BH-PRANAB

Former President Pranab Mukherjee Sunday stressed on the need for creating a conducive

atmosphere to attract brightest of the bright into teaching, research and innovation.

"There are 767 universities in the country and is expanding. There is a huge development of physical

infrastructure in higher education.... But I regret to point out that the quality of education, which we are providing in

our our institutions of higher education, are not upto the world standard," Mukherjee said.

"We will have to create a conducive atmosphere in which brightest of the bright come to the teaching, research

and innvoation.... Our future progress will depend increasingly on our ability to innovate, to devise efficient

processes for the industrial sector and better solutions for governance," Mukherjee said.

He was addressing the annual convocation of the Patna University.

Stating that IIT graduates will be found at top places in international organisations, he said they were not required

to advance promotion of product of mercantile company. He asked, "How many of them (IITians) are engaged in

teaching and basic research?" Mukherjee remembered his association with Patna

University saying that he had come here in 1984 as finance minister to participate in PU's convocation ceremony.

"I can say without doubt that Patna University as a collective has played a significant role in the spread of

education, especially higher education, research and innovation," he said.

Mukherjee said the university has a remarkable list of nation builders as its alumni that included Dr Sachidanand

Sinha, Jai Prakash Narayan, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Dr B C Roy.

Stating that the Eastern region consistently fuelled the growth engines of modern India, he referred to a KPMG

report that said Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam are expected to contribute at least 25 per cent of the

country's GDP by 2035. Bihar Governor and Chancellor of the university Lalji

Tandon exhorted students to become the agents of change and make their country proud by increasing the quality of higher

education. Mukherjee gave away Gold medals and degrees to 38

toppers of various subjects besides giving Ph.D degrees to 54 research scholar for their successful completion.