North-Eastern Hill University signed MoUs with nine organizations to strengthen the research activities in the University

On a historic day for North-Eastern Hill University, today signed MoUs with nine (9) organisations, which included Universities, institutes of research and higher learning, and start-up industries to strengthen the research activities in the University.

The MoU signing ceremony was graced by the Governor of Meghalaya, Satya Pal Malik, who is also the Chief Rector of the University. The event saw the celebration of National Teacher’s day and the signing of MoUs.

The Chief Guest of the occasion, while presenting his speech praised the Vice-Chancellor of NEHU, Prof. Shukla for the work he has done in the past year to raise the status and prestige of NEHU. He congratulated the Vice-Chancellor for being instrumental in bringing so many collaborations at once to NEHU which is the need of the present times.

 He further stated that in today’s time, research is the key to solving a lot of problems and evolving into a self-sufficient nation. However, because of the lack of collaboration, growth is not being observed.

Giving the example of Patna University, which was at one time called the Oxford of East, the Governor stated that the quality of research has gone down in Indian institutes and Universities which is evident from the fact that only 10 to 12 Nobel Laureates are Indians, half of whom are foreign citizens, and a few are Indian-born but foreign-born, like Mother Teresa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Governor also stressed the point that the government should work on investing more in education and that any education bill passed in parliament without any debate, which is a shame as education builds the next generation and the nation.

Citing an example from Great Britain, the Governor stated that the British government never reduces the budget for education and the same should be done in India.

The Governor, in his concluding remarks, wished the teaching fraternity of NEHU a happy teacher’s day and congratulated the Vice-Chancellor and his team on signing MoUs with reputed institutes and industries.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla in his speech stated that it is indeed an event to be remembered wherein NEHU is getting into collaborations with nine organizations which will be remembered for times to come.

The Vice-Chancellor also said that MoUs will provide ample scope for NEHU as well as the participating institutes and industries to collaborate on cutting-edge technologies to bring about change in academia and the way of doing research.

He exhorted on the point that the MOUs focus on key areas of cooperation like academic, scientific, and academia-industry-business cooperation between NEHU and these institutions, universities, and industries in terms of collaborative programs and other academic exchanges.

The Vice-Chancellor, while addressing the audience mentioned the importance of NEP 2020 in collaborating with different organizations for collaborative work. He also stressed the point that to step up our collaboration in innovation, technology, and research with other universities, institutes, and industries, NEHU has been attracting both nationally and internationally renowned R&D institutions and universities to the university, which has been evident in the past six months with the visit of foreign delegates and officials to the university campus, paving the way for collaborations.

Representatives from all nine organisations were present, which also marked the celebration of Teachers’ Day.