VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu outlined plans to strengthen universities in the State by filling vacant posts and improving academic standards. During a review meeting on higher education at the Secretariat on Tuesday, the Chief Minister expressed concern over the policies of the previous YSRC government and called them inefficient.
Naidu called for both short-term and long-term programmes focused on reviving public universities. He instructed officials to resolve legal issues related to backlog vacancies and issue notifications for recruitment. Pointing out the decline of standards in all public universities, Naidu proposed forming a specialist committee to study educational standards at top universities globally. He recommended implementing these changes in the next academic year.
Naidu proposed exploring joint degree programmes with foreign universities and supported the idea of a single legislation to replace the existing eight laws governing higher education.
Furthermore, he highlighted the need for career counselling centres across the State and revealed plans to establish an Artificial Intelligence (AI) University through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
HRD and IT Minister Nara Lokesh and senior officials were present.