SHILLONG, Sep 5: Governor Satya Pal Malik on Monday said the government should work on investing more time on education, while maintaining that the quality of research has gone down in institutes and universities in India. The Governor said this in his address as the chief guest during a programme at North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.
Patting NEHU Vice Chancellor Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla for the work done in the past one year for the university, the Governor also extended Teachers’ Day wishes to the teaching fraternity of NEHU.
He said that in today’s time research is the key to solving a lot of problems and evolving into a self-sufficient nation. “However, because of lack of collaborations, the growth is not being observed,” Malik said.
Citing an example of Patna University, which was at one time called the Oxford of East, the Governor said that the quality of research has gone down in Indian institutes and universities, which, he said, is evident from the fact that only 10 to 12 Nobel laureates are Indians.
Referring to the United Kingdom, the Governor stated that the British government never cuts the budget on education and same should be done in India.
During the programme, the NEHU also signed MoUs with nine organisations, which included universities, institutes of research and higher learning and start-up industries to strengthen the research activities in the university.
NEHU VC, on the other hand, said that the MoUs will provide ample scope for NEHU as well as the participating institutes and industries to collaborate in cutting-edge technologies to bring about change in academia and way of researching.
“The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding and Exchange Agreement in between our two institutions today symbolizes a partnership which we believe will lead to many new joint research initiatives that produce new synergies, and add academic value for both NEHU and all these other prestigious universities, institutes and industries,” he said.
Chairman of MoU committee Prof. Anand S Dixit, on the other hand, gave a brief on the different organisations with which NEHU is collaborating.
“We are delighted to sign MoUs today on the auspicious occasions of teachers’ Day and the Golden Jubilee Year of NEHU with various reputed organisations that include CSIR- National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow, CSIR-Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Lucknow, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Sawaiom Fresh, Shillong, TURBIT, Shillong, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), New Delhi, JDBP Agri International Pvt. Ltd. (Meerut), Regional Centre for Biotechnology, DBT, Faridabad and Golden Signatures Research and Consulting, Delhi,” he said.
He also mentioned the various aspects of the MoUs signed which included research collaborations ranging from Biotechnology, Environmental Science, Pharmacology, Genetics, Plant Breeding, Agricultural Sciences, Plant Conservation, Agro-technologies, Food, Drug, Chemical, Computational and Regulatory Toxicology together with Health Toxicology Assessments to industrial collaborations like entrepreneurship activities, skilled livelihood practical training courses for students aspiring to be entrepreneurs, sharing and demonstrating technologies and innovations for socio-economic benefit for the people of the North East, skilling of students by providing internship opportunities under SAHAKAR MITRA- The NCDC Scheme on Internship Program (SIP)among students, faculties and staff.
