OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday urged universities in the Northeast to move beyond conventional degree-based education and become "problem-solving institutions" addressing the region's developmental, social, environmental and strategic challenges. Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day Roundtable of Vice-Chancellors of North-East Universities at the Rashtriya Raksha University campus in Pasighat, East Siang district, Khandu said the first such regional roundtable should result in concrete partnerships and measurable outcomes.
He said universities should prepare students for entrepreneurship, innovation, research and public service while addressing issues such as border development, biodiversity, climate change, cultural preservation, rural livelihoods, tourism and connectivity.
Khandu called for stronger collaboration among universities, government departments, industries, defence and security establishments, local communities and civil society. He also stressed greater research in sustainable agriculture, disaster management, eco-tourism, renewable energy, indigenous knowledge and public health. The Chief Minister urged universities to adopt artificial intelligence and digital technologies for education, research and administration and proposed joint digital repositories for indigenous knowledge, languages, traditions and ecological practices.
He also proposed a Northeast Higher Education Consortium for joint research, faculty exchanges, student mobility, shared laboratories and digital resources. Khandu called for time-bound transformation plans with measurable targets and suggested that the Vice-Chancellors' Roundtable become an annual exercise. The roundtable, themed "Transforming Higher Education: Innovations, Collaborations and Strategies for a Future-Ready India", brought together vice-chancellors, academicians, experts and representatives of the Association of Indian Universities and Rashtriya Raksha University.
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