Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Shri Prakash Javadekar addressed the 31st Convocation of Goa University at Panaji, Goa. Governor Smt Mridula Sinha, Vice Chancellor and Professor Varun Sahani were also present on this occasion.

Union HRD Minister informed that Report of K Kasturirangan Committee is ready and the Government will declare National Education Policy very soon. 

The minister also declared that National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) will also be applicable for small universities. Government is trying to upscale and give new directions to the education system.  

Quality, Research and Innovation are the three pillars on which government is focusing. The priority of government is ‘Outcome based education’. 

For upscaling accreditation system, Shri Prakash Javadekar asked IITs and IIMs to be part of NAAC Accreditation in every five years. Government has taken initiatives like Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), ‘National Digital Library’, ‘Atal Tinkering Labs’ and ‘Smart India Hackathon’ for college students. Now 23 lakh students and general public are learning from ‘SWAYAM’. Through National Digital Library 1 crore 65 lakh books are available. 

The world’s largest hackathon, Smart India Hackathon’ is a unique innovation which is getting tremendous response. It will create an innovation culture without innovation we can’t generate money, said Shri Prakash Javadekar. 

Governor Smt. Mridula Sinha also appealed to the students to take care of parents and to become a good citizen. She added cleanliness is another aspect on which we all have to pay attention. 

For the very first time in the history of Goa University, 10,000 students were conferred degrees. Among them 8,313 are Bachelor Degree holders, 1,625 are Masters Degree holders and 39 are Ph.D. holders.