The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said, the country urgently needs to increase quality research in science and technology especially to meet newer challenges like climate change. Addressing the convocation of IIT-Kanpur, he also said that the government has set in motion an ambitious programme to completely restructure the legal and regulatory environment of higher education. <br/><br/>Observing that science and technology played a dominant role in determining the power and progress of a nation, Dr Singh said, this role has become even more critical in the wake of newer challenges like climate change. He said the country needed more innovation in areas like sustainable agriculture, affordable health care and energy security. <br/><br/>Advocating greater collaboration between institutions like IITs and the corporate sector, he said, this would be of mutual benefit to both. He added, for the corporate sector it would mean cost effective solutions and newer technology while for the IITs it would bring much needed funds and enhance their research capabilities. Dr Singh said, while efforts have been made to expand higher education facilities on an unprecedented scale in the last five years, the issue of quality remains.<br/><br/>A major constraint was the availability of good faculty, he said, adding that a large number of bright students should be encouraged to join academics and IIT community must come together to evolve other innovative ways to address these issues. He said, a number of new IITs, IIMs, and IISERs have been started and more than 300 degree colleges have been opened in selected districts and added that government spending on higher education has been enhanced manifold. <br/><br/>The Prime Minister was also conferred degree of Doctor of Science. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam and former prime minister Morarji Desai were among eminent personalities who received the honorary degree earlier.