Higher education must be more attentive to ethics: Pallam Raju

Higher education must pay more attention to helping students understand how to lead ethical and fulfilling lives, Union HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju said.

Delivering the 22nd Annual JRD Tata Ethics Oration on Business Ethics organised by XLRI School of Management here Raju delved on three different facets that were linked to ethics - education, business and politics.

He said one could not say that higher education has demonstrated a deep concern for the problem of ethics. Even in business education, strong ethics could help counteract a narrowing world view that often accompanied a students progression through business school, he said, admitting that the introduction of business ethics did not stop financial crisis from occurring and affecting the world.

The minister appreciated that XLRI was the first B-school in the country to introduce a core course on 'Managerial Ethics' and that a medal was awarded to the best student in managerial ethics at its annual convocation. He also said that the country has made remarkable progress following the implementation of Right to Education Act.

"Today, we have 70 to 74 per cent literacy rate, which is 66 per cent among women, and over 700 universities and 35,000 colleges in the country while the students enrolment is around 20 million, but we have to focus more to achieve universal quality education," Raju said.

He inaugurated the new International Centre at XLRI, where the second semester of the global management course by XLRI, Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western University, Cleveland (USA) and School of Economics and Management of Tongji University, Shanghai China would begin from January 10.

PTI

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