Redraft model to suit foreign students’ needs, VCs told

Kharar, December 8

Vice-Chancellors of 65 universities attended the two-day Association of Indian Universities (AIU) North Zone Vice-Chancellors’ Meet- 2018, which concluded here on Saturday.

Addressing the gathering at the valedictory ceremony, Prof Sandeep Sancheti, president, AIU, said, “The target set by the Centre to attract 50,000 foreign students to India by 2023 can be easily achieved by universities but the institutions need to redraft their academic model to suit aspirations of the foreign students.”

The meet resolved some of the most relevant aspects of higher education and highlighted the critical role of research for universities. Prof Sancheti said, “Universities need to increase their funding on research and ideally, it should be 3-5% of the university budget. At present, just 0.7% of annual funds are spent on research works.”

Prof Furqan Qamar, general secretary, AIU, said, “Indian universities can bag global ranking by carrying out quality research work.”

“To make the Indian education system adaptable, special programmes should be designed for foreign students,” said Dr RS Bawa, VC, Chandigarh University. — OC