Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurates ‘FICCI Higher Education Summit 2025’; FICCI Higher Education Excellence Awards presented

India’s strength lies in its young, talented and skilled manpower compared to any other nation. “This is a big strength of India and by using this strength, if we are successful in giving them the right education, right skills, then we can move ahead in the world,” remarked Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways. The minister, who inaugurated the two-day ‘FICCI Higher Education Summit 2025’, is one of the most popular inspirational speakers for young audience in the country and is often hailed for transforming India’s road infrastructure and connectivity.

The Minister further stated that higher education institutions should also focus on including and adopting successful innovative technologies in curriculum, practical application to strengthen future planning. The theme of this year’s conference in its 20^th edition, is ‘Higher Education in a Transforming World: Bridging Borders, Building Futures’, is very relevant and higher education must go beyond classes.

The minister emphasized the need for more research-based education as the society needs to understand the problems at the grassroot level for solutions. He suggested that region-based, need-based, district-based, and state-based research is necessary at the practical grassroot level. Educational institutions should research and work on the requirements of particular district or state to get the desired results. “Upgradation of knowledge, relevance of knowledge along with development, and its cost-effective application is imperative. Innovation, entrepreneurship, science, technology, research, skill and successful practices, are all knowledge and conversion of knowledge into wealth is the future,” he added.

Speaking on the EVs, Mr Gadkari, India’s EV market today stands at 3^rd position with a market size of Rs 22 lakh crore. “I have urged all automobile companies to work in the direction of becoming number one in next 5 years and Hydrogen is the fuel for the future. We need to find domestic alternative to our imports and knowledge along with technology is crucial in finding domestic alternatives,” he emphasized.

Speaking on the India’s road and highways, he said that practical based research is important in reducing cost and waste to wealth is the key. “We have initiated a program under which we aim to use entire segregated solid waste in the country in road construction by 2027, thereby creating a value from the waste.

Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, Chair, FICCI Higher Education Committee and Pro-Chancellor, Symbiosis International said that bridging borders is not just about internationalization, but it is much more. With Ministry’s focus on internationalization through recent regulations, UGC and industry association bodies like FICCI are playing a pivotal role in the rightful execution of transnational education on internationalization. The14 Letter of Intents ( LoIs)for setting up foreign universities in India is a strong move towards it, she added.

Lt Gen (Dr) MD Venkatesh, Co-Chair, FICCI Higher Education Committee & Vice Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education said that “Combining AI and digital learning coupled with industry exposure, research collaboration and global mobility, will be the new order of global higher education,” he added.

During the event, 11^th FICCI Higher Education Excellence Awards were announced along with the release of ‘FICCI-EY Parthenon Knowledge Report ‘Future-Ready Campuses: Unlocking the Power of AI in Higher Education’, There were 15 Institutional Awards and 3 individual winners, viz Personality of the Year 2025- Prof (Dr) Ram Gopal Rao, Group VC, BITS Pilani; Lifetime Achievement Award – Mr Shiv Nadar, Chairman Emeritus, HCLTech, Founder & Chairman – Shiv Nadar Foundation;  Legendary Institution Builder-Dr Prof. (Dr.) S B Mujumdar, Founder & President, Symbiosis and Chancellor, Symbiosis International University.