“Access to learning opportunities and the pursuit of excellence must both receive equal attention,” says the President Pranab Mukherjee, while inaugurating the Shiv Nadar University on January 18, 2016 at Dadri, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Uttar Pradesh). He also laid the foundation stone for its faculty residential campus.
The President said that private institutions account for about 60 per cent of the students enrolled in higher education. “Though proliferation has led to greater access, its negative fallout on standards is alarming. If the declining quality of education particularly in the area of higher learning is not reversed quickly, we will land ourselves in a scenario of having a large number of people with degrees but not enough manpower with proficiency. We cannot afford to produce workers and professionals who fail to meet the skill levels required by a growing economic system,” he adds.
He expressed happiness that in 2015, two Indian institutions for the first time have been ranked within the top two hundred Universities in international rankings. He was confident that many more will join in the coming years.
