Ensure campuses emerge as spaces that nurture free expression: President Ram Nath Kovind

New Delhi: Asserting that universities should play a leading role in addressing specific challenges faced by the nation, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said higher educational institutes should emerge as spaces that nurture free expression and ideas.

His remarks come in the backdrop of violent protests witnessed recently at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia over the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Addressing the closing session of the meet of vice-chancellors and directors of central universities, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, he said universities and higher educational institutions should play a leading role in addressing the specific challenges faced by our nation and the society.

"Many of these challenges require creative and innovative solutions. It is your paramount duty to ensure that your campuses emerge as spaces that nurture free expression and ideas, where experimentation is encouraged and failure is not ridiculed but is seen as a learning," he said. Kovind said universities should become the laboratories for exposing students to the problems that need to be addressed in the cause of nation-building. He said students should be encouraged to take up academic and extra-curricular work with a distinct community orientation.

"I am aware that universities are increasingly conscious of this and taking necessary steps too. But we need to introspect whether what we are doing is enough or relevant. All of you should make a conscious effort to integrate community-oriented projects as part of your curriculum. University Social Responsibility, that is USR, has to become deeply ingrained into the DNA of our academic community," the president said. Kovind said it is imperative to fill up vacancies and attract top-quality faculty. "At the same time, you must ensure adequate gender balance in your institutes, particularly of the faculty. I have been appointing more women as visitor nominees in various committees and I urge all of you to do everything you can to ensure adequate representation," he said.

The president said simple steps like strictly adhering to academic calendar for admissions, conduct of classes, examinations, declaration of results and awarding of degrees at convocations and so on, can be the starting point on the journey towards excellence. "Similarly, there are some steps that you can take to address the shortage of faculty in your universities. For instance, you can develop a robust visiting faculty program or use online teaching tools. You must also strengthen your existing faculty through leadership programs such as LEAP, that is now entering its second year," he said.

In another function on the occasion of presentation of the '5th Visitor's Awards' at Rashtrapati Bhavan, he said developing meaningful linkages between the academic community and local industry should be a top priority for the universities. "Students must be encouraged to emerge as job-creators rather than job-seekers," Kovind said.

He also acknowledged the work done by the awards winners. These included Prof Sibnath Deb, who has worked in the field of health psychology with a focus on child protection and clinical psychology. "Prof Sanjay Puri has made important contribution to the field of non-equilibrium statistical physics. In the field of biological sciences, the work of both Prof Asad Ullah Khan and Dr Partima Solanki has been recognised today for its positive healthcare applications," Kovind said.

Dr Shaon Ray Chaudhuri has worked on developing technology to convert dairy wastewater into bio-fertilizer, the president said. "Your work has the potential to address many of our challenges and is worthy contribution towards national development. These awards recognise your outstanding contribution, single-minded devotion and painstaking work in the pursuit of knowledge. All of you are true achievers and I am sure that your success will inspire other researchers to take up meaningful projects in their respective fields," he said.