Date: May 21, 2022
(Hindi Version) (Khasi Version)
The XXVII Convocation of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong was held on the 21st May, 2022 at NEHU, Permanent Campus, Shillong. The Chief Guest for the occasion was Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, who conferred degrees to the passing out students for the year 2020 and 2021. He was joined by Meghalaya Chief Minister Shri. Conrad K. Sangma as the Guest of Honour and the Vice- Chancellor, Tripura University, Prof. Ganga Prasad Prasain.
Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, Vice-Chancellor, NEHU, Shillong presided over the convocation ceremony. The State Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui also attended the convocation. Apart from the dignitaries and special guests, many students, parents, faculty members as well as non-teaching staff also attended the event. During the ceremony, the academic procession was led by the Registrar in-charge of the University, Prof. Saurabh Kumar Dixit, who declared the Convocation open with due permission from the Vice-Chancellor. A total of 15,955 degrees were awarded during the convocation, that included 117 Ph.D, 8 M.Phil., 1559 PG degrees, and 14,271 Bachelor’s degrees.
During the occasion, the welcome address was delivered by Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, Vice-Chancellor who heartily welcomed all the dignitaries on the dais. The Vice-chancellor welcomed Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Education and expressed his thankfulness to him for gracing the convocation ceremony. He informed that Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, who is popularly known as "Ujjwala Bhai”, as Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, launched many key initiatives focussing on reskilling and upskilling the manpower in the country, focusing on bridging the skill gap for the youth. Prof. Shukla also conveyed his heartiest congratulations to all the graduates who were present, and to those who received the degrees in absentia, to all the parents for their sacrifices, to all faculty members for their timely mentoring and to all staff of the university for their contributions in making the university as a Centre for academic excellence and greater achievements, thereby maintaining the status of the University over decades. The Vice-Chancellor also acknowledged the remarkable contribution of Prof. Badaplin War in the fields of literature and education who has been conferred Padma Shri Award by the President of India on the eve of the Republic Day 2022. The Vice-Chancellor was hopeful that under the able leadership of the Education Minister, higher education will witness a key change and turning point in the country.
The Vice-Chancellor further added that NEHU boasts of a long legacy, but what has remained and will remain constant is its focus on excellence and innovation in research and education. NEHU has maintained a trajectory of steady and sustained growth since its inception in 1973. In its 49 years of existence, NEHU has been able to retain its position as one of the major Universities in India in the area of higher education and research, achieving honours and distinctions. The University’s growth has been astounding in terms of its infrastructure, departments, new courses and programmes in 76 affiliated colleges and recognized institutions.
He emphasised on how the academic output involving research activities of the faculty during 2020–2021 has been satisfactory with approximately 674 publications in journals of national/international repute including books, book chapters and conference proceedings.
In his speech, the Vice-Chancellor took the opportunity to recognize Prof. Badaplin War, Department of Khasi Language, NEHU, who had been awarded Padma Shri by the President of India on the eve of the Republic Day for her contributions in the fields of literature and education this year.
About his tenure of almost eight months as the Vice-Chancellor of NEHU, he stated that “As Head of this family, he is committed for the welfare of each and every stakeholder. We exist for our students. In the hands of our students, lies the future of our university and the country.”
He further added that “ever since, he has taken the charge of the Vice-Chancellor, he has maintained direct communication with the teaching and non- teaching fraternity of the University. We have tried to understand their problems.”
The Vice-Chancellor putting a point on the ongoing problem of recruitment re-iterated “Long pending CAS promotions have also been solved. Advertisements for direct recruitments both in teaching and non-teaching positions were done and new appointments will be realized soon which will further strengthen our human resources. I am getting wholehearted support from all of you in this endeavour.”
On the research front, he added that “Through the dialectic of discussion within the different schools of studies in NEHU, interdisciplinary research is being carried out in Biosciences, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences. Lot of departments have proposed new projects and we are trying to get new funds from various quarters. NEHU has always been known for contributing immensely to research and quality teaching which has been our strong hold.”
The Vice-Chancellor also gave a detailed position of NEHU on different MoUs being initiated and signed to consolidate the position of NEHU further, not only at the national but also at the international level we have to be industrious. He mentioned that NEHU has signed MOUs with Research for Resurgence Foundation, Nagpur, Centre for Adivasi Research And Development, Bhubaneswar and RTI, Shillong to work together with mutual collaboration in various programmes to achieve desirable objectives in connection with capacity building and skill enhancement of the disadvantaged communities and marginalized sections of the society.
He also exhorted the University fraternity on collaborating with International Institutes and Universities for which recently the Office of International Affairs (OIA) was established to look after all international academic relations with partnering Governments, Institutions, and other relevant bodies. The OIA will be acting as a single-window facilitation office for the whole university in all matters of international cooperation. As an initial work, a university wide Indo-US collaboration under an AICTE scheme is being worked out.
