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What MNC’s are looking for Collaboration with Universities with Prof. Peter Grindrod
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Prof. Peter Grindrod
- Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, England.
- He is active in developing research partnerships between academic and commercial interests, and in deriving value from knowledge and research via Innovation and Knowledge Exchange.
- He is an internationally known expert on digital transformation, data science, and behavioral analytics.
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We are part of a competitive world, and there are spaces where a lot is expected these days from a student, whether its academic excellence or being extremely skillful. Talking about the varied approaches made by companies to collaborate with universities on a global level, is something to ponder upon.

Discussing the future prospects of collaborations with MNCs and the fundamentals of Data Science and Mathematics, we have with us, Prof. Peter Grindrod CBE. Prof. Grindrod is a Mathematics Professor at Oxford University.

Here Prof. Peter Grindrod talks about the scope of university-corporate collaborations, digital media and businesses, and how budding entrepreneurs should step into the market.
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We have witnessed unemployment lately due to the ongoing health crisis. I would like to know what are the companies expecting from universities, not in terms of value proposals but based on developed countries or developing countries or students?
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I think it is quite hard for most people within universities to put themselves in the shoes of the people within the companies. The company leaders and managers desire to research that is based on the urgency and the depth of ambition of their plans of action. They do not have the luxury of time. We in universities need to have a very clear perspective: why should companies work with us? The companies actually need to collaborate on R&D that they cannot easily do themselves, or even do at all; and that they cannot justify to their own shareholders, perhaps because it is too risky, too long-term, requiring a range of skills they do not have, or requiring an existing track record and some momentum. They are also seeking disruption and talent.

Corporates think about their collaborations based on the idea of “open innovation networking”, which is a completely different approach from the old, closed, “everything in-house” style of secret development. And open innovation networking means that they must engage directly with universities and other companies who might do things that they themselves cannot – so that they have some real options for their future activity.

The companies may also wish to collaborate with universities because of their access to public research funding. The role of public money should really be to enable upstream research that the companies cannot easily justify to themselves, but that might be highly disruptive.

The academic fraternity needs to understand how companies plan and carry out disruptive research, and ask why would companies reach in and partner with us? There are very many good reasons for them to do so, as I have illustrated.
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What are the different approaches that the companies are incorporating when it comes to problem-solving in the universities?
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If anything “lethal”, highly disruptive, even happens within the universities, then of course companies will look into it. However usually when a company decides to collaborate with a university they will have a very clear idea of what are they looking for.

In problem-solving, companies usually wish to resolve a problem in a time span of 6 months, or maybe let’s say 3 months, whereas the universities are stuck trying to resolve problems on a 3-year timescale (equal the length of a post-doc or a Ph.D. project). Exceptions are those companies that have long term development plans: say for next-generation jet engines or drug discovery, and so on. In general though, corporate timescales are shortening, and especially within the digital economy where I work.

A year is a very long time in digital. So we have to overcome that mismatch. One way to do so is to hire post-docs long term (over years) and allow them some freedom, for maybe half of their time, to be researching in their own fields of interest so as to become independent researchers; while also asking them to become involved in a string of short “sprints” or “fail fast” projects with the corporate partner for the other half of their time. This works well.
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Talking about Oxford university’s research projects what is the ratio of Government and MNCs Funded Projects?
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Oxford particularly is a massive entity in itself, and the major collaborations made by us have been with larger corporates mostly and they have lasted for a long period. The programmes which lasted the longest are projects based on biomedical science, engineering, etc. But as I said time-scales are much shorted with the digital, fast-growing, sectors that are critical for national economies – especially post-pandemic.

Universities need to manage those corporate partners that are large and diverse. Beyond the present particular engagement, we should guarantee that the partner will be networked into all possible parts of the university and that the university will become networked into all parts of the company. And there must be a strategic conversation at the highest possible level, outlasting any particular present project.
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We have been witnessing the startups growing rapidly, and there are budding entrepreneurs all around. So when companies collaborate with universities, do you believe that they should assist these budding startups on the go?
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It is good that universities and their collaborating organizations provide funding to these start-ups, especially those started by our graduating students. But it’s never easy to start companies from nothing, it requires a lot of passion, time, and commitment. I have done it when I was outside of academia.

