Industries may soon get a role in higher education

India is preparing to involve industries in higher education in an effort to boost both research and employability. The Human Resource Development Ministry expects this will, in addition to employability, solve issues related to land availability and finance, writes Prashant K Nanda for Livemint.

In return, the government will give industries independence and fast-track regulatory clearances to open institutes that will focus on research specific to industry requirements. The ministry, in association with the Confederation of Indian Industries, has invited 17 government departments and ministries and nearly 60 companies to a two-day conference in Delhi that will begin on Monday, according to a ministry concept note that Mint has reviewed.

“If we reach an agreement, then we don’t have to go to parliament and it will be more of a ministry-level decision to engage industry in higher education,” said SS Mantha, chair of the All India Council for Technical Education, the regulator in the higher education sector for technical institutes and a part of the ministry. “Through the conference we want to understand what the industry requires on [the] regulatory front. We will try to accommodate that.”
Full report on the Livemint site