The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Speed up science institute in Chennai: UGC Vice-Chairman

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Saturday, Oct 22, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Speed up science institute in Chennai: UGC Vice-Chairman

Special Correspondent

This is essential to fill the vacuum left by the absence of brand institutions

— Photo: M. Vedhan

HONOURING A STALWART: V.C. Kulandaiswamy, former Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, being felicitated by V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, UGC Vice-Chairman, at Anna University on Friday. Dr. Viswanathan, varsity's Vice-Chancellor, looks on.

CHENNAI: UGC Vice-Chairman V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai has made an earnest appeal to speed up the setting up of two National Institutes of Science, one each in Chennai and Bhubaneswar.

"It is very important that academicians, the public and policy makers make an advocacy to start these two institutes soon. The UGC had proposed the setting up of four such institutes, one each in the Kolkata, Pune, Chennai and Bhubaneswar. While the foundation for the Kolkata institute would be laid next Friday and Rs. 500 crore has been earmarked for setting up the Pune institute, the proposal for setting up the other two has been pending with the Central Government for the last two and a half years,'' Dr. Pillai told reporters after delivering the Padmabhushan Dr V.C. Kulandaiswamy Endowment Lecture on Technology Education and Knowledge-based Economy at Anna University here on Friday. The NIS was meant to fill a vacuum left by the absence of brand institutions for delivering basic undergraduate science education, on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management, he added.

The UGC was also trying to promote a five-year integrated programme in humanities and social sciences in technological institutions and select universities from next year. The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development had sent a proposal to the Planning Commission to sanction an additional annual grant of Rs. 600 crore for strengthening basic science undergraduate education in universities and colleges from the next academic year.

The UGC was also pioneering a pilot project on inter-institutional technical collaboration clusters under which 350 colleges in various regions of the country would be grouped into clusters to enable them to share intellectual resources and infrastructure. The proposal, which would be executed with the help of agencies such as CII and FICCI, would be financially assisted by the UGC for five years.

Earlier, delivering the endowment lecture, Dr. Pillai said higher education institutions had a significant role in supporting knowledge-driven economic growth strategies. One of the important features of technological infrastructure was an educational system that encouraged creativity and the pursuit of scientific and technological knowledge, he added.

Dr. D. Viswanathan, Vice-Chancellor of Anna Universty, Dr V.C. Kulandaiswamy, university's former Vice-Chancellor, and Dr. K. Jayaraman, Registar, were present.

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