So when people have started companies and are at a very early stage, they lack knowledge, experience: but on the other hand can they think outside of the box? They are often overly optimistic and underestimate their need for listening, networking, and business development. I do think it is very important to enable students to run start-ups: actually, I think there should be funding available to people even before they crystallize their own business venture. Why not invest in 100 students per year, hold a competition, and award them a one-year bursary, as a salary? After ten years you will have supported 1000 people, each of whom wants to cross the chasm from graduate to entrepreneur. What if every large university did that?

If I talk about India, I think that in planning for success, a little more risk might be taken to invest in visionary and radical people (and their ideas); people who are passionate and determined enough to be successful, but who have a solid background of academic achievement.
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Paying emphasis on incorporating new curriculums, what according to you are the companies expecting when they are looking forward to collaborating with universities based on their academic infrastructure?
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Firstly, I believe that courses such as MBAs that are based on data science, artificial intelligence, and various 21st-century digital agendas or digital transformations, dwell far too much on the details (the functional details of the what and how of machine learning, for example; or learning about mean, median, and mode), instead of focusing at a much higher level on how one should harness data science, and how to lead data scientists.

Leadership and vision are the keys. I myself, as a mathematician, I cannot “drive” a computer but I do know how to get the best from those who can. This detailed focus is a common error and it also pervades the way that data science is dealt with in the military and civil service. There seems to be a mad belief that anybody could get the best out of data science and AI ventures as a leader. This is itself a skill and it requires some close attention. You cannot “luck-in” to it.

Secondly, applied mathematics turns out to be a good option because of its rigorous underpinnings. The courses are a little slow to evolve but I think that graduates can deliver great outcomes. Here at Oxford, many maths students are opting for network science and related courses, for example. So if the data science training is put together along with applied mathematics then that can work in everybody’s favor, and it will be popular with the industry.
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What do you think of Eduvoice as an initiative?
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It’s a great endeavor, I believe if initiatives like yours instill better ideas to improve the teaching and learning system. If your idea is to bring a positive change in the education sector, then I think Eduvoice is doing a really good job.
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Prof. Grindrod has enlightened us with various possible opportunities that might nurture the growth of budding industries shortly. If the idea that Prof. Grindrod believes in is executed wisely, then surely it will benefit the academic growth of the university as well as the student.

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November 10, 2022
New Approaches of Agricultural Engineering; In Conversation with Prof. Norman Scott
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Prof. Norm Scott
- Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, New York
- He was involved in bioengineering research and teaching for over 20 years.
- He has spent 14 years as a Cornell administrator (Director of Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station & Vice President of Research and Advanced Studies).
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A lot has changed recently when it comes to education and the curriculum, we’ve seen a major difference in the teaching pedagogy and witnessed new methodologies being incorporated to advance teaching.

Talking about the new approaches of learning and how the pandemic has changed the face of classroom learning we have with us Norman Scott, Professor Emeritus at Cornell Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Prof. Scott has conducted bioengineering research and teaching for more than two decades now. He has been a Cornell administrator; Director of Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station & Vice President of Research and Advanced Studies at Cornell.

In this conversation with him about developments of agricultural engineering education and the scope of bioengineering, we have come across various possibilities, including new methods that can be incorporated in our educational system that can improve agricultural learning.
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There are many ways in which a lot has changed with time when it comes to teaching and learning methodology. What are the critical aspects that have played a major role in bringing the changes?
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If we talk about major changes, I believe there hasn’t been much change until recently. The ongoing health crisis has brought a major change in how universities work now. I have been quite familiar with the web-based learning approach based on my own personal experience.

In 1999 I developed a course on sustainable development that was taught at Cornell University. This was a completely web-based learning approach and over time it has changed as well. It preceded the usage of the descriptor, “MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)” for conducting online learning, and since zoom, I don’t see the term used as much.

I believe until recently there hasn’t been a major change in teaching pedagogy, it has remained remarkably similar for decades, where the educator offers information in a traditional classroom and the students take it in, although team-based learning has increased to better create solutions to critical problems.

On the lines of new approaches, I am looking forward to increasingly hybrid approaches to learning.
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Here when you are talking about new teaching methodologies to be incorporated in the current curriculum’s, I’d like to know about your take on the hybrid approaches and how reliable it is over traditional learning?
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As noted, I think things have changed over time, particularly recently. As observed over the years, the traditional teaching method has been a form where students and teachers exchange question answers. But as we can see the current situation, until things are back to normal, I believe the blended mode of learning will quite be preferred certainly.

