New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee will host a conference of directors of the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) to explore ways to improve the quality of technical education in the country.

The president is a visitor at the NITs.

The conference will be held Nov 7-8 at Rashtrapati Bhawan, and would be attended also by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and University Grants Commission chairman Prof. Ved Prakash, among others, an official release said here Thursday.

Thirty NIT directors will participate in the conference. This is the first time that a conference of directors of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) is being convened by the president, the statement said.

On the agenda of the conference are steps needed to improve the quality of technical education and faculty development in NITs, to bring them on par with the top technical institutions of the world. Inter-linkages of NITs with industry will also be discussed.