President to host 40 Central universities VCs today for conference

NEW DELHI: In a step towards improving quality of education President Pranab Mukherjee will host a conference of Vice Chancellors of 40 Central universities at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. The PM is also expected to attend the conference.
The President is a `visitor’ to these universities. Among the issues that are likely to be discussed include steps required to improve the quality of education and faculty in Central universities to bring it on par with the top varsities of the world, steps needed to extend the reach of education through extension work in contiguous areas, use of National Knowledge Network effectively in these institutions and suggestions to improve the Visitor-University interface within the existing statutory framework of each Central university.
The last such conference was convened in 2003 by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam. HRD minister M M Pallam Raju, UGC chairman Prof Ved Prakash, National Innovation Council’s Sam Pitroda and senior HRD officials are expected to attend the conference.