Quality education still remains elite in nature: UGC chairman

The Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University (BVDU), Pune, held its 13th convocation recently on BVDU campus in the city. Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi, Ved Prakash was the chief guest at the event. Also present on the occasion were Patangrao Kadam (chancellor, BVDU), Shivajirao Kadam (vice chancellor, BVDU) and other dignitaries.

There were 6,718 students who registered for the convocation ceremony of which 29 of them got gold medals and 40 received their PhDs.

Congratulating the students on their success, Prakash during the convocation address emphasised on teachers to show courage, fearlessness and uncompromising loyalty to fundamental values of life.

To help create a classless society with equal status, Prakash said, “Universities must provide appropriate educational interventions to help bridge the huge economic divide that is prevalent in society, maintaining their autonomous status.”

Prakash also said that the universities in the era of globalisation should not only be driven by science and technology but also humanities, social science and languages.

He said, “Good quality higher education still remains elite in nature and is still not accessible to a large bulk of population. This is primarily attributed to the policy shift in the mid 1980s by preventing the growth of public institutions and leaving a wide open market for institutions to offer courses that have high market value.”

Prakash added that the government must realise the limitations of the private sector and strengthen the higher education in areas which are vital in improving the nation’s competitiveness.