Universities should reinvent themselves to be relevant: Pranab Mukherjee

MUMBAI: President Pranab Mukherjee called upon Indian universities to reinvent themselves in order to deliver relevant knowledge and actionable skills. Addressing the convocation of University of Mumbai on Sunday, the President said, “All the universities in India will need to reinvent themselves as enablers of society and not remain just gatekeepers of higher education.”

Mukherjee exhorted the universities to impart appropriate guidance to today’s youth facing moral dilemmas, who are caught between traditional values and the western culture. Underlining the role played by technology, Mukherjee said, “Delivering lectures and presenting thoughts through written material is going to be ancillary to creating learning environments. In the near future, teachers will emerge as facilitators of thought through multiple technology platforms.” He said, “In the age of smartphones and tablet computers, ideas now travel at the speed of thought. It is important for us to remain up to date with what is happening in the world.”

The President called upon the City of Mumbai and the government of Maharashtra to become more pro-active in finding ways and means to enable greater funding and partnerships with industry houses, other universities and central government bodies. The President complemented the university for its initiative in establishing the Centre of Nanotechnology, saying more and more such initiatives are needed for creating space for new thinking. Meanwhile, Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the challenge of quantity has been adequately addressed. And now, it’s time to focus on improving quality of education further.

He pledged his government’s support for the University’s new initiatives. Mukherjee, Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan and Chavan later presented Gold medals to 51 students from different departments for their various academic achievements. University vice-chancellor Rajan Welukar presented detailed reports about new initiatives and activities covering infrastructure development, academic activities and extra-curricular activities. The Mumbai University has over 667 affiliated colleges and institutions and 6.5 lakh students on its rolls.

Many of the institutes and colleges of the university such as Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, St. Xavier’s College, Sardar Patel College of Engineering have been granted autonomy. Even its own erstwhile Department of Chemical Technology has now become a deemed university.