State needs more higher education,research institutes: Buddha

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today stressed that there is a need for more centres of excellence of higher education in West Bengal to boost science and technology education and research in the state.

“There are 18 universities in West Bengal of which some are doing good work. We also have Indian Statistical Institute (ISI),Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and other such institutes… but we want more and more such institutes,” the Chief Minister said at a felicitation programme of Sanghmitra Banerjee,the ISI professor who was awarded Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for 2010.

The chief minister said before independence,the state was the frontrunner in terms of science and technology developments in the country.

He said the building of the first Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) is coming up at Kalyani. He further said the state government has not encouraged private universities in the state except those institutes which are involved in research like Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology.