University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof Virander Singh Chauhan on Tuesday appreciated the quality of education being provided in Indian universities and said these universities have produced many luminaries in different fields.
“Quality education is good in Indian universities and they have produced many luminaries in different fields,” Chauhan said adding, “I am very proud of what my university taught me.”
Highlighting that India is the second largest educational system in the world, he said Central as well as State Governments are providing funds to develop infrastructure in order to improve the quality of education in the country.
Speaking at the convocation ceremony of Ravenshaw University in Cuttack, he said that the country is poised for a major place in higher education in the coming days as better funding and better realisation of quality education are in the offing.
He called upon the students to grab the opportunity as privileged sections of society and said higher education is in a transitional period now with the invasion of technology in education.
Saying that successful education does not mean making the students capable of getting jobs, he called upon the student community not to study to just avail degrees for jobs but pursue education with earnest interest.
“Education is the training of mind. You may be taught something in the class, but you learn much more outside the class by interacting with others”, Chauhan said adding, “Education is to learn from others, to be able to appreciate someone’s view to be better than yours and to have a sense of entitlement.”
Expressing concern over the impact on quality of education in the under-funded state universities, he said that the importance of education in present times had reduced to the ability to find a job or for getting an immediate reward for what has been spent.