Jammu, Nov 4 : Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday set a six-month deadline for universities across Jammu and Kashmir to roll out the “Design Your Degree” (DYD) programme, calling for major academic reforms, integration of artificial intelligence and greater collaboration among higher educational institutions.
Chairing a high-level meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir Higher Education Council (JKHEC) at Lok Bhavan, attended by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the Lieutenant Governor stressed that initiatives undertaken by the Council must now translate into measurable outcomes benefiting students.
“The time has now come to translate Higher Education Council initiatives into tangible achievements, while ensuring that every student benefits from outcome-oriented asset utilization,” Sinha said.
The meeting discussed a roadmap for strengthening higher education, with particular emphasis on academic excellence, research, innovation and restructuring undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Lieutenant Governor directed universities to implement the Design Your Degree programme within six months and encouraged institutions to share academic credits, research laboratories and other resources to improve educational opportunities.
He emphasised that transforming higher education into a comprehensive and future-ready system required coordinated efforts, institutional reforms and long-term planning.
“Transforming higher education in Jammu Kashmir into a comprehensive, holistic, and visionary system is a shared responsibility,” he said.
The Council also discussed the modalities for constituting a task force to integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and data science into undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.
Sinha stressed the need to introduce emerging technologies into academic programmes while ensuring that local languages and cultural heritage remain integral to the learning process.
He called for stronger collaboration among universities, observing that successful implementation of educational reforms would depend on institutional coordination and effective utilisation of available resources.
Vice Chairman of the Higher Education Council, Prof Dinesh Singh, called for policy directions to align undergraduate and postgraduate curricula with the Design Your Degree framework.
Vice Chancellors and Council members presented suggestions on implementing the programme and advancing reforms envisaged under NEP 2020.
The meeting also reviewed ongoing higher education initiatives, Engineering Kitchens, entrepreneurship programmes, budgetary allocations and proposed reforms in the fund allocation mechanism.
Minister for Higher Education Shamim Firdous, Acting Chief Secretary Shailendra Kumar, JKHEC Vice Chairman Prof Dinesh Singh, Commissioner Secretary Higher Education Ram Niwas Sharma and Vice Chancellors of universities across Jammu and Kashmir attended the meeting.
Directors of IIT Jammu, IIM Jammu and NIT Srinagar, along with representatives from IIT Bombay and Delhi University, were also present. (KNS)
