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TEZPUR: The East Zone Vice Chancellors' meet of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) held in the virtual mode was inaugurated on Monday by Governor of Assam and Chancellor of Tezpur University Prof Jagdish Mukhi. Hosted by Tezpur University, the two-day meet was attended by over a hundred Vice Chancellors and Directors of Higher Education Institutions from the East Zone. In his inaugural address, Prof. Mukhi emphasized the role of Higher Education Institutions in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations for the global community to realize by the year 2030. The Governor expressed satisfaction over the fact that three of the 17 SDGs have been picked up for deliberation in the East Zone VCs' meet. They are SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all); SDG 13 (Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts); SDG 14 (Life Below Water: conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development); and SDG 15 (Life on Land: protect, restore and sustainable use of terrestrial eco-systems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss).
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of Tezpur University Prof. V.K. Jain welcomed the participants and guests to the meet and called upon the participating academic leaders to amplify the message of climate change and the required action thereon and train manpower to equip the country for realizing the SDGs. In his address, Col. (Dr.) G Thiruvasagam, President of AIU and Vice Chancellor of AMET University, Chennai, said that the East Zone Vice-Chancellors' Meet would enable the HEIs to develop action points with a focus on teaching, research and community development. Secretary General of AIU Dr. Pankaj Mittal in her address hoped that the East Zone Meet would have deliberations on SDGs 7, 13, 14, and 15, and arrive at a strong action plan which would also aid the HEIs in achieving higher ranks in the world rankings. Prof. Sankar Chandra Deka, Chief Coordinator of the event, offered the vote of thanks on behalf of the host university to all the participants for their overwhelming response. The special issue of the University News of AIU was also released during the inaugural session of the meet.
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