VIJAYAWADA: The National Education Policy-2020 focuses on quality and research in higher education, Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has said. The Governor was addressing the third conference of the Vice-Chancellors of the State Universities held at Durbar Hall in the Raj Bhavan on Thursday.
Addressing the Vice-Chancellors, the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of State Universities, said the NEP-2020 aims to fulfill human potential, and develop an equitable and just society, by promoting national development, universal accessibility, with a focus on quality education. The Governor said the Andhra Pradesh government is committed to implementing the NEP 2020 in its true spirit and has initiated several reforms in the higher education sector in the State.
He said that the NEP-2020 envisioned certain key changes in the current higher education system, like moving towards multidisciplinary education, faculty and institutional autonomy; revamping of curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and student support, and reaffirming the integrity of faculty and institutional leadership. The implementation of NEP-2020 in the State Universities is moving in a systematic manner and steps have already been taken to redesign the curriculum for both the engineering and conventional degree programmes, said the Governor.
He said the establishment of a State Research Board to develop a research eco-system and promote qualitative research in universities and colleges was a step in the right direction and that Andhra Pradesh was the first State in the country to introduce the four-year degree programme with research being part of the course, from the academic year 2020-21.
He said the V-Cs should devise strategies to develop high-quality research eco-system and explore the possibilities to collaborate with industry, research institutes of national and international importance and on building research infrastructure.
Vice-chancellors of 23 State Universities, who attended the conference, made presentations on the development activities of their respective universities and briefed the Chancellor on their future development plans.
Poonam Malakondaiah, Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture & Marketing, RP Sisodia, Special Chief Secretary to Governor, J Syamala Rao, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Prof. K. Hemachandra Reddy, Chairman, Prof. K. Rama Mohana Rao, Vice Chairman, Secretary of Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education and others attended the conference.