Union Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that the BJP-led government at the Centre was coming up with a programme called “Study in India - Stay in India” to prevent students from leaving the country seeking higher education abroad and also bringing back Indian students studying abroad.
“Every year, around two lakhs of our students go abroad for higher education and stay there. Under ‘Study in India - Stay in India’, already 50,000 students across the globe have registered for this programme and many of our students want to come back to India to study under this programme. This will help us make our students contribute to nation building,” he said.
He was speaking after remotely inaugurating various new buildings built on the campus of Central University of Karnataka near here on Tuesday.
Referring to the New Education Policy (NEP), the Minister said that the policy was designed to make higher education focus on research and development so as it helps nation building.
“NEP emphasises on research and development (R&D) because R&D is the backbone of nation building. The Green revolution, the White revolution and other developments are the outcomes of R & D. As our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) says, we have to reach new heights globally through research and development. We are going to establish a National Research Foundation (NRF) to boost research and innovation in the country,” he said.
“Under NEP,” he added, “we are going to permit 30 world-class universities to come to India and it will help our students get the best of education within the country.”
He inaugurated 17 academic buildings (Block D-7 to D-23), two OBC hostels, one guesthouse, one multi-purpose hall, a pond with 1.20 lakh cubic metres storage capacity and a sump of 20 lakh litres storage capacity.
“I am very confident that the university will become a centre of excellence and bring a revolutionary change in the education sector and that it will certainly contribute to nation building,” he said, after inaugurating the structures.
Member of Lok Sabha representing Kalaburagi Umesh Jadhav sought more funds to develop the university. “Kalyana Karnataka is a backward area and we are happy that the Central University has come up in this region. We need more funds to develop the university and the region. The university needs sufficient water supply to expand its academic activities and both th State and Union governments should provide a permanent solution to water scarcity,” he said and requested the Minister of Education to start a Kendriya Vidyalaya in the northern part of Kalaburagi district and also establish an ICT training centre in Kalaburagi.
Vice-Chancellor of Central University H.M. Maheshwaraiah spoke about the progress the university has made in the last five years. Chancellor N.R. Shetty presided over the programme.
