“Reconsidering the changes in higher education for a self-reliant India”. Former President of India Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the three-day National Conference of Vice-Chancellor's on 'Transformational Higher Education for a Self-Reliant India' at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM). The event will be organized by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and USTM, the country's 97-year-old leading institution of higher learning. The 97th Annual General Meeting and 97th Foundation Day of the AIU will be held at the opening ceremony of the conference. The AIU Foundation Day address will be delivered by Padmashri Dr. Vivek Debrai, Chairman, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, Government of India and welcome address will be delivered by USTM Acharya Shri Mahbubul Haque. The AIU President and Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, Professor Suranjan Das will deliver the presidential address.

There will be an interface between heads of top organizations with international delegates and the speakers are, Dr. Abhay Jere, Vice President, AICTE; Dr. R. C. Agarwal, DDG, I.S. C.S. A. R, Dr Ponmudiraj, Advisor, NAAC, Prof. Bhola Thapa, Vice-Chancellor, Kathmandu University, Nepal; Aditya Malkani, Regional Director, ACU. Governor of Assam Gulab Chand Kataria will deliver a speech at the closing ceremony of the third day of the conference. The guests of honor at the closing ceremony were Atul Kothari, National Secretary, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas; Shri Rakkam A. Changma, Minister of Education, Meghalaya, and Dr. Nani Gopal Mohanty, Education Advisor, Government of Assam. The conveners of the meeting are Dr Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities and Professor GD Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, AIU and Vice-Chancellor, USTM.

 The conference will begin at noon on March 23rd and run through March 25th. The conference session topics include: Internationalization: Modes of Engagement; Minimum government: Maximum governance and what it means for universities; promotion of Indian languages; reforms for holistic education; Creating an environment, knowledge, and workplace for the future of research, excellence and education. Directors of AICT, NAAC, ICAR, ACU, IIIT etc. will participate. Heads of about 300 higher education institutions and several foreign policy makers will participate in the conference online.