live discussion can follow it below.
Gadkari supported Industry Institute partnerships and went on to say, “We cannot create world-class educational institutions with sole dependence on government funds. Institutes must be self-reliant and must look for ways to make the process of education more viable. The way a new industry/company looks for the viability of business while starting up, the same should apply for educational institutes as well.”
He also had his focus on how institutes like IITs can help the government reduce road accidents by doing road audits for them. He also said NHAI could help the local engineering students by giving them practical training and providing them with stipends. A permissible amount of foreign investment to aid world-class education infrastructure from global institutes will be something that would be allowed by the government.
source: timesnownews
