SHILLONG: The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) East Zone Vice-Chancellors’ meet 2018-19 will be hosted by North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) on January 18 and 19 under the theme, Social Development and Sustainability.
The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) is an apex body of higher education in India which organises the zonal and national vice-chancellors’ meet every year wherein the matters relating to higher education with specific reference to university system in the concerned region are taken up for discussions.
Approximately, 60 vice-chancellors of universities in the East Zone comprising all the North Eastern states, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and part of Uttar Pradesh will participate in the meet.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, secretary general of the AIU Furqan Qamar said the topics of discussion will be relevant to the state of Meghalaya and the North East such as Higher education and sustainable development goals, curriculum alignment in higher education to implement skill development and enhancing global and regional relevance.
According to him, there should be increased public spending on higher education which is currently at 3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and suggested it should at least be taken to 6 per cent of GDP.
Stating that quality and excellence is of prime importance in education, he said there was a need to revisit the curriculum and teaching methods because the world is undergoing rapid development and uncertainties due to the growing demand for digitization with humans being replaced by machines/robots.
When asked about India’s move towards digitization, he said, “We have to keep pace with time and we need to focus in making the economy self-reliant.”
Meanwhile, NEHU vice-chancellor, SK Srivastava said the AIU will also felicitate the best local entrepreneur of the month following the footsteps of Meghalaya government.
