FICCI Overall Excellence Award for Manipal University

MANIPAL: Manipal University has been presented the overall excellence award at the 10 ^thFederation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Higher Education Summit 2014 in New Delhi recently.
FICCI has instituted this and other awards to recognize and felicitate the achievements of individuals and institutions to encourage higher education in the country.M Damodaran, former Chairman of SEBI, UTI and IDBI was the chairperson of the Jury.
Pro Chancellor, Dr H.S.Ballal and Pro Vice Chancellor, Dr H Vinod Bhat received the award on behalf of Manipal University. The two-day meet with the theme, Higher Education Vision 2030: Making it Happen' was inaugurated by Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Smriti Irani.
Delivering the theme address, Mr. T V Mohandas Pai, Chairman, FICCI Higher Education Committee said private sector would have an 80 per cent share of students by 2030. This massive expansion is estimated to need a funding of over INR 800,000 crore ($133 b) at current costs. Given this vision and the challenges it gives rise to, Mr. Pai said, "There is a need to empower all our universities by giving them full autonomy -- academic, administrative and financial. We must create a 21 ^stcentury architecture for our regulations based on transparency, respect for autonomy and acceptance of diversity based on principles of open systems.
Nikki Randhawa Haley, Governor of South Carolina, USA, said the US and India were natural allies in strengthening the education system and improving the quality of life. "We hope to see a deepening of the student exchange programme with India and I see a bright future for this country," she also said that South Carolina would always look to support partnerships in education with India.
Greg Clark, Minister of State for Universities, Science and Cities, UK in his address announced that the British Government had initiated a programme under which 25,000 young people would be sent to India to study in the next five years. "The first batch of students will reach India next summer," he said.