Uttarakhand to Have Nation’s First Central University for Himalayan Technology

In an interactive session with the state representatives at the Conference of State Secretaries of Higher and Technical Education in New Delhi, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Smriti Zubin Irani, said that a new Central University for Himalayan Technology will be soon set up in Uttarakhand that’ll have international faculty.

Apart from this, the ministry expressed concern over the large numbers of Institutes and Universities who have spread up in various parts of the nation with no standard facilities and full faculty. She even asked the states to monitor such institutes as to ensure their standards. Irani also supported a strong “Know Your College” drive that is build to help the students know about the details of the colleges and to make right choice. The Ministry also added on having a national framework for ranking the universities and colleges suited to the local conditions, circumstances and requirements.

The minister laid emphasis on establishing an enabling environment for education of children in backward areas, tribal zones and also among the minorities, women and weaker sections prevailing in the society. She also highlighted on the need to launch Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyaan to make science interesting for children. To influence technology for empowering students and teachers, the ministry plans to launch a large number of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). National e-library is also to be set up by the end of this year.

Irani also asked the states to revisit the Right to Education Act in the light of experiences. The fragmentation between the Primary, Secondary & Higher Education should be removed and skill development should start at the school level while continuing up to the higher levels, she added. She also stated that the Shaala Deep Programme of schools can be replicated in colleges.

The conference ended up with various state specific issues that the representative of the state presented as well the new ideas to improve the higher education quality.