Classroom learning won’t be the same as right now at Cornell University. We have been conducting classes, and meanwhile, ensuring to maintain the social distance. I think the hybrid model will be the future of learning, as I believe face to face discussion holds a better value and develops the teamwork approach amongst students. So even if you are having a face to face class, it can be recorded as well, this ensures that the students can revert to it later for revision.
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There are certain drawbacks of a hybrid approach when it comes to subjects that require practical learning, like engineering, medical, agriculture. What is your take on this? How helpful is the hybrid approach in this case?
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I think in many areas, strictly in engineering education, there is a major requirement of teamwork and it seems to be quite difficult when it comes to conducting learning sessions for engineering students.

I think most of the theoretical lectures will be via Zoom and the online form of learning. The only case when there will be a face to face discussion will be solely based on the requirements of any practical learning.
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I’d like you to highlight a little more about the approaches of nanoscience in the field of agriculture, what according to you is the scope of such courses there in the U.S.A? How can institutes in India incorporate strategies to implement these courses in their curriculums?
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I shall suggest the academicians refer to journals related to the industry of biotechnology that talks about the mantra behind the implementation of nano-science technology in the field of agriculture science and engineering. The research paper talks about the approaches made by nano-science technology in fields like food safety, plants, agriculture, animals, etc.

There aren’t too many courses available for the same, at this point, it is more of a research thing, for example currently at Cornell there is only one course that is available over there as well which plays a major role in addressing the significance of this technology.
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Prof. Norman Scott has made me realize the opportunities that the higher education system should focus upon for the betterment of agricultural education in India with the help of technological advancements.

There are various aspects where the Indian education ministry needs to work upon and make use of strategies suggested by Prof. Scott, I think it will be easier for academicians to work better on the curriculums.

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October 15, 2020
Discussing the Fundamentals of Engineering Education with Professor Vijay K. Dhir
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Prof. Vijay K. Dhir
- Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, at the UCLA.
- Former Dean at UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Science (2003 – 2016)
- He is the principal investigator of the Boiling Experiment Facility – Nucleate Pool Boiling Experiment (BXF-NPBX).
- He is a recipient of numerous prestigious accolades including the Max Jakob Memorial Award from American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
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“You have to work hard to accomplish something tangible. Then if you work hard, don’t worry about the rewards, they will come.” – Professor Vijay K. Dhir

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Countries that are growing steadily, like India and China are continuing to encourage the advancements in the teaching pedagogy for engineers. Apart from that, various other factors continue to contribute to the growth of engineering education.

To talk about all the aspects that require immediate attention, to improve an academician’s approach towards Engineering Education on a global level we have with us, Prof. Vijay K. Dhir. Prof. Dhir is a distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, served as dean of UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Science from 2003 to 2016.

Prof. Dhir is a scientist with substantial work experience in fundamental and applied engineering research. He believes “You have to work hard to accomplish something tangible. Then if you work hard, don’t worry about the rewards, they will come.”

This insightful discussion with him, tells us a lot about the better approaches an education system should incorporate to provide students with a better curriculum for engineering education.
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India is still a developing country and there are some factors where India lags when it comes to education. What according to you are the immediate issues that the Indian Education System should address to provide quality education, especially in the field of engineering?
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Two major factors affect the academic growth of engineering students in India, firstly many of the faculties in India are not trained well enough to train future engineers and scientists. Secondly lack of proper integration of teaching and research modules. Few institutes are following it, the rest of them are still unable to raise the bar.

I strongly believe that if the academicians continue to have such an approach, then we are damaging the academic growth of the student. If the students are not provided with better training and teaching modules and knowledge is scarce then I think we are wasting the talent.
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It’s very important to have trained faculties with extensive research knowledge. What are the solutions you’d like to suggest here to overcome such issues where academicians lack knowledge and training about the subject?
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I would like to share a personal experience here.

It was five years ago now when I visited India to attend a conference at IIT Kharagpur followed by a meeting with Mr. Ratan Tata in Mumbai. We discussed education and research and he suggested that I must set up an Institute in India with a U.S. based academic framework.

He suggested that an institute like this can encourage faculties and students to do research on different things and come up with innovative technological ideas. And when I further discussed this idea with a few IITians, none of them showed interest. I believe that the idea with which IITs were established is somewhere lost and it will require a lot of time and effort to change this mindset.

