Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Sep 14: “The Indian higher education system is the second largest in the world. With growth in the proportion of young people in this country, India has potential to become the largest higher education system provider in the world in the near future,” said Rama Thirunamachandran, vice-chancellor, Canterbury Christ Church University.
Rama Thirunamachandran was addressing new graduands of Nitte (Deemed to be University) on the occasion of ninth annual convocation, held on Saturday. A total of 916 students were awarded their degree certificates.
Talking about education and role of universities in 21st century in India, he said the country is at the forefront of globalisation and the knowledge revolution. “With over 900 universities and 40,000 colleges, 1.3 million teachers and 36.6 million students, the higher education system is second largest,” he pointed out.
On the role of Indian universities in this century, he said that there are some fundamentals of a university which transcend centuries as well as nations. “Zakir Husain, former president of India, summed it up nicely when he said: ‘the role of universities is to provide intellectual and moral leadership’. Hallmarks of a good university education are self-education and independent learning,” stressed Thirunamachandran.
He expressed that though 20 and 21st centuries have seen much progress in terms of science, engineering, technology and medicine, the world still faces challenges like poverty, famine, disease, climate change and others. “So today’s graduates carry a huge responsibility on their shoulders to rectify the challenges. Also, now organisations and our nation needs people who have passion, the vision and purpose to deliver societal goals.”
“The learning should not stop at convocation day,” advised Thirunamachandran adding that we all remain students for life because we must all keep growing. “Last month Amazon announced that it plans to invest a large sum over six years to retain a third of its US Workforce (About 1 lac). Amazon says that it is responding to the fourth industrial revolution and increase in automation and machine learning. This illustrates the importance of why lifelong learning must be a central part of the future of today’s graduates. Universities also have to respond to these changes and should allow people to work and study at the same time,” said Thirunamachandran.
Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa)
Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) was awarded to Rajgopala Chidambaram –DAE Homi Baba, professor in BARC and former principal scientific advisor, GoI and N R Shetty, chancellor, Central University Gulbarga and former vice-chancellor, Bangalore University.