Naidu calls for establishment of ‘innovation, start-up centres’

Opens FICCI Higher Education Summit; sees need for reforms

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has called for establishment of what he has termed “innovation and start-up centres” in educational institutions across the country.

Inaugurating the three-day 12th FICCI Higher Education Summit–2016 ‘Learn in India–Learn for the World’ here on Thursday, Mr. Naidu claimed that his was the ‘only State with an innovation and start-up policy’.

European Union Director-General Martine Reicherts was among others who addressed the summit. Education Ministers from Botswana, Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan and delegations representing more than 55 countries including BRICS, Africa, West Asia, SAARC, CIS, Canada and the U.S. are attending the event.

According to a press note by the Andhra Bhavan, more than 1,000 national and international delegates including Indian and foreign university Presidents, Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors and Deans are attending it.

Mr. Naidu talked about the need for certain reforms in education sector, both in terms of spirit and practicality of the knowledge imparted.

Claiming that his government was establishing an ‘Innovation society’ in each university and college with incubation centres, Mr. Naidu told the delegates that AP had facilitated collaboration between the Andhra University and the University of California, Berkeley, to set up the Centre for open innovation at the former.

According to him, all State universities were ‘smart campuses’ and five institutes of national importance — IIM (Visakhapatnam), IIT (Tirupati), IIIT Kurnool, NIT (Tadepalligudem, West Godavari) and IISER (Tirupati) — had been established since the birth of the State in June 2014.

Mr. Naidu said 12 additional national institutes were in the process of being set up including the AIIMS (Mangalagiri), the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and the Petroleum and Energy Universities in Visakhapatnam. The Chief Minister said his government had put in place a 25-member State Knowledge Advisory Board with eminent educators, industrialists and academicians from across the globe to help formulate and implement a roadmap for higher education.

He expressed happiness at the FICCI’s decision to enter into two MoUs for the establishment of FICCI Centre for Excellence for Grassoot Initiatives and Development in Amaravati and a National Knowledge Functional Hub at Sri Venkateswara University for sustained industry-academia engagement resulting in employability of engineering students in his State.