Book on president's impact on higher education released

Amid growing concerns about the lack of world class higher education institutions and reported "attack" on their autonomy, can the president of India in his capacity as the Visitor to 114 institutions offer some hope of better universities?

Yes, argues a new book authored by faculty members of International Institute for Higher Education and Capacity Building, O.P. Jindal Global University, in Sonipat, Haryana.

The book titled "The President of India and the Governance of Higher Education Institutions" was launched here on Wednesday in the presence of Virander Chauhan, chairman of National Assessment and Accreditation Council, and Phil Baty, editor at large, Times Higher Education magazine, among a large audience of academic leaders.

"In this volume, the authors analyse the very particular problems that India faces as its leading educators strive to create world-class systems of higher education," commented Alice Prochaska, principal, Somerville College and pro-vice chancellor, University of Oxford.

"They display most cogently the important role that the President of India plays and can continue to play in fostering academic independence. With leadership like that described and displayed here, there are bright prospects for the future of higher education in India," Prochaska said.

The book examines the role and functions of the president of India as the visitor to 114 higher education institutions in the country, and simultaneously highlights the imperative need for raising academic standards while promoting international benchmarks in quality, excellence and institutional governance.

It particularly provides a glimpse of the contribution of President Pranab Mukherjee, his leadership and initiative in recognising that the future of India is significantly dependent upon our ability to empower the higher education institutions.

"The book is the first of its kind to systematically examine the role and functions of the president of India, while acting as the visitor to the higher education institutions. It critically analyses the legal, constitutional, and institutional frameworks while evaluating the contribution of the President of India in his capacity as the Visitor," lead author of the book C. Raj Kumar, founding vice chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University, pointed out.

Other co-authors of the book are Yugank Goyal, Anamika Srivastava, Kavana Ramaswamy and Padmanabha Ramanujam.