Sustaining higher education a major challenge: President

President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said sustaining and reinvigorating higher education has become a major challenge, especially in public institutions.

He identified escalation of costs of learning, market-oriented fast-track skill acquisition as the sole goal of learning, the allure of invasive dominant communication systems depleting attention span, and corrosion of trust as the major challenges for the administration of an institution of higher learning.

The President said any attempt to build or re-orient higher education requires administrative acumen.

He was speaking at the first convocation of the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) here.

"It is a young university although with a rich history of teaching and teacher training since its inception as the Central Institute of English, which was established as part of the vision of our first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for new India in 1958 and later as Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages in 1972," he said.

He said it was a matter of satisfaction that it was dedicated to finding solutions to big challenges in language education and preparing students for leadership in a complex world.

Mukherjee said this university of international repute emerged out of the harmonious symphony of the old and modern in the city of Hyderabad.

"Hyderabad stands apart as a city of poets, painters, artists and creative minds. A smaller India in itself, it throbs with multiple languages & cultures, cuisine and crafts of its own. It is a multifaceted city with much cherished historical legacies and futuristic vision."

Mukherjee said EFLU stands out among the universities of south Asia with specialised competencies in the areas of language, literary and cultural pedagogies, language sciences, teacher education and research.

"With its expanding research profile EFLU can play a significant role in reorienting higher education in the country as well as in other emerging nations. It should be possible to develop educational packages from school to university level for training and for collaborative teaching and research."

The Ministry of External Affairs entrusted the university with international responsibility for training diplomats and for designing trainer training programmes. EFLU has set up centres for English Language in ASEAN countries and five new centres are coming up in African countries.

Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the Chief Rector of the University, E.S.L. Narasimhan and Vice Chancellor Sunaina Singh also spoke at the event.

--IANS

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