Governor Tamilisai addresses 3rd State VCs’ meet; expresses displeasure over failing NIRF rankings

Hyderabad: Governor and Chancellor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday expressed displeasure over the State universities failing to figure in the recently released NIRF rankings and insisted on varsities do everything to meet the aspirations and expectations of students.

Addressing the third vice-chancellors’ conference at Raj Bhavan, she said primary and higher education are 'major pillars' that make a State developed. The universities should work towards this end, despite the constraints and limitations coming in their way.

The chancellor said she has been following the development of the universities continuously. “There are areas where students continue to demand better amenities like washrooms and classrooms which are equally important for them to give a comfortable ecosystem in pursuing education in State universities.

She expressed concern at the recent suicides of girl students at Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT), Basara, the institution she had earlier visited, and stressed the importance of proper counselling to students.

Dr. Tamilisai said the State has been making strides in economic development. “The education sector needs further efforts to realise the goal of meeting not only national standards, but also global standards.

She advised the VCs to focus and ensure that colleges and universities have proper infrastructure, like washrooms, classrooms, libraries, hostel facilities.

Appreciating the efforts of VCs for the progress of universities and after hearing their difficulties in having vacancies of lectures and professors filled, Dr. Tamilisai said, she understands their difficulties. She assured all possible support in addressing the issues. Stressing that she does not want to sound controversial, the Chancellor said she had received inputs from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and other prominent academicians regarding clearance of the proposed bill of setting up a common recruitment board for the faculty, as well as the Private University Bill. She had to refer them to the President. This was done solely keeping the interest of younger generation of the State.

Expressing happiness for the active participation of VCs and for elaborate discussions in the day-long conference, she hoped to motivate and inspire students of all universities to meet the needs of students, come up with innovations, earn while learning, for their economic empowerment, application of technology in conducting academics right from admission so that the academic processes can be fool-proof upholding the trust and faith of students. She asked the VCs to fully utilise the alumni for the benefit of the future students.

The Governor inaugurated the digital library for students and unveiled the souvenir of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

Earlier, Dr. Avichal Kapoor, Joint Secretary, made a presentation on various initiatives of UGC. He asked VCs to extend their cooperation for compliance with NEP-2020.

Dr. P Raghu Ram, Padma Awardee, KIMS-USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases, made a presentation on breast cancer. The Governor said that universities should make efforts in creating awareness among students about early detection and treatment of breast cancer. She asked VCs to take steps to give importance to the Youth Red Cross and blood donation. The VCs made presentations of the progress made on the agenda points of the 2022 conference.