Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today advocated for academic collaboration between universities across the globe and said that students and teachers could immensely benefit from such tie-ups.
Interacting with a team of delegates of Nottingham Trent University from the UK, who met him here, the Chief Minister said, with the world swiftly emerging as a global village, there was a need for acquainting the students about emerging fields in education.
In such a scenario, academic collaboration between universities of different countries could do wonders in spreading the light of knowledge to every nook and corner of the world besides helping in overall development of students, he said.
Emphasising on the need for frequent student and faculty exchange programme between the universities in Punjab and Nottingham Trent University, Badal said, it would benefit the students of the state.
It was the need of the hour to update the knowledge of students and upskill the teachers, in which such initiatives could play a pivotal role, he said.
Badal said that universities of Punjab could initiate measures to collaborate with the Nottingham Trent University for starting student and faculty exchange programme and the government would provide full support and cooperation for it.
He sought cooperation of the delegates to impart training in agriculture, bio-sciences, animal husbandry especially in developing disease resistant varieties of animal breed and other fields where the University has strong presence.
Badal also laid thrust on imparting vocational education to the students through bilateral tie-up with the twin motive of stamping out unemployment and providing a pool of skilled manpower to cope up with the need of local industry.
The Chief Minister asked the Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University and Dean of Punjabi University, who were present on the occasion to finalise the modalities of academic collaboration with the visiting delegation.
During the meeting, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Edward Pek and Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Hely of Nottingham Trent University said that they were eager to collaborate with Punjab in the field of academics.
