‘Mumbai varsity must be in world’s top 100’

Though the PM did not make any announcement on the university’s proposal to grant it the status of a national university, academicians within the university emphasised that Singh’s announcement to establish 30 Central universities across the country “was as good as a national status and the university will push for the same”.

Highlighting the contribution of the university, the Prime Minister said in his own discipline of economics, the university has left a “lasting imprint” through the works of economists such as Prof C N Vakil, Prof P R Brahmananda, Prof D T Lakdawala and Prof M L Dantwala. While the PM stressed on the need to revamp higher education and focus on establishing international standards of excellence, Mumbai University Vice-Chancellor Vijay Khole said the time had come to look offshore and establish campuses abroad and “embrace required global dimensions”.

Endorsing the university’s vision to establish a good industry-academia linkage, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said the national oil companies of India will “sponsor an endowment chair on petroleum and research fellowships in the oil sector and hydrocarbon” as an initial beginning.

“Mumbai University must expand its geographical spread and my plea to the state Government is to allot plots for educational purposes and, more importantly, such plots should not be diverted for other purposes,” said Deora.

State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the greatest challenge that universities face now is to enhance the employability of students in each faculty.

Seconded Maharashtra Governor and University Chancellor S M Krishna: “The state alone has a four million population who are educated yet unemployed and the number is probably 10 times higher for the country. This highlights the severe shortage of skilled manpower.”