World class universities in India an achievable aspiration: Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee attended the annual convocation of Assam University today at Silchar.

After the convocation, he inaugurated an Innovators' Exhibition and an Innovation Club at the university.

Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee said: "To make education accessible to more students, our efforts must be directed at bringing higher education closer to our population to particularly those in remote corners of the country. We must remove the imbalances in the reach of higher education across states, regions and sections of society."

"Knowledge pursuit has many dimensions. It brings gender equity as a result of access and reach," he added.

He said he was happy to know that the north east has focused its attention on the education of women and that it has resulted in a large of number of north-eastern girls now pursuing education in major cities of India and getting employed in metropolitan cities.

"We must remember that once we had world class universities in Nalanda and Takshashila. Therefore, the dream of creating world class universities in India is an achievable aspiration. India with strong scientific and technical manpower has the opportunity to become a major knowledge power in the years to come. To make this dream a reality, we have to invest in research and development," Mukherjee said.

The President congratulated the Assam University for organising the Innovators' Exhibition.

"This is a pioneering initiative which recognizes the creative and innovative talent at the grassroots and links it to the formal education system," he said.

He called upon the university to strengthen this linkage and extend it to various institutes of science and technology in the region. This would enable the innovators to establish the technology for commercial use, he added.

Mukherjee also congratulated the vice chancellor and faculty members of Assam University for identifying inspired teachers and said this is the first university to do so.

He said an inspired teacher leaves a deep impact on young minds. Through their conduct and life example, an inspired teacher makes a profound contribution to character building in students.