India excels in education, employment & healthcare: Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan

Visakhapatnam: India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world in the fields of education, employment and healthcare, said Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan. Participating as chief guest at the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) South Zone Vice Chancellors Meet 2022-23 hosted by Andhra University (AU) here on Tuesday, the Governor said India secures the third biggest position in facilitating the startup ecosystem.

With the theme of the programme centred on 'research and excellence for transformative higher education', the event saw Vice Chancellors from various universities attending the two-day-long event. By 2022, over 80,000 start-ups were present in the country. Renewed knowledge and skills are required to build the nation. This in turn would help in strengthening the economy, the Governor mentioned.

Speaking about the New Education Policy-2020, the Governor noted that top priority was given to research and experiments. "Universities should step beyond the teaching arena. They should focus on research as well. Vice Chancellors of the universities should encourage the students to hone their skills towards research and innovative thinking," the Governor stated.

Later, the Governor launched ancient palm-leaf manuscripts of Dr VS Krishna Library, AU and uploaded the digitalised version of 2.62 lakh ancient manuscripts on the cloud. The uploaded multilingual manuscripts can be utilised by various universities. Also, a souvenir was launched on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, AU Vice Chancellor PVGD Prasad Reddy said students in Andhra University were getting empowered with international standards to meet the industry needs. There are 34 startups at AU Technology Innovation Hub at AU, while 17 startups exist at NASSCOM Centre of Excellence, the VC informed.

Mandatory and virtual internships, campus recruitments were discussed by the academicians on stage. President of AIU Suranjan Das, secretary general Pankaj Mittal, Special Chief Secretary RP Sisodia among others were present.