Pune: Showing concern over the gap in quality education, President Ram Nath Kovind said that despite having 903 universities and 39,050 colleges, there is a gap in achieving quality education and world-class excellence across the spectrum. He was speaking at the 15th convocation ceremony of Symbiosis International University (SIU) at Lavale campus on Tuesday. As many as 5,939 students from all faculties under SIU were conferred degrees.
He urged Symbiosis and other colleges to come forward to acquire ‘Institute of Eminence’ status and utilise the schemes by the Central government for upgrading the quality of education. “The government has taken a decision to promote and support 20 institutions of higher education as ‘Institutes of Eminence’, to grant them recruitment and curriculum flexibility to reach best-in-class global standards,” said Kovind.
“After a competitive process, the first few of these institutes of eminence were announced recently. There will be future rounds as well. Please aim to build and locate at least one such institute of eminence at Symbiosis University. This is the responsibility of the University administrators and professors, as well as the students graduating today,” he added.
The President said there are 46,144 international students from 166 countries studying in colleges, universities and institutions of higher learning in India.
“Symbiosis plays a significant role in this process and I am happy to hear that over 1,000 international students study here. Of those who are graduating today, 329 students are from 33 countries other than India. This adds to the multicultural and cosmopolitan atmosphere of your campus and promotes goodwill among nations,” he said.
Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Minister of Higher and Technical Education Vinod Tawde and Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Girish Bapat were present at the convocation ceremony. Other dignitaries included SIU Chancellor SB Mujumdar, Pro-Chancellor Vidya Yeravdekar, Vice Chancellor Rajani Gupte, Registrar MS Shejul, members of the board of management, members of the academic council and directors from SIU.
Sonam Wangchuk, Founding Director of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) was awarded the DLitt for his commitment to bring reforms and innovation in the education sector. On receiving the honour, Wangchuk humbly said, “Although I receive the award with gratitude and happiness, honestly to say, my contribution to the society is nothing but a gesture of humanity. And if a human is being honoured or awarded for his/ her humanity then it should be seen as rather unfortunate than being a matter of happiness.”