The solution to these issues is to train the teachers. So, I invited a few faculties from Institutes in Pune to come at UCLA when I was a Dean there, I could have arranged a training session here. Along with that, I offered them to work on research-based projects with few faculties from UCLA at least for a year. But sadly, none of the institutes considered the offer.

Talking about China, they nearly send thousands of Ph.D. students every year to get proper training at a minimal cost based on the curriculum of engineering. I think since the faculties and institutes are disinterested, is one of the primary reason that India lags. An Indian student has a lot of potential but the problem is that we lack at instilling the quality of being inquisitive and thinking critically.
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There are different domains of engineering, and in India we have limited exposure for our students. What would you suggest here that helps engineering students in India to have better domains?
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Firstly, we need to provide students with Aerospace/Aeronautics activities and training, so that when they are seeking a job in a similar sector it makes it easier for them to work. I remember when I was studying at IIT Kanpur, and learning aeronautical engineering, we as students could only have access to Hindustan Aircraft Ltd. (HAL) and few of them could go to Indian Air Force.

So, there were not many opportunities while we were learning. To form such opportunities we require more aircraft manufacturing to create better job offerings for aeronautical engineers.

Another thing that can be done here is to get into aerospace if not aeronautics. Aerospace is moreover about rocketry, electronics, and remote sensing and one can give exposure to students to develop in these sectors as well.
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How are engineering colleges abroad dealing with practical learning sessions due to the ongoing pandemic and virtual mode of learning, what are the ways colleges abroad are implementing to finish the syllabus?
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The campus here, it’s closed and the only option we are relying on right now is distance learning. Mostly the classes are conducted online, the research-based universities as well are conducting all the sessions via the virtual mode of learning.

Coming to practical learning, we have a few research labs open with limited entry. Students can have access to them so that they can continue with their research.
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Is there any possibility where universities can collaborate globally to provide a student with a better learning experience and incorporate educational advancements?
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That is possible, as I shared my previous experiences with you about how I initiated the idea to collaborate. There are ways to incorporate such initiatives. There are experienced faculties in the U.S.A who are of Indian origin and they may also have a similar ideology of making collaborations for a couple of months when they are in India.

So, if we genuinely wish to make collaborations and partnerships we need Indian academicians to take up the initiative and make better use of such opportunities.

Coming to the collaboration based on the university level, I think that’s not something that can happen swiftly. To bring such plans into action the educators and administrative departments of the university need to make persistent efforts.
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What do you think of Eduvoice as an initiative?
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If the platform ideates to reach out to faculties across the globe to address the challenges and incorporate possible solutions then I believe it’s a great endeavour. If the primary goal is to work for the betterment of the higher education system and not solely make money then it’s a great effort by you.
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This intuitive discussion with Prof. Dhir brings us to come across various factors that hinder the academic growth of an engineer. As we discuss the lack of training provided to the faculties, he advised us with possible solutions for the same. I strongly believe, if we take up such initiatives seriously and have thorough research, we can perhaps change the future of engineering education in India.

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September 28, 2020
Understanding The Depths Of Skill Development With Mr. Suresh Bharwani
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Mr. Suresh Bharwani
- Chairman and Managing Director Jetking Infotrain Ltd.
- He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Harvard University.
- He has more than 40 years of exceptional achievements in the field of electronic products and IT training.
- He is a pioneer and leader in hardware and networking training in India.
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“In the 21st century, the person who has started learning is not illiterate but the one who stops learning after a point is.” – Suresh Bharwani

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“Schooling doesn’t assure employment, but skill does” – Unemployment is one of the pressing issues with no proper infrastructure to regulate the skill management in the nation.

Skill development has never been taken seriously by both educational institutions and students in India. However, it has become an integrated structure, making it necessary for students to know the basics of Skill development for sustaining in the competitive market.

This time I had a wonderful discussion with Mr. Suresh Bharwani, Chairman and Managing Director of Jetking Infotrain, leading computer networking Institute, to enlighten us on the status of skill development in India.

Jetking, spreading across 100 cities, is educating and training students in multidimensional courses, preparing them for real-life challenges.

