The higher education system in the country has become “extremely compartmentalised” over the past few decades. Though the system as a whole should not isolate disciplines from one another and result in things falling apart, the need of the hour was a “multidisciplinary, holistic approach” to education, according to S. Mohan, Director, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chennai.
He was delivering the graduation day address at the Pondicherry Engineering College (PEC) here on Friday. Mr. Mohan said that world over it has been found that four to five years of higher education beyond 12 years of schooling resulted in higher incomes. However, only 11 per cent of eligible youth get higher education in the country. This figure has to be improved and the Gross Enrolment Ratio should be brought to about 50 percent. “Universal education and imparting skills are crucial for Indians to get out of poverty and its resultant problems,” he said.
Pointing out that some of the institutes have begun innovating and have introduced concepts such as “choice-based credit system,” he said that more efforts were needed on this front.
Principal of PEC V. Prithviraj said that 470 undergraduate and 150 postgraduate engineering students, who passed out of the college in 2009, received the graduation certificate on Friday. He said that the college would offer a Bachelors of Engineering degree in architecture from 2012 onwards and it had come to an understanding with Auroville for this purpose.
