President Pranab Mukherjee has stressed the need to promote culture of excellence in the education system. Speaking at the Convocation of Sido Kanhu Murmu University at Dumka in Jharkhand today, the President asked HRD Ministry, the UGC and the Universities to work together in close collaboration.

AIR Correspondent reports that President Pranab Mukherjee today outlined the major challenges before our education system with specific data. For example, on the issue of overall excellence, there is not a single Indian University in the world top 200, and only 11 in top 300 Asian Universities.

Similarly in the field of research and innovations, only 0.4 percent of graduates peruse P.hD later, and in 2010 only six thousand patents were filed in India, while in the same period, China had three lakhs patents, in Germany one lakh seventy thousands, Japan saw four lakhs fifty thousands patents and in the US, it was four lakhs twenty thousands. India with world’s 17 percent population had mere 0.3 percent share in patents and innovations. Citing all these, the President called upon all concerned to improve upon the present education system.