Minister of State for HRD, Shri. Sanjay Dhotre and Higher Education Minister of Ireland Ms. Mary Mitchell O' Connor, met virtually to launch 10,000 free seats of LetzConnect Virtual University, for underprivileged students across India, as part of the AICTE-MHRD NEAT scheme.
The event was attended by dignitaries from AICTE, including AICTE Chairman Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Vice Chairman Prof. M. P. Poonia, Chief Coordinating Officer Mr. Buddha Chandrasekar and Assistant Director Dr. Elangovan Kariappan, Mr. Rahul Sharma, President WWPS, Amazon and LetzConnect's Founder & CEO, Mr. Praveen Ganesh among others.
The two Ministers also discussed possibilities for collaboration on education technology for the betterment of students in both nations.
AICTE Chairman Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe spoke about the National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT), stating that it is a Public-Private Partnership model between AICTE and Ed-Tech companies. NEAT will benefit students, thereby enhancing their employability skills, bridge their learning gaps, and enhance employability.
NEAT was conceptualized to bring the best technological solutions in education pedagogy to the existing students and youth of the country. The Artificial Intelligence-based portal helps the learners get a personalized learning experience. NEAT also has a scheme for providing free seats to students of economically and socially weaker sections of society. Nearly one lakh students registered on NEAT portal so far.
LetzConnect Virtual University solution is presently being enabled across colleges and universities in India to help institutes to function virtually, especially for communication and administration, assignments & projects management, proctored examinations, learning management system and online classrooms.
The Irish Education Minister also mentioned that LetzConnect's NEAT approved product is presently working well with multiple Irish institutions, and further discussed possible collaboration with AICTE on distance learning and the postgraduate degree programs offered by Irish Universities.
The strategic meeting happens at a very crucial juncture during the COVID shut down period, where India is still under lockdown.
Praveen Ganesh founder at Letzconnect technologies mentioned that “The education sector is evolving into a blended online offline way, aspects that can be carried out online and which do not need an offline intervention will eventually move the online way. Many colleges in India and across the globe are adopting the NEAT Product Letzconnect ‘Virtual University’ way to enable their institution to function seamlessly.”