Higher education in India undergoing major transformation: Rijiju

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Stating that higher education in India is undergoing a major transformation, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi envisions that the country's huge demographic dividend is capitalised.

Speaking at the sixth convocation of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Yupia near Itanagar, the Union Minister of State (Independent) for Sports and Youth Affairs said that Modi's 'Act East' policy has ensured that the Northeast is at par with the rest of India.

"NIT Arunachal Pradesh plays an increasingly important role in this vision by setting the highest standards of imparting quality education in the country. The Centre has allotted an additional amount of Rs 430.56 crore to the institute this year," Rijiju said.

He said the NIT should partner with foreign universities for faculty and student exchanges.

"Such type of institutional linkages confer the greatest benefit on the country's academic community and are crucial to the inflow of knowledge into the country," the minister said.

Rijiju further said that beyond the academic domain, higher educational institutes in the country have a larger role to play in the progress of the regions where they are based.

"They have to establish a connection with regional stakeholders, identify problems hindering development and use their professional expertise, academic and research temperament to find sustainable and implementable solutions to the problems," he advocated.

Rijiju appealed to the graduating students to make the best use of the knowledge and wisdom they have gained to attain professional and personal success.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he said, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever." "I am looking forward to hearing about multiple start-ups being founded and run by the students from the graduating class today," the minister said.

Director of NIT Meghalaya Bibhuti Bhusan Biswal, who was also present in the convocation, exhorted the graduating students and said that speed of decision making and velocity of action are necessary attributes for high performance.

Speaking at the function, NIT Arunachal Pradesh Director Pinakeswar Mahanta highlighted various achievements of the institute in the past few years.

Altogether 226 students -- BTech (153), MTech (50), MSc (11), MBA (03), M Phil (03) and PhD (06) -- were awarded degrees.