TN academicians give full marks to Nirmala’s ‘Study in India’ plan

Explaining the idea behind the move Nirmala said that the Centre aimed to making India, the hub of higher education and to woo foreign students to the sub-continent.

Former vice chancellor Anna University and professor Balaguruswamy said, “The proposal to launch ‘Study in India’ is a good move. With our present good talent pool of educators here, students from other countries will benefit from studying here and it will also put our higher education facilities in the international map.”

He added that Indian universities need to constantly strive to improve the quality of education, Balaguruswamy said, “Faculties in the institutions should be strengthened to lure more foreign students and the Centre must also establish study centres in all developing countries.”

Regarding the allocation of Rs 400 crore for world-class higher education institutions in FY20, Balaguruswamy said that besides the allocation for universities and colleges, the centre should also extend adequate monetary support to accelerate research activities.

He also said the proposed skill training programme to 10 million students should be done within the curriculum so that they would get immediate job opportunities after the completion of the course.

On the Union Finance Minister assurance that the government would ramp up its efforts to improve skilled manpower in fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, robotics, and other newer skills, The Tamil Nadu Federation of University Faculty Association president Dr L Arul Aram said that the country should need more expertise to teach in these new areas.

Commending the Centre’s plan to start full-time engineering degree programme in AI, Big Data and Robotics, Arul Aram said that there should be well trained faculties before starting the course. “Otherwise, students won’t be able to compete and face challenges at the international level,” he said

Welcoming Nirmala Sitharaman’s emphasis on research and innovation and the announcement on the formation of the National Research Foundation (NRF), R R Krishnamurthy, head, department of Applied Geology, Chairman, School of Earth and Atmospheric Science (SEAS), University of Madras, said that the Centre should also address the financial issues at higher education level and funding provided by the NRF. He stressed that the education should not be stopped because of financial issues.