Chandigarh University Hosts ‘3rd Bharat Higher Education Summit’; Education Leaders Call for Universities to Lead India's Journey Towards Viksit Bharat 2047
Positioning itself at the centre of
India's higher education transformation, Chandigarh University hosted ‘3rd
Bharat Higher Education Summit 2026’, bringing together more than 200 Vice
Chancellors, policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, diplomats and
international education experts from India and across the world to deliberate
on the transformative role of universities in shaping India's journey towards
becoming a developed nation by 2047.
The two-day Summit featured high-level
discussions on the future of universities, internationalization of higher
education, Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies, research and
innovation, industry-academia collaboration, employability, entrepreneurship, sustainability,
global partnerships and implementation of transformative educational reforms.
Former Union Minister for Information
and Broadcasting and Member of Parliament (MP) Anurag Thakur presided over the
event as Chief Guest and Bhaskar Chatterjee, former Secretary, Ministry of
Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises was the guest of honour.
The Summit also witnessed the
participation of several eminent personalities from academia, government and
industry including Dr Rahul V Karad, Founder and Chief Patron, CIPU, Prof (Dr)
VN Rajasekharan Pillai, former Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC), Deepinder
Singh Sandhu, Senior Managing Director, Chandigarh University, R Karthik,
Director General, CIPU and Prof (Dr) Raviraja N Seetharam, Vice Chancellor,
Chandigarh University.
During the summit, panel discussions
were also held on themes ‘From Knowledge to National Wealth: Universities as
Drivers of Innovation, Start-ups and Industrial Competitiveness’, on ‘Building
Human Capital for Viksit Bharat 2047 - Transforming Universities for Skills,
Employability and Future Work’ and on ‘What Industry Expects from Universities
in Viksit Bharat 2047’.
Later, a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) was signed between the Confederation of Indian Private Universities
(CIPU) and International Automobile Centre of Excellence (iACE), Gujarat, to
strengthen industry-academia collaboration and foster skill development, innovation
and industry-aligned learning opportunities.