The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Smt Smriti Irani emphasized the need to develop skills in Higher Education while inaugurating the Workshop on Skills in Higher Education organized by the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry in New Delhi today. She exhorted the States and the Union Territories to adopt the Credit Framework for skills and Education and the Choice Based Credit System in Universities. This would give choices to students and also provide respectability to skill programmes.

The Minister added that there would be teachers who would want to bring about change in the society and there will always be students talking about transparency and Know Your College Portal created by the Ministry of HRD to strive towards the same. The portal will help the students make informed choices, she said. Not only that, Union HRD Minister informed that some 200000 hours of lectures have been uploaded for students for various courses and disciplines.

The Minister of State for HRD Shri Upendra Kushwaha that the purpose of the Workshop on Skills in Higher Education is to link today’s youth with employability.

The Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Shri Satya N. Mohanty that Knowledge, Education and Light do not accept fragmentation, they require expansion and that Skill Development and Higher Education should be seen in broader perspective.

The Workshop was attended by the Additional Secretary Shri Amarjeet Sinha as well as Special Secretary Ms. Vrinda Sarup. The Special Secretary spoke of the necessity of vocational training in schools and that of stream lining vocational courses in the context of education.

The first day of the two-day National Consultation on Skills in Higher Education witnessed participation from Education Secretaries, Vice Chancellors, Principals and Directors of Colleges and Polytechnics and other experts. The best of Colleges offering the Bachelor of Vocational Studies and Community College programmes show cased the work they are doing.

The Chairman UGC Shri Ved Prakash and the AICTE Chairman Shri S.S. Mantha shared the key features of the credit framework and the Choice based Credit System. The objective of the two-day National Consultation is to develop a complete architecture for skills in Higher Education.

Source: PIB