Commissioner, Higher Education, Gujarat State, Jayanti S. Ravi emphasised the need of a Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) to meet the challenges in Higher Education.

She informed the August gathering about the viability & flexibility of CBCS and the details of its pioneering implementation in the state of Gujarat at both undergraduate & post graduate levels.

She was speaking as the Chief Guest at the Valedictory function of the two day West Zone Vice Chancellors’ Conference jointly organized by Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur & Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

The Welcome address was given by Prof. I.V. Trivedi, Vice Chancellor, Mohanlal Sukadia University. Prof. Karunesh Saxena presented a brief report on the two day discussions & deliberations of the Conference.

Prof. M.G. Takwale discussed about the two day proceedings & suggested further discussions on the recommendations at the Kochi Conference.

Guest of Honour, Prof. S.S. Chahal, Vice Chancellor, M.P.U.A.T. stressed on the nationwide faculty registration, universal examination, evaluation & grading system and recognition of niche area of excellence of Universities. He stressed on the need of enhancing entrepreneurial ventures.

Prof. H. Chaturvedi suggested four mantras for preparing a roadmap of Higher Education. He suggested that by year 2022, at least 10 Indian Universities should be raised to Global Standards, innovations & entrepreneurship should be emphasised, need for preparing global citizens & emphasis on multiculture & multifaith. Dr. Samson David presented the Vote of Thanks.

Earlier, two sessions of discussions were held in morning. The first session was on the theme of “Non-State Challenges – Impact of Entry of Foreign & Private Universities”.

Prof. Bimal Patel of Gujarat National Law University emphasised a strict monitoring system for the foreign universities with limited period licensing.

Prof. James Thomas of Dr. D.Y. Patil appreciated the role of private universities in terms of infrastructure, curriculum & resources. He demanded an increased role of Public Private Partnership & Alumni Funding for the resource crunched state universities.

Prof. P.C. Vyas, Former Chairman, Board of Secondary Education said that our regulatory mechanism had failed to maintain quality & standard and has created huge gap in jobs available & skills of young population. He stressed the need of making accreditation mandatory & right to information.

The Chairperson Prof. Harish Padh cited the example of Indian Pharmaceuticals Industry. He said that inspite of the apprehensions about the performance of the industry under the ‘Product Patent System’, the industry has performed magnificently well. He stressed the role of research and said that state universities have invested heavily in developing research infrastructure.

Dr. Farida Shah, Dr. K.L. Sharma, Dr. B.L. Choudhary, Dr. Sanjay Lodha & Dr. B.P. Singh also expressed their view in the session.

The last technical session was on the theme “Meeting the Challenges – Issues of Scarcity & Quality of Faculties”.

Former R.P.S.C. Chairman, Prof. C.R. Choudhary in his address mentioned that there are large number of vacancies in the state universities but the problem was of time-consuming method of recruitment.

Prof. V.K. Goswami, Vice Chancellor Sangam University said that scarcity of faculties could not be met overnight and stressed that correspondence courses in practical subjects should be stopped.

Prof. B.P. Singh, Director, Delhi School of Professional Studies & Research in his address mentioned about the poor quality of Indian Universities, none of them being able to make it to the list of top universities of the World. He said that by 2015, about 1500 universities were required in India. He further added that there were large regional disparities in terms of number of institutions & their quality.

Prof. S.K. Singh, Vice Chancellor, M.P. Bhoj (Open) University said the challenge was to maintain quality in recruitment of faculties. Prof. K.L. Sharma & Prof. Naval Kishor also expressed their views in the session.

Later, in the afternoon, tree plantation was done by all the Vice Chancellors’ in the Mohanlal Sukhadia University Premises stressing the concern for environmental awareness.