The Two-day Vice-Chancellors’ Conference of Central Universities commenced today at Kevadia, Gujarat, with the participation of more than 50 Vice Chancellors of leading higher education institutions to review, assess, and strategize the implementation of NEP 2020 since its inception. Organised by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Central University of Gujarat, the meeting aims to consolidate and map the institutional progress of central universities in mapping up the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of Education Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said in the last decade, India’s higher education ecosystem has undergone a fundamental transformation making it flexible, interdisciplinary, inclusive and innovation driven. Shri Pradhan mentioned as a result, total student enrolment has touched 4.46 crore, a 30% increase since 2014–15, female enrolment has grown by 38%, and female GER now exceeded male GER, Ph.D. enrolment has almost doubled, and female Ph.D. scholars have grown by 136%, GER for Scheduled Tribes has increased by 10 percentage points, for SCs by over 8 points. This indicated the Government’s commitment to inclusive education and social justice.  He also mentioned that as a result of positive policy initiatives 1,200+ universities and over 46,000 colleges have been established making India of one of the largest systems globally.

During his address, Shri Pradhan highlighted the concept of Panch Sanklapa of NEP 2020 which would be the guideline for the VCs in their university gurukuls. The prominent themes being Next-Gen emerging education, Multidisciplinary education, Innovative education, Holistic education and Bharatiya Education. The Minister called upon the  VCs to devise changes to implement the objectives of the academic Triveni Sangamam through the following objectives- Celebrating the past (India’s richness), calibrating the present (India’s narrative correction), and creating the future (India’s role in the global order).  This would ensure understanding the past, uncovering the present and unfolding the future in the contemporary framework.


The minister emphasised that it was important to raise the GER in higher education to 50% by 2035 by taking definitive actions in critical areas such as redesigning curricula, building digital systems, training faculty and promoting multidisciplinary approaches. For attaining this objective, it was imperative for the Vice Chancellors to act as catalysts in shaping the mind-set and aspirations of students. Shri Pradhan emphasised that universities must follow “Students-First” approach, students should be the centre of all our reforms as they constituted the core of our national strength for the future.  He called upon the Vice Chancellors to ensure that the institutions being built for the future where skilled and future ready to promote ready work force and students were empowered to be job creators, social entrepreneurs and ethical innovators. 

During the course of his address, the minister called upon the participants of the meeting to prepare a strategy paper for a full implementation of NEP 2020 for Implementation of NEP 2020 in every university. It should include: multidisciplinary integration of subjects, mainstreaming Indian Knowledge System (IKS), devising strategies for tech driven education to promote skilling and up-skilling, campus initiatives focusing on innovation and integration of technology with traditional values and conferences like VC’s conference should be organised in the individual university campuses.