Round Table Conference on draft New Education Policy held at ICFAI University

A Round Table Conference on draft New Education Policy (NEP) was held at ICFAI University , Jharkhand, wherein besides faculty members of the University, eminent academicians like Dr. G L Datta, Former Dean, IIT-Kharagpur and Former Chancellor K L University, Dr. Manoj Mishra , Associate Professor, Chanakya National Law University , Dr Satyendra Kishore, Former ED, Indian Institute of Coal Management , Dr. Dipankar Dey, Former Dean IBS Kolkata , participated in the discussion:

Welcoming the participants to the discussion, Prof O R S Rao, Vice-Chancellor of the University briefed them on the highlights of the policy and said , " This is a comprehensive policy, covering the entire gamut of the education in the country and will have profound impact on improving the access and quality of education, which is critical to achieve the Prime Minister's goal of achieving $5 trillion economy in the next 5 years".

The participants appreciated a number of positive aspects of the policy, like setting up National Research Foundation to promote research, lighter and facilitative regulations, technology deployment in education, focus on liberal education etc. At the same time, a number of suggestions came up, which include: to facilitate more critical thinking by the students, measures of encouragement by government to industry to provide internships to the students etc. It was suggested that a central expert body with committee members from MHRD, Industry Ministry, Academics and Industry may be constituted to review, on a continuous basis, new job opportunities for fresh graduates in various sectors , both in short term and long term, competencies needed and how educational institutions should gear up to cater to them by way of introducing new programs and changes to curricula. In view of the increasing crime rate and suicides by the youth, due to depression and inability to cope with life pressures, it was suggested that there must be a focus on the holistic development of the students, with special focus on character development by way of counselling by psychologists, wherever necessary. It was also suggested that there is a need for measures to identify potential academic leaders for positions like Dean, Registrar, Vice-Chancellor etc and groom them on a continuous basis so that a healthy funnel of academic leaders is created.

Dr BM Singh, Registrar of the University, proposed a vote of thanks.