TALK ON EDUCATION: UGC Vice-Chairman Rajasekharan Pillai (extreme left) with State Council of Higher Education Chairman K.C. Reddy at a seminar on `Networking of College Libraries Through Inflibnet' in Vijayawada on Saturday. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhask ar

VIJAYAWADA: Vice-chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, on Saturday, said that connecting educational institutions through `Inflibnet' would reduce expenditure on college libraries and provide an access to information to students across the country.

Addressing principals and lecturers of several colleges in the State at the inaugural session of the two-day seminar on `Networking of College Libraries through Inflibnet' organised by the southeastern regional office of the UGC at P.B. Siddhartha College of Arts and Science here, Prof. Pillai said that the UGC was developing Inflibnet that would cater to the needs of about 11 million students and four million faculty members of over 1,600 educational institutions in the country.

Novel programme

The role of the UGC was not only releasing funds to the educational institutions, but also monitoring their functioning and offering facilities to the students, he added.

Explaining the nitty-gritty of Inflibnet, Prof. Pillai said that it was the first of its kind programme in the country. "Instead of publishing journals, we will put them on the Internet. It is not only economic, but also accessible to students across the world," he said. The UGC was taking the help of the ISRO for developing the Inflibnet and was connecting clusters of educational institutions through networking, he explained.

Director of Inflibnet T.A.V. Murthy said that the Inflibnet was going to be a boon to students and research scholars. There would be a drastic change in the shape of academic libraries, which would be equipped with computers and printers instead of additional bookracks in the near future, he said.

Chairman of State Council of Higher Education K.C. Reddy said that the UGC was offering its best services to the education sector. Observing that 80 per cent of higher education was with the private sector, he said that there was a need for increasing the number of educational institutions as only seven per cent of the youth were enrolling themselves into colleges. Education was the only means to overcome regional social and economic inequalities, he felt.

Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V. Bala Mohan Das, deputy secretary of the UGC southeastern regional office S. Jelani and secretary of Siddhartha Academy P.L.N. Prasad were present.

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