The Hindu : New Delhi News : Reputed varsities welcome, says Arjun Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 04, 2007
ePaper

New Delhi

New Delhi

Reputed varsities welcome, says Arjun Singh

Special Correspondent

‘No scope for fly-by-night operators’

Private sector aid sought to meet faculty shortage
Varsities free to tie-up with institutions abroad

NEW DELHI: While the government is open to allowing reputed universities from overseas to set up centres in the country, it will ensure that fly-by-night operators do not get a chance to dupe students, Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on Friday.

Education summit

He was inaugurating the Higher Education Summit-2007 – organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry here.

Stating that the government push for higher education would be rendered ineffective in the absence of quality faculty, the Minister sought the assistance of the private sector in meeting the shortage in trained faculty.

He said all higher education institutions enjoyed complete autonomy. Universities were free to tie up with institutions abroad in their areas of interest.

In his keynote address, Oxford University Chancellor Chris Patten warned that the skill shortage being faced by India could cause inflationary wage pressures and speed up job turnover in a tight market — “neither of which developments is welcome to managers.”

Referring to the recruitment of overseas students by Oxford this academic year, Lord Patten said the university now had 300 Indian students as against 730 from China though they had to put in an extra effort to pick up English.

Clarifying that he was not trying to reduce the Chinese numbers, the Chancellor said: “The figures suggest that by not attracting more young Indians, we are plainly missing out on some of the best young minds in the world. It is not a matter of money. It is a question of quality.”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail