Plans are on by the government to form a national innovation policy that would stress on innovation at the school level.
Informing the directors and chairmen of 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) about the policy at a retreat in Goa recently, Human Resource Development minister Smriti Irani has asked them to suggest schools to boost innovation in their curriculum, which would not only align with higher education institutions, but also help set up innovation labs at the district level across India and fill a culture of research and innovation among the students.
A ministry statement also stated that Irani has asked the institutes to set upCultures of Excellence in central universities. The retreat also focussed on issues, which dealt with research and technological innovation for meeting the national development agenda, enhancing industry-academia collaboration and expanding the massive open online courses (MOOCs).
Framing a ranking system that would reflect national concerns and use alumni network was also discussed. Irani further asked the IITs to develop special programmes for students of Northeast stressing on the point that they need to be exposed to the best of the institutions like IITs in different parts of the country. She asked the Director of IIT Guwahati to coordinate efforts in this direction and submit a report by the middle of August.
She also highlighted the need to develop ‘quality faculty’ not only for the new IITs, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), but also for other institutions in the country.