“The international collaborations bring the opportunities for our students to visit foreign universities for research exposure”, he said. He mentioned that students from NEHU were on tour earlier to Japan under the student exchange programme ‘IRIS’ a youth invitation scheme of Japan government. He recalled “The Ambassador of Republic of Korea to the Republic of India, visited NEHU and dwelt at length on possible collaborations in wide- ranging fields, especially on academic and economic front.”
He also mentioned about the various visits of the Foreign dignitaries to NEHU. MOUs are also signed between NEHU and Chulalongkom University, Thailand. Visits of French Consul, US Consul General were arranged to encourage Exchange Programmes and Research Collaborations on multi-lateral subjects touching upon research and academic exchange in the fields of space, energy, quantum computation, literature, language and social sciences etc. He also spoke about the plan for collaboration with Erasmus which is currently under progress.
University also has a very strong alumni base. Lot of our alumni have achieved remarkable success and have held the highest positions in their respective areas. We shall ensure that our alumni work with us hand in hand to take the University to greater heights. I am strengthening the NEHU alumni association in this direction.
About the promotion of industry related activities the Vice-Chancellor said that an IPR Cell with a quest to bridge the gap between academic activities and ever-dynamic requirement of the University and industry is also established. This interface will promote the collaboration among academicians-industrialists to develop state-of-the–art manpower for socio economic development under the present competitive global scenario.
The Vice-Chacellor spoke at length about the reservation policies and upliftment of the weaker section and mentioned that NEHU has already taken steps to implement the decision of the Central Government regarding reservation to the economically weaker section of the General Category in our University. He mentioned that the university has requested the Central Govt. to provide the necessary financial assistance for infrastructural development under EWS scheme. In the last 9 months, communications have been made with the UGC, Ministry of Education along with different ministries of Central Government besides the Government of Meghalaya regarding financial assistance under several schemes for the University.
The Vice-Chancellor also announced the signing of MoU with Dr. Ambedkar Foundation on 22nd April 2022 for setting up of Dr. Ambedkar Centre of Excellence (DACE) for training SC students for UPSC Civil services exam duly endorsed and nominated by the Govt of Meghalaya. Further NEHU has also proposed for one Tagore Cultural Complex at NEHU for the state of Meghalaya.
For the implementation of NEP 2020, the Vice-Chancellor informed the masses that task forces and sub-committees have been formed and MOOC and SWAYAM Coordinators, for all the Departments in various Schools have been identiï¬ÂÂÂÂÂed. For the implementation of LOCF and MEE in the colleges, principals of all aï¬?liated colleges are involved through the College Development Council (CDC) of the university. As per the current government policy, the new pattern of education is described as 5+3+3+4. It will now be even more skill-based after implementation of NEP 2020, wherein students will get the opportunity to not only study theoretical subjects but also apply their experiential learning.
The Vice-Chancellor also took the opportunity of the mass gathering of Convocation in announcing that NEHU will be celebrating its golden jubilee year in 2023 with the tagline: “5 Decades of NEHU: A legacy of achievement.”
He put forward the goal for future and imagining the endless possibilities of what NEHU can achieve working together to be:
Meghalaya Chief Minister Shri. Conrad K. Sangma, during his speech as the Guest of Honour, congratulated all the recipients and wished them the very best in the their future. He too welcomed the Chief Guest and thanked him on behalf of the citizens of the state and the students for exempting affiliated colleges of NEHU from the purview of CUET. The Chief Minister informed that while on his way to NEHU, the Education Minister stopped the vehicle to listen to the issues of some groups who had assembled, and was involved at the grassroot level to understand the problems of the youths. The Chief Minister opined that the youths should be given opportunities to follow their passion, and engage them for channelising their energy on at least one skill which they can learn. He also emphasised upon the youths to remember the larger goal in life and to take calculated risks at the right time and right age so as to reach the next level. He urged the students neither to get discouraged by failure nor let success get into their heads.
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education during his convocation address, wished all the passing out students all success in life. He added that universities are a melting pot of ideas where students come with their own ideas which become productive entities, and NEHU successfully fulfils this duty in this regard. He also highlighted in his address that the PM has emphasized that all local and regional languages are equally important and all are national languages of the country, which is also an important feature of NEP 2020. He emphasised that new ideas of freedom and innovation germinate in universities, where technological, scientific and social science research is carried out for fulfilment of aspirations and welfare of the society. He further urged the students to opt out of government jobs and stated that though it may not sound pleasant, the students must strive to be job creators and should take responsibility for the society and thereby contribute.
2024, North-Eastern Hill University
Designed & developed at Bioinformatics Centre, NEHU
