More interaction between institutions needed, says Minister

There should be more interaction and more confidence building between various academic institutions in the country, Union HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju today said here.
"There should be more interaction and more confidence building between our various academic institutions just like how there needs to be a confidence building between industry and academics," Raju said.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) here.
There should be "greater interaction between IITs and IIMs, NITs and IIMs, otherwise they remain in their specific discipline. The multi-disciplinary approach has to be encouraged," he said.

In the 11th plan new institutions including seven IIMs were started, he said, adding that, in the 12th Plan the aim is to consolidate all these institutions.
"In the 12th Plan we are very particular that the focus has to be on quality of learning outcome whether in the school education or Higher Education. Specifically in the higher education we want to further accelerate the linkages between the industry and academic and we hope that there will be more innovations and research happening out of the university campuses," he said.

He said "education wise Kerala have always been very very active". There is so much of private sector participation in either school education or higher education in the state, he said.

"But, I feel that overall in the country we still have to concentrate on what we do for raising the quality of teachers whether it in the school education or higher education", he said.
To a query on shortages of faculty, he said that there was a plan for setting up 'teacher education schools' in each of Central Universities campuses.