While releasing NAAC’s ‘Analysis of Accreditation Reports of Union Territories-J&K and Ladakh’, Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha made some pertinent remarks about the education that we need now, and that is required to face the challenges of future times.
It is now an established fact of our times that “we are heading towards an era which will be dominated by the knowledge economy” and that “our biggest asset would be the Human Capital, a combination of talent, skill, and creativity” This insight into present times has been repeatedly emphasised by the academic leadership world over.
It is in this backdrop that we are witnessing tectonic changes in the education delivery mechanism in the global institution. From the curricular content to the linking of campuses with industry the change is too big to be missed.
The way new courses have been introduced, and are upgraded with regular inputs from the market, we are into a new world of education. This change is not just about the speed and access granted by technology, but about the attitude towards education.
Now it is no more limited to the exchange of theoretical and philosophical content in classrooms, but has moved into practical and productive application of knowledge in various walks of life. Today’s economy and today’s universities are wedded to each other.
The two cannot be separated. Not to speak of separation, we cannot imagine one existing without the other. We must now aim “to empower every student with technical and social skills to develop entrepreneurial thinking.” This is the need of the hour, and our academic heads must keep the institutions of higher learning in sync with the global realities of market, industry, and technology.