Mittal announces establishment of ‘Institute of Excellence’

Jalandhar, October 15, 2013: Punjab Technical University (PTU) held its 11th Convocation Ceremony at its sprawling campus on Jalandhar-Kapurthala highway. Doctoral, Post Graduate and Graduate degrees were awarded to students from across various disciplines ranging from engineering to hotel management. Dr. Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, PTU welcomed the chief guests Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for Technical Education, Government of Punjab; Arjun Malhotra, entrepreneur & pioneer of the Indian IT revolution (co-founder of HCL Group); and Sunil Kant Munjal, Joint Managing Director of Hero MotoCorp, and Chairman, Board of Governors, PTU.
On 11th convocation, PTU is awarding degrees to 26 graduates, 34 post graduates, 1 PG Diploma Holder, 30 doctorates in regular courses and 28 graduates, 28 post graduates in distance education.
Madan Mohan Mittal highlighted the need for quality education in Indian universities. He expressed his concern about the fact that no Indian University, as per an international survey, is ranked within top 200 universities in the world. “Punjab should become the global hub for higher education. Even if you take an average expenditure of Rs 1.5 lakhs per student per year, for seeking higher education, and if Punjab is able to attract 50,000 students, the revenue earned for the state shall be Rs 750 crore per year. This shall not just improve the education system of the state but shall have a very positive impact on Punjab’s GDP as well, of nearly Rs 1000 per capita,” said Mittal. With the objective of turning Punjab into a global hub for higher education, an Institute of Excellence is being established by PTU. Madan Mohan Mittal promised complete support of the state government towards the same.
Arjun Malhotra was awarded a Doctorate degree, Honoris Causa for his outstanding achievements and contribution to the technology domain by PTU. Arjun Malhotra in his address spoke about the journey – campus life to workplace, the need for interpersonal skills and striking a rapport with fellow workers besides technical skills to be successful, work-life balance as an important aspect and seizing the opportunities as and when they present themselves. Later in the day, all the aforementioned guests and the Vice Chancellor had a panel discussion on ‘Emerging India: Opportunities in Technical Education’ and deliberated on as to how the country, and in particular Punjab can become a knowledge society that the world looks up to.  
Dr. Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, PTU, spoke about the developments at the University in the recent past and about his vision for turning Punjab into a global hub for higher education. In a break from colonial legacy this year PTU has successfully indigenized dress code for convocation ceremony.
Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, BoG, PTU said, “Over the last two-three years much excess capacity has been built in technical education sector. In future only those institutes that are in a position to provide quality education in line with the market demand will survive.”
According to Dr. Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, PTU, “We are striving for greater industry-academia collaboration such that PTU graduates become more acceptable by the industry. Besides this we are encouraging them to become entrepreneurs – job givers, rather than job-seekers. As a state, if we keep moving in the right direction, we’ll be able to attract students going abroad for higher studies, and even students from other countries. In the time to come even foreign universities may find collaboration with us purposeful.” Dr. Arora is leading a senior delegation comprising representatives from PTU and Punjab Unaided Technical Institutes Association (PUTIA) to the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) Conference to be held in Chicago from October 20 -22, 2013. He is one of the keynote speakers at the Conference and shall talk about how India, and particularly Punjab as a state, is poised to become the next big global destination for higher studies in the years to come. www.cityairnews.com