Lieutenant Governor Shri Manoj Sinha today chaired the meeting of J&K Higher Education Council, at Raj Bhawan. The meeting was attended by Sh Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lt Governor; Sh Atal Dulloo, Chief Secretary; Prof. Dinesh Singh, Vice Chairman, J&K Higher Education Council; Sh Alok Kumar, Principal Secretary Higher Education Department; Prof. Umesh Rai, VC, University of Jammu; Prof. Nilofer Khan, VC Kashmir University; Prof. Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, VC, IUST; Sh Pragati Kumar, VC SMVDU; Prof. Akbar Masood, VC BGSBU; Prof. Qayyum Husain, VC Cluster University Srinagar; Dr BN Tripathi, VC SKUAST Jammu; Dr Nazir Ahmed Ganai, VC SKUAST Kashmir and other members.
The Council headed by the Lt Governor discussed the comprehensive and holistic transformation of education sector in the UT of J&K. The Lt Governor called upon all stakeholders to focus on actualizing human potential in service of the society.
He emphasised the need for assessing the values of each course of higher education to ensure they meet the expectation of students and employers. “One of the objectives of higher education is to prepare future leaders. Under Higher Education Council, we will do honest assessment of effectiveness of subjects and whether return on investment by Universities is satisfactory,” the Lt Governor said.
The meeting discussed the important matters pertaining to status of NEP 2020 implementation across J&K Universities, updates, sustainability, and expansion roadmap for the Design Your Degree (DYD) Program, initiatives to promote entrepreneurship, start-ups, and tangible skill Programs and proposals for new joint programs and initiatives for 2024-25.
The Lt Governor reiterated the commitment of the UT Administration for effective policies and reforms in the education sector. He lauded the contribution of all the members of the council and stakeholders in driving the transformation in the higher education landscape of Jammu Kashmir.
The Lt Governor impressed upon the higher education institutions for implementation of innovative programs like Design Your Degree in a time bound manner. Curriculum and classroom learning should be innovative and it must encourage problem-solving skills among the students.
We have to make higher education institutions of UT capable of nurturing future entrepreneurs, he said. Prof. Dinesh Singh, Vice Chairman, JKHEC called for putting a special focus on grasping the spirit of Design Your Degree program in the larger context of National Education Policy.
As an educational institution, we must recognize our strength and weakness and empower the students to take the lead in redefining classroom learning, he said. Sh Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to Lt Governor; Sh Atal Dulloo, Chief Secretary; Vice Chancellors and members of the Council shared their views and thoughts on implementation of NEP 2020 and sustainability and expansion of Design Your Degree (DYD) Program in the UT. The Council also discussed various facets of the DYD program including ideas on greater inter-institutional cooperation for sharing of credit and for sharing of resources.
Sh Santosh D Vaidya, Principal Secretary, Finance Department; Dr Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Sh Vikramjit Singh, Commissioner Secretary, Department of I&C; Prof Kavi Arya from IIT Bombay; Ms Shobha Bagai, Director, Cluster Innovation Centre Delhi University and Prof Sheikh Ajaz Bashir, Principal Amar Singh College also attended the meeting.