Realising the importance of quality teachers, the University Grants Commission has taken steps to set up an Inter-University Centre of Teacher Education at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh during the current 12th Five Year Plan, a top UGC official said on Wednesady.

The centre, to be set up at a cost of Rs 300 crore, would cater to the requirements of south India, UGC Vice-Chairman H Devaraj said delivering the 47th convocation address at the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) here.

Besides, UGC had introduced Faculty Recharge Programme in the 11th Five Year Plan to improve the quality of teachers. As many as 104 teachers had been selected under this programme.

This would address some of the problems faced by the universities in terms of quality faculty shortage. The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development was also trying to improve and transform higher education through Rashtria Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan.

He said institutional mindset had to be transformed facilitating the possibility of fostering cross pollination of various faculties and industry interaction that needed for a proactive initiative to transform higher education.

MKU Vice-Chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan said the university had been identified as one of the 15 institutes in the country to facilitate connect to India programme for undergraduate students drawn from universities and colleges of USA. Tamil Nadu Governor and MKU Chancellor K Rosaiah gave away degrees and medals to meritorious students.