The Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu today emphasized that research at IITs and other higher education institutes must be relevant to society and focus on finding solutions to various problems faced by mankind from climate change to health issues.

Inaugurating the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Delhi IIT through a video conference, he said Indian institutions will be counted among the world’s best only when they start impacting the societies around them by developing optimal and sustainable solutions to the problems faced by the nation

Calling for greater investment in R & D projects which focus on finding solutions to societal problems, the Vice President urged the private sector to collaborate with the academia in identifying such projects and fund them liberally.

He also emphasised that research should focus on making the lives of people comfortable, quicken the progress and ensure more equitable world order. Calling upon the IITians to pay attention to the problems faced by the farmers and rural India, Naidu asked them to work not only for enhancing agri-production, but also give special focus on the production of nutritious and protein-rich food.

Asking the higher education institutions not to work in silos and form a symbiotic relationship with the industry to develop cutting-edge technology, he said the industry experts in various areas should act as mentors in guiding researchers. “This type of collaboration will help in fast-tracking projects and produce quicker results”, he added.   

Expressing his happiness that the New Education Policy seeks to promote India as a global study destination, Shri Naidu pointed out that only eight Indian institutions figured in the top 500 globally.

He said this situation has to change and there has to be a concerted and collective action from all the stakeholders—governments, universities, educationists and the private sector to bring about a radical improvement in the standards and quality of education of our institutes of higher learning.

Observing that there is a huge potential for India to become a world leader in various technological domains given the demographic advantage and the presence of highly talented youth, the Vice President said “the need of the hour is to impart quality education”.

Lauding IIT Delhi for emerging as a leader in the entrepreneurship space, Shri Naidu said: “It is good to note that Institutions such as IIT Delhi are producing job providers rather than job seekers and becoming trendsetters for other institutions in the country”.

On this occasion, the Vice President also released the Diamond Jubilee logo and IIT Delhi 2030 strategy document.

Minister for Education Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Director of IIT Delhi and others were present on the occasion.