‘University education is controlled by the Centre through UGC’

‘University education is controlled by the Centre through UGC’

Skilling education must not be viewed as essential only for technical courses such as Engineering and new-age courses of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Language, AR, VR and the like. Skilling is needed in all kinds of courses and in all universities, said Vice-Chancellor of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University Ghanta Chakrapani.

Discussing the status of university education and its challenges at a conference on higher education and skill development in the city on Saturday, he said that Indian education is not independent, and is always in the clutches of governments, both Central and State.

“University education is being controlled by the Centre through University Grants Commission (UGC), and a State can make updations only to an extent,” he said, while criticising the State government’s idea of spending ₹1,000 crore on Young India Skill University rather than understanding every university as a place to impart skills.

The conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Telangana Development Forum (TDF) involved multiple sessions, aimed at the theme: “Thriving Telangana by 2050 through education and youth empowerment”.

Each session had a university expert, an industry doyen and a policy maker to discuss the challenges and the roadmap.

Talking about his 10 years of service in rural Telangana as District Collector, Krishna Aditya, now Commissioner, Board of Intermediate Education, said that curriculum upgradation, skilling all teachers as per industry standards and needs, adoption of schools and colleges by the industry, and career guidance by the industry and diaspora, are best measures that can be put into practice.

The school dropout rate of 3-4% or about 25,000 students every year in Telangana, he said, is a social problem. For Mr. Aditya, solutions for common good depend on multiple perspectives of various stakeholders, the government and industry included.