The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Promote education at all levels: UGC Vice-Chairman

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Promote education at all levels: UGC Vice-Chairman

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, FEB. 8. The Vice-Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai, today urged colleges and higher educational institutions to strive for creating need-based clusters.

Shortly after inaugurating the guesthouse annexe at the Marina Campus and UGC-Academic Staff College (ASC) Networking Centre and modern classroom facilities at the Chepauk campus of the University of Madras, Prof. Pillai said the UGC had initiated the process in different parts of the country. The Commission had been working with the State Governments of Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal, besides writing to the Tamil Nadu Government in this regard.

Stressing the need for the networking of educational institutions, he said self-financing colleges also should not be left out. The move would go a long way in enhancing the efficiency of college teachers, Prof. Pillai said.

Multi-media classrooms

All the 56 ASCs in the country, apart from conducting orientation programmes and refresher courses for teachers, could play a role in helping them become conversant with modern technologies in teaching, he said. The EDUSAT launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation should be fully utilised at all levels of education to convert conventional classrooms into multi-media ones. With the contribution of the teaching community in content creation, the facility could be made available to students countrywide , Prof. Pillai said.

Despite progress in education, India was still behind the developed countries. Against this backdrop, universities and colleges should play an important role in promoting education at all levels, as it was essential for the country's political, economic and cultural security. The country could attain international standards only by providing state-of-the-art facilities at educational institutions, he said.

As the country would be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Universities of Madras, Calcutta and Bombay from 2006 to 2007, all universities in the country should work together to evolve an action plan for promoting higher education. In the South, the University of Madras should take the lead to bring together all the universities in this regard. The UGC would be able to make use of the plan at the national level, Prof. Pillai said.

The Vice-Chancellor of Madras University, S. P. Thyagarajan, stressed the need to link with other universities and educational institutions even while signing Memoranda of Understanding with foreign universities. The universities should aim at achieving international standards by improving the quality of education, he said. The Vice-Chancellor of Bharatidasan University, C. Thangamuthu, commended the enhancement of facilities at classrooms.

R. Thandavan (Director, Chepauk campus), E. Ilamathian (Director, UGC-ASC), and Periakali, head of department, Applied Geology, highlighted the importance of the new facilities inaugurated by Prof. Pillai.

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