This was highly motivating and inspiring session with Mr. Suresh Bharwani talking about some of the burning issues like the need for skill development, crisis management, and competitive survival. I hope this conversation will raise serious introspection in our readers, making them question the current model and work together to make tomorrow better than today.
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Jetking is a pioneer for IT skill development in the country even much before NSDC came into the picture. What was the vision behind this at that time, and how do you see the future?
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Concerning the backstory of Jetking, I would like to shed some light on my early life. Back then, my father was a freedom fighter sheltering in Pakistan, specialized in explosives making. But a few years later, he was bundled back to India due to an unfortunate premature bomb blast. So after returning to India, he, along with his brother in law, started an agency under the title “ NAVA BHARATH RADIO AGENCIES” in the north.

It was Post WorldwarII, close to our independence, where war surpluses like radios, gramophones, and other transmission utilities were available at a giveaway price. So the only mode of any communication was the radio. Hence my father saw an opportunity and started importing these war surpluses as “Do It Yourself” kits where the assembling needs to be done by the purchasers. It was at that moment, the employment generation, entrepreneurship, and skill development training started in our family heirloom.

But after a few years, the market expanded, and the competition reached par, survival was challenging back then. We incurred marginal losses forcing us to shut down all our industries and offices. The things that were left were some few bucks and an isolated industrial building.

So, I set up a tape-recording and DVD training, Software training, and Hardware training in the same land. Within no time of the establishment, I have met a management consultant cum ad agency owner who advised me not to go for the DVD and recording training as it cannot sustain in the long run and not to touch Software training due to the market competition. He then supported me in full-on Hardware and electronics training, where we started with backward integration (DIY Kits) and recruited young talent for functionality.

For the past few decades, we have almost trained around 10,00,000 students under the age group (18-23 yrs), providing them with great scholarships, and cashback programs. Our students have been well placed even internationally, and some of them also started their own enterprises.
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Skill development is something Indian Education strongly needs to work upon. How can the current Indian Education System incorporate that?
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Governments, irrespective of BJP or Congress have been trying hard to incorporate this into their main framework since 2008. But speaking on a more extensive grounds, we all know that governments are loaded with their own inertia, own issues which require utmost allotment and dedication.

Upon that, India’s corruption is no new concept for us to understand, and it just diluted amongst all these. I would not say that no skill development is happening in India. Few state governments are handing over contracts to third parties concerning skill development.

For example, Jetking has been handed over the contract of training almost 50 CR students in skill development by the Gujarat Government in 2010. Still, we hardly received the payment for any expenditure on these grounds. There are many institutions not coming up for the same reason.

I would say that the concept of the caste system has not entirely been eradicated in India. People belonging to the higher caste still do not believe in the human handwork, and the lower caste people are not treated with proper respect. I have received many awards to date but hardly received any recognition from any government. It’s essential to keep the motivation alive in such an industry.

However, for the past few years, things have taken a drastic turn. Many courses, even some international ones, are available at a very reasonable price online just one step away from a single click. The government understood the potential of online & distant education and granted a license to many Indian universities to make necessary arrangements.

I will request the government for further establishments in the area of skill development similar to that of Jetking to help millions of students grow to the societal standards and see them prosper.
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Lockdown due to pandemic has influenced jobs for everyone and especially for freshers. How is Jetking enabling students to get employment even during the lockdown?
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It all began around one year back when I have met an IIM Calcutta based professor, Ranjan Das, where he told me that my training institution was too focused on BRIC and Motor courses and needed a shift in its dimension. So, I collaborated with him without hesitation and trained almost 30 managers under his supervision in various formats, making them fully compatible.

Their exercises included real-time life projects and third-party collaborations on an online platform providing certified training. The whole Jetking community, including our vice presidents, actively adapted this model and took this to the next level during this pandemic.

Now, we are training almost 5000 students on the digital platform, providing them with relevant knowledge and adequate skills. We are currently teaching students in courses like Ethical Hacking, IoT, Cloud Computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and many courses equally compatible with those in the market, helping the students sustain the present crisis and create new opportunities for themselves.

I firmly believe that the post-pandemic situation will give rise to a fourth industrial revolution. Like the first Steam engine revolution, second Electricity revolution, third Computers, and Internet revolution, this era will be an open platform for humans to explore and expand their boundaries.

It is now for us to adapt and upgrade with time to be technologically fit. Sir Tofel H said, “In the 21st century, the person who has just started learning is not illiterate but the one who stops learning after a point is.”

