Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI), the catalyst nodal agency for promotion of education across the country today held an Open House Discussion that saw participation of senior dignitaries from the Academia, government and the regulatory agency exchange ideas on overcoming various issues challenging the quality of Higher and Technical Education in the state. Dr K Narayana Rao, Member Secretary, AICTE was present at discussion and answered a whole host of queries posed by members from the Academia

Shri R. K Nayak, Secretary, Higher Education, Govt of Orissa, Prof Omkar Nath Mohanty, Vice Chancellor, Biju Patnaik University of Technology, and Dr A Samanta, Chancellor, KIIT were amongst few that were present at the discussion.

Discussing the issue of inadequate educational infrastructure investments by private education players in the state of Orissa, it became apparent that one of the causes of restrained investment was that demand far exceeds supply in Higher and Technical Education by virtue of current faulty central admission process being followed in the institutions in the state. The discussion extended to highlight the disparities in fees decided by the state fee committee across states in the country. Thus, indicating the need for presence of a central directive on institutional quota and fixation of fee that should be promulgated by the AICTE.

Dr R.P Singh, founder member, EPSI emphasized that research and manpower forecasting by industry will go a long way in planning education requirements and thus providing the country relevant and qualitative manpower.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Manohar Chellani, Secretary General, EPSI, said, “There is an urgent need to collectively map the human resource requirements and put forth efforts for streamlining the system, so that skills, knowledge, employability and enterprise evolves and the country is able to meet the globalization requirement and position India as the emerging education hub of the global knowledge economy.”

It was suggested that the apex authority put down uniform norms applicable across the country that not only define institutional quota but also help bring out the national character in the All India Admission process in Higher Education.

Also at the discussion held today, EPSI announced the launch of E-NAT, India’s first online Combined Entrance Examination for admissions to Post Graduate and Undergraduate Programmes including engineering, management and medicine. ENAT is an initiative of EPSI to usher in fair, transparent and unbiased assessment process through an online admission test that will be centrally administered by EPSI.

This is the first such interaction that EPSI is facilitating in the region thus helping the private education players and members from the academia coming together with the regulatory body to discuss the core issue of attaining excellence in higher and technical education. The industry Chambers and representatives of Industries are being invited during the Interactive Session to carve the way forward for fulfilling the human resource requirement of industry.

EPSI, the nodal catalyst agency for the education sector aims at presenting recommendations from this discussion on way forward for achieving directional growth of Education Sector in the country. Important industry bodies such as CII, PHDCCI, ASSOCHAM and Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry have pledged their support to the discussions.

“ Excellence in Technical Education: Issues & Concerns” the issues are of vital concern for one and all as even after 50 years of Independence, Technical Education growth is far behind the expectations. Issues such as regulatory administration, non-transparency, numerous obligations and inspections, lack of quality in education, relevance of education are amongst a few that will be discussed.

EPSI promotes mutual understanding for educational opportunities through exchange of outstanding Scholars, Professionals and enables Research, Lectures, academic Seminars, workshops, training programs and interaction with eminent educationists and education providers. EPSI facilitates International Programs jointly with Indian Partners for creating opportunities through education.

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EPSI is a catalyst nodal agency of the country for promotion of Education covering all fields of education – School, Higher, Vocational and Professional education. EPSI will be the representative body of the academia and education providers that will facilitate interface with industry, government, and statutory bodies and will be involved in promotion of Indian Education across the globe. Some of the focus areas of the society include: Quality Education with Industry interface; Setting standards of quality for education; Exploring globalisation opportunities emerging overseas and within the country; Effective Coordination with regulator for employment oriented academic programs.