Guwahati, March 22: The three-day-long National Conference of Vice Chancellors on Transformative Higher Education for Atmanirbhar Bharat will be inaugurated tomorrow by the former President of India Ram Nath Kovind at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM).
Organised by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and hosted by the USTM from 23rd to 25th March, this mega higher education event will be participated by nearly 600 Vice Chancellors from different universities. The 97th Annual General Meet and the 97th Foundation Day Lecture of AIU will also take place during the programme.
In the inaugural session of the conference, special address will be made by Dr Ranoj Pegu, Minister of Education, Government of Assam. The AIU Foundation Day Lecture will be delivered by Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister, Government of India while the welcome address would be delivered by Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of USTM. The presidential address will be made by Prof Suranjan Das, President AIU & Vice-Chancellor, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
There will be an interface between the heads of apex bodies with international delegates where the featured speakers are, Dr Abhay Jere, Vice Chairman, AICTE; Dr RC Agrawal, DDG, ICAR, Dr Ponmudiraj, Advisor, NAAC, Prof. Bhola Thapa, Vice Chancellor, Kathmandu University, Nepal; Mr Aditya Malkani Regional Director, ACU.
The valedictory address on the third day of the conference will be made by Gulab Chand Kataria, Governor of Assam. The guests of honour for the valedictory session are, Atul Kothari, National Secretary, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas; Rakkam A Sangma, Education Minister, Government of Meghalaya, and Dr Nani Gopal Mahanta, Education Advisor, Government of Assam. The convenors of this meet are Dr Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities, and Prof. GD Sharma, Vice President, AIU & Vice Chancellor, USTM.
The themes for conference sessions of the Conference include: Internationalization: Modes of Engagement; Minimum Government: Maximum Governance: What Does It Mean for Universities; Promotion of Indian Languages; Reforms for Holistic Education; Creating an Ecosystem for Research & Excellence and Future of Education, Learning, and Workplace.
A host of VCs from universities like JNU, IGNOU, Symbiosis International, University of Massachusetts, Bharti Vidyapith, University of Hyderabad, and Directors of IITs, IISc, AICTE, NAAC, ICAR, ACU, IIIT would be joining this mega Conference. About 300 heads of higher education institutions along with several foreign policy-makers will participate the conference in online mode. One can join the Sessions of the Annual Meet physically or virtually through the Youtube link: : www.youtube.com/@ustm3124