My success mantra for students, teachers, and anyone reading this out there is not to stay in a steady mode and always upgrade yourselves subjective to your surroundings.
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September 2, 2020
Challenges And Solutions | Indian Higher Education in Covid Pandemic with Dr. S. S. Mantha
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Dr. S.S. Mantha
- Chancellor KL University and Adjunct Professor, NIAS, Bangalore
- Former Chairman of AICTE
- Dr. Mantha is an eminent academician and has an extensive vision of the higher education system in India
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The education system is currently facing major challenges due to the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 has rattled the world to the core. Ever since the government of India has declared a nationwide lockdown, every working sector is facing some significant issues. One such prominent sector that is facing most of these challenges is the Indian education system.

The sudden closure of all the educational institutions and universities has left a strong impact on the academic growth of students. To discuss all such challenges faced by the educational sectors due to the pandemic, we have with us, Dr. S.S. Mantha, former Chairman of AICTE and the present Chancellor of K.L. University, Hyderabad.

Dr. S.S. Mantha has an extensive vision of the higher education system in India. The session further talks about how the pandemic has impacted student life and discussing potential solutions to overcome these challenges.

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Being extremely eminent in the field of education and having substantial knowledge about the higher education system of India, what according to you are the major challenges faced by the Indian education system due to the pandemic?

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I believe, like every other business, the educational sector is also facing disruptions due to the pandemic. It is not only just disturbing the current working of the education system, but it is something that will have a lasting effect in the coming years. The primary focus here is to understand the origin of these disruptions and the concerns related to it.

Having said that, I think two major challenges deserve immediate attention. One of which is, the concern behind the completion of the academic curriculum, which is disrupted since 3-4 months. Now to overcome this, some institutions have provided access to their students to learn online, with faculties conducting virtual learning sessions. It becomes challenging when the institutes are unable to provide online classes.

We have more than 1000 universities in higher education space in India, with more than 40,000 institutes spread across the country. It is important to reach out to all these institutions wherever they are situated, which I believe is a challenge in itself. To overcome these issues, it is important to have an efficient learning management system with a robust IT infrastructure that makes remote learning easier.

The second major challenge faced by the education system is to conduct the examination. Since it is difficult to conduct exams face to face, people are coming up with time being solution, to conduct online exams. Now, that is also a secondary technological challenge, the concern to keep the work authentic remains to be a primary challenge. It is very important to check the authenticity of the student appearing for the exam on the other side of the screen. There are tools and bio-metrics available that is used to keep a track of authenticity. But not every student and institute can have access to such advanced technology, due to, let’s say, poor bandwidth or lack of resources.

So, yes the two major challenges according to me, which require immediate attention, are the completion of the academic curriculum and authentically conducting exams. Apart from that, with the growing technology and online learning, the students are unable to have a campus learning experience. Which is also very important for the individual growth of a student.

There are solutions to all these issues as well, but we must be able to reach out to students and institutes in every nook and corner of the country. We need to implement solutions as early as possible since we can’t risk the academic career of a student for long.

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We are coming across major conflicts going on with conducting examinations after the declaration of UGC, making it compulsory to conduct final exams. Many states have already conducted the exam, whereas a few of them are against this decision. So, what is your take on this? What do you think can be done so that a student’s academic growth remains unaffected?

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The examination period is a very critical part of a student’s academic career. We have been following the British pattern of examining students, which comprises of an accreditation process followed by continuous evaluation. In this case it means that without the accreditation process the academic documents won’t be accepted.

The curriculum is divided into 4-8 parts. Each portion is assessed thoroughly, and the student’s progress is evaluated at the end of every unit. The students are evaluated more than 4-5 times in a semester!

I believe, that if a student is assessed multiple times throughout the semester then there is no requirement to conduct a final evaluation at the end of each semester. I think the real learning and understanding happens with continuous evaluation, and people need to have a pragmatic approach towards the same.

It is important to make the students and their parents feel confident by creating a credible system of learning. Under no circumstances, a student should be put to a disadvantage. The institutes need to run a student-centric system.

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The education system is shifting its focus towards online learning due to the pandemic, and we can see how teachers are putting persistent efforts in understanding this new mode of teaching. But along with that, we are coming across issues where teachers are becoming the victims of online bullying.

