Mumbai: Governor, Minister, US Consul attend First Interactive meeting of Universities in Maharashtra and US. Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari presided over the first Interactive Meeting of Universities in Maharashtra and those from the United States of America at Raj Bhavan Mumbai on Tue (13 Sept).
The meeting, an initiative of the Governor, was attended by Minister vice chancellors or registrars of all public universities in Maharashtra and 62 heads or representatives of various American Universities.
Maharashtra’s Minister of Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil, Consul General of the United States in Mumbai Mike Hankey, Principal Secretary Higher and Technical Education Vikas Chandra Rastogi and Leader of the Global Education Team for the US Gabriela Zelaya were prominent among those present.
Addressing the gathering, the Governor Koshyari said education knows no boundaries. Recalling the words of Swami Vivekananda, the Governor said education should be ‘man-making’. Stating that Indian philosophy talks of learning together, thinking together and working together for progress of the mankind, the Governor stressed the need for greater academic exchanges among universities in Maharashtra and the United States of America.
Mentioning that the National Education Policy calls for fostering international collaboration, the Governor expressed the hope that the meeting between university heads in Maharashtra and USA would pave the way for greater cooperation among universities in many areas.
Stating that Maharashtra has 72 universities, 4731 colleges and about 4.2 million students pursuing higher education, Minister Chandrakant Patil said the coming together of the universities in Maharashtra and the USA will help in reaching the goals of the 21st Century. Consul General Mike Hankey said 82000 student visas were issued by his Consulate for Indian students in one year. He hoped that the number will cross 100000 within a year.
The open session among vice chancellors and heads of universities discussed the issues of Dual Degrees, Twinning Programmes, Joint Degrees, International Certification, collaboration opportunities, Gamification of learning, Virtual Learning, Cooperation in Medical and Agricultural Education, Faculty and Student Exchange, Research Funding, Credit Transfer and creation of Affordable free structures, etc
US universities of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgetown, State University of New York, University of Kansas, University of Lousiyana Lfayette, Washington State University, University of Wisconsin were among those represented at the meeting.
