AP Govt to establish Universities in all districts: CM

Hyderabad, Sep 21 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today said the State Government has taken up higher education as a challenge and would set up a university in each of the districts.

Dr Reddy said the State would be the first in the country to have a university in each of its districts to meet the changing needs of the global economy and the Indian society, in addition to Health, Technical, Law and Vedic Universities. 'Knowledge Revolution' is sweeping the world and the need of the hour was to take up the task of building quality manpower, he added.

The Chief Minister said the government has set up as many as 17 Universities in the last three years in different districts. The State now has 42 universities and realising the importance of skill-based education in the changing scenario, the Government would start 22 additional Polytechnic colleges from this academic year, he added.

Dr Reddy said the government has set up Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) with three IIIT campuses in different regions of the State. It had also provided Rs 320 crore budgetary support during 2008-09 and during the next six years Rs 3,600 crore would be allocated for the three centres, he added.

Realising the importance of communication skills for students, he said the government has made it mandatory for all colleges to set up language laboratories. It has set up 'Jawahar Knowledge Centres'(JKC) to improve the skills of the students and to gain employment in IT, ITES and other service sectors, he added.

The Chief Minister said the government would also provide quality IT education to rural youth.

UNI BR KVV RJ RAI2108