CHENNAI: Calling for a paradigm shift in India’s higher education and research priorities, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said PhD research in the country should move beyond citations and academic output to focus on national missions, industry needs and problem-solving, and that the government is preparing for a major curriculum overhaul in tune with the latest technologies.
“Product-oriented PhDs and industry-linked PhDs are the priority of the day. Our researchers must work on problems relevant to the country and its development,” he said.
Pradhan was taking part in the Pongal celebrations at IIT-M campus on Wednesday. Clad in traditional Tamil attire, the minister termed the Tamil cilvilisation great, and participated in pongal pot boiling and distributed gifts to the staff.
He said discussions held a day earlier with the governing councils of NITs and IISERs resulted in three key decisions aimed at reshaping the education ecosystem. One among them is the decision to prioritise mother tongue as the medium of instruction and understanding, from school education to higher research, to improve learning outcomes and inclusivity.
Highlighting the government’s thrust on artificial intelligence, Pradhan said India will host the AI Impact Summit next month in New Delhi. He said India, already a global leader in digital public infrastructure such as UPI, is now preparing to adopt AI across sectors including education, agriculture, healthcare, logistics and manufacturing.
Referring to IIT Madras, the minister said the Centre of Excellence for AI in Education, sanctioned by the Union government last year, has been established at the institute as a national hub.