BENGALURU : Setting the course for the new year, Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar highlighted his goals for 2024. The minister said upskilling will be the key focus to improve the quality of education, not just for students but also for teachers. He claimed that in over six months since he took charge a lot of work has been done.
“We are proposing new things for higher education and in the coming days we will sign a MoU with Wadhwani Foundation for short English speaking cousres. Initially, it will be to upskill teachers and later will be extended to students in government institutions, polytechnic and engineering colleges,” he explained. Speaking on collaborations and tie-ups with foreign universities the minister told that there are several meetings lined up for exchange programmes. “We have a meeting coming up with New Zealand consisting of 8 universities for an exchange programme which includes sharing of knowledge in February 2024.”
Recently the department officials also had a meeting with a delegation consisting of 45 universities from America. “Our department is also in conversation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard School of Business and the American School of Economics,” he stated.
The department has also been instructed to form a committee and review the present curriculum of courses and analyse the employability and industry readiness of the students. “Officials have been directed to analyse the status of government engineering and polytechnic institutions and compare them to the private and successful ones. They will analyse the gaps and how to bridge them to make sure our government institutions are at par with private ones,” Sudhakar emphasised.
Another key priority for the Higher Education Department is to streamline the academic calendar for 2023-2024. A joint meeting will be held with Primary Education and Literacy Minister, Madhu Bangarappa and Medical Education Minister, Dr Sharanprakash Patil to bring uniformity in exam schedules and admission process to avoid delays which usually lead to pressure and loss of year for several students.
As far as Collegiate education is concerned the minister was to push for good infrastructure and the faculty. Sudhakar added, “As we know skill is the order of the day. In the coming days, we will have a group of ministers from departments such as Skill Development, Medical Education, IT-BT and MSMEs to discuss how the youth can be upskilled. We want to focus on the employability factor of education.”