President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday asked higher education institutions to lay emphasis on inculcating core civilisation values of patriotism, compassion, honesty, tolerance and respect for women.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday asked higher education institutions to lay emphasis on inculcating core civilisation values of patriotism, compassion, honesty, tolerance and respect for women.
The comments assume significance as the country is witnessing controversies in some universities on several such issues.
The President’s comments came at a function to honour JNU JNU and Tezpur University for excellence in “research” and “innovation” and being the “best university” respectively.
“To be a top higher education institution, one requires to adhere to a few basic pre-conditions. The most critical amongst them are ensuring the quality of education and research, enhancing faculty standards and establishing collaborations and linkages with international as well as domestic organisations,” he said.
“The emphasis on academic excellence, as well as inculcating core civilisational values of patriotism, compassion, honesty, tolerance, performance of duty and respect for women as to be maintained all through,” the President said.
Mr Mukherjee presented the visitor’s awards for research as well as innovation to Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar and the Molecular Parasitology Group of JNU respectively at the function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Tezpur University in Assam was given the annual visitor’s award for the best university.
He hoped that these awards would inspire and motivate the Central universities and their academic communities to excel further. The awards for both research and innovation to the scientists of JNU is an indication of the depth of innovation, research and collaboration in this prestigious university, Mr Mukherjee said.
The President stated Tezpur University confirms his belief that the higher education landscape in the north-eastern region is not only brimming with potential, but is now realising it too.
