The union ministry of human resources development is likely to take immediate steps for creating a database of foreign educational experts and persons of Indian origin, so that it could be utilised by the institutions for filling up the vacant faculty positions, this was stated in a press statement issued here. This is one of the decisions taken in a two-day annual conference of the directors of the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) of India, held in New Delhi last week.
Hamirpur NIT director Rajnish Sriwastva was also present in the meeting that was chaired by the President Pranab Mukherjee. Union HRD minister Smriti Zubin Irani also attended the meeting and listened to the views of the President and the directors and gave her valuable suggestions.
In his concluding address, the President said education would be the single biggest transformative factor in catapulting India into the league of developed nations. “It is education that will establish us firmly as a knowledge society. These conferences and related meetings are intended to put in place a clearly defined roadmap for attaining our national vision of excellence in education,” added the president.
23 NITs now have innovation clubs, 24 NITs have industry cells and 8 NITs have set up technology incubators. IPR fund to support patent filings has been set up by 12 NITs. Concrete steps are being taken in the remaining institutions and positive results are expected within the next few months.
The statement read that it was announced in the meeting that the In-Residence Programme of Rashtrapati Bhavan would be now extended to young scholars from NITs. 30 scholars, one from each NIT, would be guests in the Rashtrapati Bhavan for one week. In addition, 6 doctoral or post-doctoral students would be selected from the NITs as team leaders. These scholars and students would stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for a week each in three batches of 10 scholars and 2 team leaders.
The statement read that it was announced in the meeting that the In-Residence Programme of Rashtrapati Bhavan would be now extended to young scholars from NITs. 30 scholars, one from each NIT, would be guests in the Rashtrapati Bhavan for one week. In addition, 6 doctoral or post-doctoral students would be selected from the NITs as team leaders. These scholars and students would stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for a week each in three batches of 10 scholars and 2 team leaders.