Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Governor Abdul Nazeer on Saturday emphasised the urgent need for state universities to improve academic quality and national standing, noting that only Andhra University has secured a place in the top 50 of the NIRF Rankings 2025, while Acharya Nagarjuna University features in the top 100.

Addressing a meeting of vice-chancellors of public universities in Vijayawada, the Governor said the rankings reflect varying levels of academic maturity among the state’s 25 public universities and highlight the need for sustained improvement to bring more institutions into the top 100.

Governor Nazeer said Andhra Pradesh has built a broad higher education ecosystem with increased access through the expansion of universities and colleges. However, he stressed that access must now be matched with quality, which should become an intrinsic institutional culture rather than a compliance exercise. Universities, he said, must promote critical thinking, ethical values and creativity, quoting Swami Vivekananda to emphasise education as a process of igniting minds rather than rote learning.

He called for special focus on students from rural and tribal areas and first-generation learners, stating that equality should be reflected not only in admissions but also in completion rates and life outcomes. While the state’s Gross Enrolment Ratio of 36.5 is higher than the national average, the Governor expressed concern over Andhra Pradesh’s literacy rate being below the national level, as per the 2023–24 official data.

Highlighting the transformative goals of the National Education Policy 2020, Governor Nazeer said universities must strengthen governance, transparency and research ecosystems. He reminded vice-chancellors of their leadership responsibility, stating that the future of the state depends as much on human capital as on infrastructure and investments.