27-Jul-2022: Mission to draw foreign students for studying in India
Ministry of Education (MOE) launched Study in India Programme on 18.04.2018 with the aim of attracting foreign students to Indian higher educational institutions (HEIs) through systematic brand building, marketing, social media and digital marketing campaigns. The programme involves partnership with 160 plus select Indian institutes/universities (based on NIRF Ranking and NAAC grading). A centralized admission web-portal (https://studyinindia.gov.in) acts as a single window for the admission of foreign students under Study in India. An examination named PRAGATII (Performance Rating of Applicants through Global Aptitude Test for Indian Institutions) is conducted to offer Study in India Scholarships to meritorious students. Though students from all over the world can apply under this flagship programme, the focus is on 48 target countries across South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Study in India has been reaching out to international students through Indian missions abroad and with extensive brand building exercise through Newspapers, Radio, Facebook, Instagram, Google Display & Search Network, Twitter, Emailers, WhatsApp, telegram etc.
15-Sep-2020: Union Education Minister presents first ever AICTE - Visvesvaraya Best Teachers Award 2020 to 12 faculty members of AICTE approved institutes
The first ever AICTE Visvesvaraya Best Teacher Awards 2020 were presented by Union Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ to 12 faculty members of AICTE approved institutes on the occasion of Engineers Day. The event was organised in virtual mode and the faculty members were felicitated by the Minister through online interaction. Chairman AICTE, Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Vice Chairman, AICTE, Prof MP Poonia and Member Secretary, AICTE Prof Rajiv Kumar also complimented the awardees during the event and highlighted the importance of teachers in Nation building.
Speaking on the occasion the Minister said Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was a pioneer of Engineering in India. He is one of the most eminent Engineers and Statesmen of India, whose contribution to the advancement of the country is unforgettable. He was awarded the highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1955 for his indispensable contribution to nation-building. Shri Pokhriyal said that to realise the ideals set by stalwarts like Vishveshwarayya, the Ministry of Education has come up with the National education policy 2020 through which a holistic and multidisciplinary education will be encouraged in higher education. However, the most important factor in the success of higher education institutions is the quality and engagement of its faculty. Acknowledging the criticality of faculty in achieving the goals of higher education, various initiatives have been introduced in the past several years to systemise recruitment and career progression, and to ensure equitable representation from various groups in the hiring of faculty.
Highlighting the AICTE Visvesvaraya Best Teacher Awards 2020, the Minister said that the Awards has been introduced for the first time to identify extraordinary teachers and recognize their excellence, best practice and innovativeness in field of higher technical education at national level for Degree and Diploma institutions. This scheme is aimed to recognize the meritorious faculties on the Engineer's Day every year at National level and, encourage them to update themselves to the ever changing needs of higher education at global level and thereby becoming an effective contributor towards the society.
Keeping in line with various quality initiatives undertaken by AICTE to improve the overall higher technical education in the country, this scheme summarises them towards recognising the best talent, Shri Pokhriyal informed. He added that the proposals were sought from all the AICTE approved institutions for the same. The evaluation parameters were predefined with focus on research, 360-degree feedback, contribution to student development and resolution of societal problems.
Huge response was received on the subject, out of which 261 proposals were shortlisted for evaluation through a seven-member committee chaired by Prof. Prem Vrat, Pro-Chancellor; Professor of Eminence and Chief Mentor at The North Cap University, Gurugram. 12 candidates have been finalised for the awards.
The event also saw the launch of SPICES (Scheme for Promoting Interests, Creativity and Ethics among Students) by Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ to promote healthy co-curricular activity amongst the students for their all-round development.
23-Jun-2020: Union HRD Minister virtually launches ‘YUKTI 2.0’ platform for Higher Education Institutes in New Delhi
Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, today launched an initiative ‘YUKTI 2.0’ to help systematically assimilate technologies having commercial potential and information related to incubated startups in our higher education institutions.
Earlier, the Minister had launched the YUKTI (Young India combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) web portal on 11 April, 2020. Ministry of HRD prepared the portal in view of Coronavirus. The portal intends to cover the different dimensions of COVID-19 challenges in a very holistic and comprehensive way. Through this portal, the Ministry of Human Resource Development will endeavor to ensure that students, teachers and researchers in higher educational institutions are getting appropriate support to meet the requirements needed to advance their technologies and innovations.
While addressing the participants Shri Pokhriyal said that YUKTI 2.0 is logical extension of earlier version of ‘YUKTI’, an initiative of MHRD, to identify ideas relevant in COVID pandemic. He also informed that all the outcomes of earlier version of ‘YUKTI’ will be released soon.
The minister appreciated the initiative and said that our Prime Minister has given us the mission of making Bharat ‘Aatmanirbhar’ and, YUKTI 2.0 initiative is a very important step in that direction. He said that our youngsters are very capable of thinking innovatively and we should make every possible effort to help them convert their ideas into enterprises. More importantly, initiative like YUKTI 2.0 will also help in fostering the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in our academic institutions".
The Minister expressed his happiness while launching the YUKTI portal. He also invited students, faculty members, startups and other stakeholders of higher education institutions to register on the YUKTI portal and share their technologies and innovations.
Shri Pokhriyal said that this database will provide a clear picture of the state of the innovation ecosystem of our higher educational institutions. This will also help the government to identify bottlenecks and formulate appropriate policies to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in the country. Ministry will provide the best possible help to support creative innovations and technologies to help the society at large. The Minister hoped that this portal will prove to be a milestone towards promoting innovations and entrepreneurship culture in our higher education system and involving youth in nation building.
Minister of State for HRD, Shri Sanjay Dhotre also congratulated the entire team of MHRD’s Innovation Cell and AICTE for this unique initiative. He said that the “innovations in medical field developed by engineers have resulted in disruptive technologies. The Minister hoped that even ‘YUKTI 2.0’ will help us identify many more disruptive solutions from our higher and technical institutions.”
Chairman AICTE Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe informed about the need of such platform and emphasized on the need to support student entrepreneurs keen on pursuing their startups along with academics while Mr. Rakesh Rajan, Additional Secretary, MHRD said that YUKTI 2.0 needs to emerge as Market place for connecting innovators with investors, so that innovative technologies can be taken forward for commercialization.