President Pranab Mukherjee said here on Saturday that future universities will have to establish linkages with various stakeholders in the society."The requirement of today's educational system is to focus on innovation and research. It is also essential to establish linkages between innovation and the market. Future universities must establish strong linkages with various stakeholders in society," Mukherjee said.The President was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day international conference, "Universities of the Future: Knowledge, Innovation and Responsibility", at the O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) here."Unless we have strong foundations of basic research, our futuristic university plans will be seriously jeopardised," he said."we will also have to provide a competent skilled workforce and an interface between education and industry should be established." "Another necessity of the modern universities is to have a chain of inspired teachers who can ignite the minds of students and encourage them to think out of the box," he stressed.
Mukherjee said that young boys and girls should be encouraged to have problem-solving minds so as to solve problems through their ingenuity.The three-day conference seeks to examine the future of the Indian universities in the 21st century and will have thirteen thematic panels with engaging content and discourse. Thematic sessions at the international forum are devoted to important themes surrounding research, knowledge creation and publications, innovation, regulation, policymaking, financing of universities and internationalisation of higher education.Subject specific sessions at the conference will also focus on areas of science and technology, medicine, law, management, social sciences and humanities, journalism, international affairs and public policy.The forum is expected to create higher education opportunities for the future generation of students to pursue good education in India.