Chandigarh
29 November 2015
The Government of Haryana has signed a MoU with the O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) to draft the State Higher Educational Plan under the Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyaan (RUSA).
The Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Mr. Vijai Vardhan and Vice Chancellor of the O.P. Jindal Global University, Professor C Raj Kumar signed the MoU at Chandigarh today in the presence of the Education Minister of Haryana, Mr. Ram Bilas Sharma.
The International Institute for Higher Education, Research and Capacity Building (IIHEd), a research institute that focusses on higher education at JGU, will undertake this project. The State Higher Education Plan to be drawn up will cover a period of next ten years. The Plan will contain the physical targets, opportunities and proposals for promoting access, equity and excellence in higher education.
In his address, the Education Minister of Haryana, Mr. Ram Bilas Sharma emphasized that education is not mere transmission of information and turning students into robots but instead, it ought to transform the student into an awakened and enlightened citizen. He pointed out that the objective of the drawing up the Plan was to overcome serious challenges in the field of higher education like employability, access and quality. This is an important opportunity for the Government of Haryana to collaborate with the O.P. Jindal Global University for developing a road map for higher education in the state of Haryana.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vijai Vardhan said that three workshops will be organized with Vice Chancellors, Registrars, eminent academics, NGOs, media and other stakeholders over next three months.
Professor Raj Kumar stated that the State Higher Education Plan will be drafted through a consultative, participatory and collective exercise. He observed that for the success of Digital India, Make in India, Smart City campaigns, drastic improvements in the quality of higher education are required. Professor Kumar observed that Haryana has a great opportunity to contribute to the cause of higher education. The future of Haryana and to a larger extent India will depend on our ability to harness the demographic dividend and the responsibility to educate the youth.
IIHEd based in JGU conducts research and offers advice on all aspects of higher education with a strong focus on curriculum development; pedagogical innovations; faculty engagement; faculty recruitment, retention and development; research and knowledge creation systems; promotion of scholarship and building research capacities; developing international collaborations; benchmarking and assessments of institutions; and for providing institutional support on law, policy and regulations relating to higher education. IIHEd is an independent research institute within the JGU that will be focused on pursuing research and capacity building initiatives on different aspects of higher education in India and beyond. The vision of IIHEd is to contribute towards institution building for nation building.
