New Delhi,  Higher educational institutions have a major responsibility of transforming the impressionable youth and for this we need to address their aspirations as they are the future leaders in various spheres of life, President Ram Nath Kovind said on Tuesday in New Delhi.

Stating that he was happy to note that 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', commemorating the glorious history of India's freedom movement finds a place in the opening session, Kovind said, "Our institutions of higher learning are central to this, as our young citizens are not only the inheritors of the past, but also the ones who will be leading India into its next golden age."

He was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day conference of Vice-Chancellors of central universities and Directors of institutions of national importance at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The President is a visitor of 161 central institutes of higher education. Of the 161 institutes, 53 attended the conference physically while the rest did it virtually.

In order to achieve larger goals, improving the quality of institutions of higher learning is of vital importance and India should be setting benchmarks for the best in the world, Kovind said, and added that he was happy to note that this year 35 Indian institutions have been ranked in the QS ranking as compared to 29 in 2021.

In the top 300, there are six institutions this year as compared to four during 2021.

He congratulated IISc Director Govindan Rangarajan and his team for a full score of 100 on the 'research' parameter that catapulted it at par with eight highly reputed institutions of the world, including Princeton, Harvard, MIT and Caltech.

Speaking about 'integrating schooling and higher and vocational education', the President said the system should educate in a way that not only enhances knowledge, but also provides the skill to live a fulfilling and useful life.

"School lays the foundation, but this must lead a student to higher or vocational education, meeting both aptitude and aspirations," he added.