Karnataka - Belgaum   

Address skill deficiency in education, planners told

Belgaum: Eminent researcher and chairman of National Assessment and Accreditation Council Goverdhan Mehta on Wednesday stressed on the “most urgent” need to evolve a policy framework and effective navigational mechanism to tackle the challenges in the huge expansion of higher education system as envisaged in the 11th Plan.

Mr. Mehta, who spoke at the seventh annual convocation of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) here, said the target to raise enrolment in higher education to over 15 per cent was laudable. The higher education system was inadequate considering 1.1 billion population of the country. At present, less than 10 per cent of students join higher education stream compared to world average of 23 per cent. The skill portfolio needs to be flexible and expansive with provision of acquiring multiple and more importantly “switchable” skills along with disciplinary expertise essential for employment, entrepreneurship, knowledge and wealth creation.

He stressed on primacy of master’s and doctoral level research programmes and expressed concern over the relatively low record of about 5,000 Ph.Ds across all Science and Technology disciplines produced every year in India (as against 30,000 in the U.S.). He said the Ph.Ds produced in the engineering and technology field was just 1,000 a year. VTU Vice-Chancellor H.P. Khincha conferred degrees in engineering/technology to the candidates who graduated from the university in July 2007. He presented gold medals to meritorious candidates who secured first ranks and highest marks.

Honorary doctorate degrees were conferred on P.V. Indiresan, Member, Governing Board, Centre of Policy Research, New Delhi; and Roddam Narasimha, Chairman, Engineering Mechanics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore. The latter was not present to receive the degree in person. Governor Rameshwar Thakur could not make it because of his busy schedule.

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