pasighat, Aug 10: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday called upon universities in the Northeast to move beyond conventional degree-oriented education and evolve into “problem-solving institutions” capable of addressing the region’s developmental, social, environmental and strategic challenges.
Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day Roundtable of Vice-Chancellors of North-East Universities at the Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) campus in Pasighat, Khandu said the first such roundtable in the region should result in concrete institutional partnerships, actionable ideas and measurable outcomes rather than remain confined to deliberations.
The roundtable, themed “Transforming Higher Education: Innovations, Collaborations and Strategies for a Future-Ready India,” brings together Vice-Chancellors, academicians, experts and representatives of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and RRU.
Khandu said higher education had a particularly important role to play in a young, aspirational and geographically diverse state like Arunachal Pradesh.
“Our universities must prepare our young people not only for employment, but also for entrepreneurship, innovation, research and public service, while nurturing them as responsible citizens,” he said.
He stressed that higher education should respond to Arunachal Pradesh’s distinctive realities, including border area development, tribal communities, biodiversity, climate change, cultural preservation, rural livelihoods, tourism, connectivity and national security.
“Universities should become laboratories where local challenges are converted into research questions and research outcomes are converted into practical solutions,” Khandu said.
He called for stronger partnerships between universities, government departments, industries, defence and security establishments, local communities and civil society in areas such as sustainable agriculture, bamboo and cane, handloom and handicrafts, border development, disaster management, eco-tourism, renewable energy, indigenous knowledge and public health.
The Chief Minister also proposed district-level research and innovation partnerships to enable students and faculty to work directly on community-level problems.
Khandu urged universities to become early adopters of artificial intelligence and digital technologies, proposing AI-enabled academic ecosystems for personalised learning, assessment, research assistance, language technologies and administrative efficiency.
He said AI could have significant applications in Arunachal Pradesh in remote education, multilingual learning, disaster prediction, biodiversity monitoring and healthcare delivery.
Calling for preservation and wider research on indigenous knowledge, Khandu proposed joint digital repositories covering indigenous languages, oral traditions, traditional medicine, crafts and ecological practices, with appropriate safeguards and community ownership.
He also advocated shared digital infrastructure, datasets, laboratories and expertise among universities instead of institutions independently developing similar resources.
On internationalisation, the Chief Minister said universities should look beyond merely sending students abroad and focus on bringing global knowledge, research partnerships, faculty collaborations and international exposure to the region.
He identified climate science, biodiversity, Himalayan studies, tribal studies, disaster management, border studies and sustainable development as areas with significant potential for international academic collaboration.
Khandu urged Northeast universities to develop joint programmes and research partnerships with institutions in South and Southeast Asia, leveraging the region’s strategic position under India’s Act East policy.
He also called for time-bound institutional transformation roadmaps with measurable indicators covering teaching quality, research, innovation, employability, international collaboration and community engagement.
The Chief Minister advocated the establishment of Centres of Excellence for Indigenous Knowledge and Tribal Studies and said indigenous knowledge should not be treated merely as heritage but explored, wherever scientifically appropriate, for contemporary applications and livelihood generation.
He also stressed the need to build stronger university-based startup ecosystems, saying higher education institutions should become incubators of ideas and entrepreneurship rather than merely producing job seekers.
Khandu suggested that universities develop ecosystems connecting innovation, incubation, mentorship, seed funding, intellectual property and market access, particularly in sectors such as tourism, agri-business, food processing, bamboo, handicrafts, textiles, clean energy, digital services and indigenous products.
Referring to the presence of RRU at Pasighat, he described the institution as a strategic opportunity for Arunachal Pradesh and the Northeast. He said the campus could emerge as a regional centre for national security education, research and capacity building.
Potential areas of collaboration with the State Police, Armed Forces, CAPFs and disaster management authorities, he said, include border management, cyber security, drone technology, disaster response, forensic science, counter-terrorism studies, community policing and strategic studies.
Khandu also proposed a Northeast Higher Education Consortium involving universities across the region for joint research, faculty exchange, student mobility, shared laboratories and common digital resources.
To ensure that the roundtable produces tangible outcomes, he suggested that each technical session identify one major challenge, three practical interventions, one lead institution and a clear implementation timeline.
He further proposed that the Vice-Chancellors’ Roundtable be institutionalised as an annual event, with periodic reviews of recommendations and follow-up on decisions.
The Chief Minister reiterated the State Government’s commitment to strengthening partnerships with RRU, AIU and universities across the Northeast in education, research, capacity building and community development.
The two-day roundtable will deliberate on strategies for transforming higher education in the Northeast through innovation, institutional collaboration, research, entrepreneurship, digital transformation and stronger linkages with society and the economy.