Davos, Jan 23 (IANS) In an age of robotics and artificial intelligence, only universities of gloabal standards will prosper and they need to be multi-disciplinary and not focus only on the scientific stream, the Vice Chancellor of a private Indian university said during the Caspian Week at the World Economic Forum (WEF) here.

"In the era of robotics, mega-data, artificial intelligence and dynamic change, only universities of global standards will prosper, equipped with the ability to innovate and grasp the latest cutting edge knowledge and research.

"It is also important to recognise that universities need to be multidisciplinary with focus not only on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines but also humanities and social sciences," C. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor of the Jindal Global University (JGU) said.

"Among the developing countries, India and China have provided leadership in building world class universities and institutions of global excellence. The future of higher education necessarily depends on the internationalisation of universities -- public and private," Raj Kumar, the only Indian Vice Chancellor invited to speak at Davos, said.

Addressing a session on 'Philanthropy and Higher Education: The Indian Experience of Building a Knowledge Society through Universities', he said private universities in India had been recognised by national authorities and by global rankings agencies, and pointed to the JGU as a model for corporate philanthropy and institutional excellence for building private universities in developing countries.

Exhorting the leaders representing government organisations and trade and industry sectors to focus on the growth and development of universities, Professor Kumar said: "We need to take our universities more seriously. Our universities need significant funding, resources and indeed better governance."

"The knowledge, expertise and skills that will shape the future will arise out of universities and hence, regardless of the state of economic development of a nation, they need to focus on building sound institutional capacities of their universities," Professor Kumar maintained.