Jaipur,
Chief Minister of Rajasthan,Vasundhara Raje inaugurated the campus of Manipal
University Jaipur and other department buildings of Manipal University Jaipur
on 2nd April, 2015. In her inaugural speech she described Manipal University
Jaipur as a magnificent testimony to the vision of Dr Ramdas Pai & the
Manipal Group and applauded them for accepting the State Government invitation
in 2008 and establishing a beautiful University with such a ease in a very
short span of time. Comparing the Manipal Education Group with ancient
Indian knowledge centers of Takshila & Nalanda she said, “Manipal Group has
set new standards in the education sector”. She added, “Manipal University has
certainly gained credit and a name for itself and stands among the top 100
universities of Asia. I am sure this campus too will take its time and
have a rightful place among the best universities of Asia and around the world.”
She said, “Currently Rajasthan has 47 universities with 20 lakh students
enrolled with a GER gross enrolment rate of 20 %. My government wants to put in place a policy
which will take the GER to 50% by 2030. We want to make sure that no young
student in our state is deprived of the opportunity to pursue their dream to
higher education either for want of means or access to Universities.”
She further stated, “We have a good policy allowing private universities
to come and set up in the state many have responded in the last many years. Our
Government alone cannot provide enough opportunities in higher education for
all the youth who want to pursue the same. We need the support of the private
sector.”
In her support for private universities she said, “I am informed that
all over India today 65% of students are educated in private sectors, 3% in
universities by the Central Government and 32% in the State Universities. So
the private sector has to play a role in expanding education opportunities for
our youth.”
She promised that her Govt. is trying their best to increase the
allocation for higher education and further stated that they have just made
education free of cost for the girl child in the State Colleges. She said, “We
have expanded capacity in our State colleges so that more students can get
educated in the future. We will allocate more money for higher education to
meet their demands.”
She expressed, “Our universities are in the dire need of technology. Technology
to give access to the huge quantum of learning from various global
universities. IT system to manage their internal affairs, Wifi in the campus
and connectivity through mobile devices to the web. I believe that one day in
the near future every student in every school and college of Rajasthan will be
connected to the internet so that he/she gets access to knowledge on the web
and becomes a part of worldwide student’s connectivity.” She also added, “We
(Govt.) are looking at proposals to set up a MOOCS on a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) with our universities for the state for this purpose,
obviously, all this needs good teachers and our country is short of good
teachers. We have many unfulfilled posts for good teachers in our universities
both due to lack of enough money and availability of good teachers. Government
of India has now set up a system of tests to appoint teachers”.
She assured that the State govt. plans to set up the overseas education
council as a group to interact with universities overseas and to get more
scholarships for students to study overseas, build relationship between
overseas universities and our universities for student exchange program,
faculty exchange program, research programs which will be an enabling body for
this purpose. She expressed her desire to make Rajasthan among the top 5
Industrial States.
On this occasion she awarded Padam Bhushan Dr. Ramdas Pai with GRIHA
Five star Certificate award to MUJ and congratulated Dr.Pai, Dr. Ranjan Pai,
Padamshree T.V.Mohandas Pai, Mr. Abhay
Jain, Prof Sandeep Sanchti and all the Group members for being the first
University to attain this feat.
Guest of Honour for the event Union Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh
Prabhu in his inaugural speech appreciated that the Universities under Manipal
Group has produced many global leaders including CEO of Microsoft and Nokia. He
added, “Manipal Group has certainly stolen a march over the IITs in India. He
expressed his delight on knowing that students from 100 countries study in
Manipal University and 20% of the doctors of Malaysia have been educated in
Manipal.
He compared the infrastructure of Manipal University Jaipur with
international Universities which he visited in his official visits to different
countries. He reiterated that the NDA government, under the able PM, Shri Narendra
Modi, has focused on higher education to empower our youth and create
conditions for them to realize their dreams.
Speaking about his
ministry he said that the govt. is working with a vision of creating a railway
system that binds country together, expands manifold, creates low cost carriage
of goods and people built on safety and technology and make the industry
competitive. The Indian Railway will invest around 8,50,000 Crores for the
expansion of its capacity and have already signed an agreement with LIC of
1,50,000 crores for next five years. He added that Indian Railways is the
biggest revenue generator and can be termed as ‘heart’ of Indian Economy. He
expressed his concern that China has 3 railway Universities but we lack the
same. He stated that Railway budget has proposed to establish Chairs in Higher
Education Universities and look at possibilities of Railway System and
specialized universities to cater to the needs. He extended his wishes to Manipal
University Jaipur to be a standing example of 21st Century India
both in quality & output.
Hon’ble Minister for
Higher Education Rajasthan, Kalicharan Saraf applauded the Manipal Group
and specifically MUJ for their achievements of educational excellence in
Rajasthan and for providing high quality education. MP Jaipur, Shri Ramcharan
Bohra and Bagru MLA Kailash Verma extended their best wishes to Manipal
University Jaipur. Prof. Sandeep
Sancheti, President MUJ welcomed the dignified guests and informed about the
University activities with expressing his gratitude towards the guest for
accepting the invitation and making the event historical.
The event took off with
lamp Lighting ceremony. All Guest were given floral welcome and mementos. During
the course of events the guests performed the planting of tree sapling in
campus and inaugurated the Yoho students hostel, Foodcourt, Gym, University
Dispensary and released the University Newsletter “MUJ Times”. The Chief Guest
also cut the Limca Book of Records registered Cake prepared by students of MUJ
Hotel Management. The Chief guest were presented a Sari designed
by Fashion Design students of MUJ. The Solar Power plant at University was also
inaugurated with switching on the button by CM, Vasundhara Raje, Padama Bhushan
Dr.Ramdas Pai, Padama Shree Mohan Das Pai.
The program concluded
with the Chief Guest felicitating Architect Hafeez Contractor, Mr.Pawan Kumar,
Mr.Abdul Kalam, and supporting institutions KNK NEXGEN Construction Private
Limited, Span Enterprises, CB Craft Interior, Sobha Limited, Shree Cement
Limited, Kajaria Ceramics Limited, ThyssenKrupp Elevator (India) Private
Limited, 10. UltraTech Cement Limited
(Unit: Birla White-GRC), Siddhi Vinayak Infrarealcon Private Limited, Prime
Telecom Services, Sana Build Tech Private Limited, Devi Construction
Company, Deetya Management &
Construction Private Limited, CISCO, Diligent PMC (Private) Limited, Khushi
Décor, V S Green Developers, Project Team (Manipal University Jaipur),
Facilities Team (MIS Private Limited), Sika India Private Limited, Buildcon
Consultants Private Limited for providing their relentless high-end services to
the Manipal University Jaipur.