Raise higher education standard in India: Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee has expressed concern over the standard of Indian academic institutions and felt sorry that none of them was on par with the 200 top universities in the world.

"I have been repeatedly stressing on the fact that no Indian university is ranked among the top 200 universities of the world. This is unfortunate as we have the talent, outstanding faculty and brilliant students. We must improve the quality of education and use technological options available to increase the reach of education, Mukherjee said while addressing second convocation of IIT Patna yesterday.

The President further said a renewed focus by our engineering institutions towards courses on entrepreneurship is essential for the progress of our nation.

"One should not only be a job seeker but also a job creator. It is perhaps a kind of commitment to oneself, to one's abilities, to one's persistence and of course to one's performance," he added.

He said that he was glad to know that IIT Patna is conducting intensive course on Entrepreneurship for its undergraduate students and is proactively nursing their creativity via a dedicated innovation centre.

"In times to come, it should leverage this opportunity and design engineering programmes in a manner that will become a model for others to emulate," he added.

Asserting that we need to focus our attention on Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-based learning, Mukherjee said: "This plays a dual role of increasing the reach of education as well as enhancing the learning experience of students.

He said that he was sure that IIT Patna would develop facilities in this regard further.

Stating that we must stress on research and innovation, Mukherjee said: "Facilities of Internet, mobile telephony, e-medicine and e-education have brought about a sea change in the societies around the world."

The President said that alumni have an important role in the growth of leading universities across the world such as MIT and Harvard.

He further hoped that the students of IIT Patna who are graduating out of this institute would associate with their Alma Mater and contribute to it's development in a meaningful and significant way in future.

Also present on the occasion were Governor of Bihar Dr. D. Y. Patil and state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.