05.01.2023 : Governor, Minister review preparedness of Universities for implementing NEP from coming Academic Year
Governor, Minister review preparedness of Universities for implementing NEP from coming Academic Year
“Vice Chancellors should lead the Universities from the front”: Governor
“New Academic Sessions must start from 1 August”: Chandrakant Patil
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari in his capacity as Chancellor of universities today reviewed the preparedness of traditional public universities for the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 from the academic session for 2022-2023. The meeting of vice chancellors chaired by him also discussed the issues of Uniform Academic Calendar and uniformity in time table of examinations and timely declaration of results as mandated by the Maharashtra Public Universities Act.
The review meeting was attended by Minister of Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Dada Patil, Principal Secretary Higher and Technical Education Vikas Chandra Rastogi, Chairman of Fee Regulatory Authority Justice (retd) Vijay Achaliya, Chairman of Admission Regulatory Authority J P Dange, Director IIT Bombay Subhasis Chaudhuri and members of the Task Force for the implementation of NEP led by Chairman Dr Nitin Karmalkar.
The Governor said while it is important to conduct examinations, declare results and start new academic sessions as mandated by National Education Policy on time, it is also important for vice chancellors to lead the Universities from the front and shape the character of students. Referring to the vacancies of staff and faculty in universities, he said a way must be found to take the universities forward despite the existing constraints.
Minister Chandrakant Dada Patil asked vice chancellors to conduct all examinations by 31st May, declare results by 30th June and conduct Entrance tests and admissions by 31th July so as to start the new academic session without delay from 1 August.
Stating that the present enrollment in higher education is around 32 lakh, he asked universities to set their own targets for increasing the enrollment in a phased manner so as to attain the enrollment of 50 lakh students. The Minister also called for strengthening the National Service Scheme in colleges and universities by enhancing its ambit and outreach.
The meeting discussed issues such as Development of Learning Management Software for all State Public Universities and use of e- Samarth, Development of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Marathi, Uniformity in Credit equivalence in Universities and Changing of Duration of lectures from 48 minutes to 1 hours in line with the Credit System framework adopted in NEP 2020. The meeting also reviewed the progress of students registration under Academic Bank of Credit and uploading of Mark Sheets and Degree Certificates on DIGI-LOCKER, Traininig of officials and members of various authorities by MSFDA and recruitment of teaching posts in Non Agricultural Universities.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between IIT Bombay and Government of Maharashtra for the translation of books and resources of Under Graduate and Post Graduate professional and non professional programmes in Marathi language as outlined in NEP 2020. The project ‘Udaan’ is led by IIT Professor Ganesh Ramakrishnan.