Higher academic institutions can play catalysing role in Skill India, Start-up India programmes

New Delhi, Sep 8 (KNN) President Pranab Mukherjee has said that higher academic institutions can play a catalysing role in initiatives like Skill India, Start-up India, etc by deploying their expertise and also involving their students to identify and solve problems at the grassroots level.

Mukherjee was speaking at the first convocation of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Delhi.

The President said that India is an old land but a young nation. It has developed remarkably after independence, growing in all sectors from industry to agriculture and services. Given our potential, we can soon count ourselves amongst the advanced nations of the world.

“Our aspirations are big but certainly achievable. He said that what gives him the confidence is the capability, skill and talent available in our pool of engineers, technologists, scientists, managers, administrators, policy-makers, doctors, lawyers, scholars and researchers,” he added.

He stressed “Having the urge for cutting-edge research and innovation, a strong research orientation can lead to immense value addition to what our engineering students learn in manufacturing and design.

He urged that there is need for competent faculty to render world-class teaching. Refresher courses, participation in international seminars and workshops, and publishing of papers in peer-reviewed journals need to be accorded top priority. (KNN Bureau)