What are the ways a teacher or a faculty member and institutes should take into consideration to tackle such issues?

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You have raised a very pertinent question. Honestly, I don’t know if there is any faculty bullying, but I am surely aware of what happens during a webinar. Webinars are quite informative and interesting sessions, provided if healthy debates and discussions are happening that delivers a positive outcome.

I believe, 2-3 things can be worked upon here. One thing that can be done is to restrict the lectures for 30-40 minutes. If the lectures are longer, it becomes difficult for a student to keep themselves engaged to focus on the screen.

Another important thing, the institutes should train their faculties and make them understand the details of how to take an online class. To let them know why is it important to encourage students to debate and discuss their points of view during a virtual class as well. To conduct a good webinar, it is important to have a moderator, who is well versed in the subject.

The lectures should be recorded so that the students can access to it whenever they want to revise. It is important to make an investment to form an efficient learning management system, that helps to keep a record of the online sessions and enable effective students engagement with virtual learning. Having said so, it is important to ask the students for their videos on while the online class is going on. This is because it enables the faculties to track students, to make sure if they are paying attention or not.

The institutes should also subscribe to the courses available on the web, for example, Coursera, and edX. These courses can be summarized into one module and can be made available to the students so that they can go through it to get a broader perspective about the subject.

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This is a great insight, Sir. If all the students have equal access to the internet, you are right when you say that the universities should have a collaborative approach and make the content collectively available for their students.

I would further like to know your views about Eduvoice as an initiative?

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Oh! It’s a good initiative that aims to bring people together from the academic fraternity. The endeavor tries to understand different perspectives from faculties and educationists across the country, I think it’s a great initiative in itself. We must acknowledge the efforts of the unsung teachers and give them the recognition that they deserve. If Eduvoice provides them with avenues to create content and allow themselves to be expressive about their ideas, then I guess that’s a wonderful approach by Eduvoice on the whole.

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This insightful discussion with Dr. Mantha tells us a lot about how having a pragmatic approach towards learning can bring a significant change in the Indian education system.

Dr. S.S. Mantha also provided us with potential solutions to overcome the challenges faced by our education system. His ideas to overcome the issues related to the academic sectors.

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August 20, 2020
Transforming Youth Into Leaders With Prof. Debashis Chatterjee
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Prof. Debashis Chatterjee
- Director, IIM, Kozhikode
- Has taught leadership classes at Harvard University and at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),Calcutta, Lucknow and Kozhikode for nearly two decades.
- Has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for Pre-Doctoral and Post-Doctoral work at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
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“The current time is an appointment with your own self, make the most of it.”

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Entrepreneurship is the need of the hour. The economy is down, and now is the time to unleash the potential within. This is the period to transform our students into leaders, and ourselves into well-functioning members of the society.

Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, who is the Director of IIM, Kozhikode; beautifully explained the Art of Leadership and how he has helped the students become the best versions of themselves in such tough times.

Prof. Chatterjee also gave various insights on how one can utilize this time to learn more about themselves through various inspiring stories in this session.
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You are such a great leader, who is really passionate about his work. How would you describe your leadership style?
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Not so much a greater leader but an avid learner. To achieve and practice leadership, one must utilize different tools and perspectives to tackle different challenges.

As an artist uses different brushes to create his piece of art, I, similarly use different approaches through which I can demonstrate a different way of looking at the problem.

I think leaders don’t do more, they see more and this is why they are able to solve problems that others cannot.

Hence, leadership is about perspective as well as execution, because if you simply wish to execute, you might as well be a mechanic.

Leadership is about mobilizing energy of a large number of people.
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How do you coach the students in IIM to become better leaders?
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A lot of people come into workplaces with a certain image of themselves, which is very detrimental for their growth. They come with a chip on their shoulder as a Manager, but because they are working for the first time, they do not have access to the tools of the organization to influence people.

Hence, your ability to influence people will depend a lot on your personal qualities.

Through the IIM campus, the students learn that aspiration is more valuable than resources.

“Knowledge is power, but having an attitude is more powerful.”

They learn that a synergistic way of doing things is way better than a lonely wolf on the prowl.

Not everyone is designated a leader, but, you don’t need to be born a leader. You are born with certain qualities pertaining to this art.

These are what we amplify in the IIM campus. These dormant qualities are amplified by the peer groups, the teachers, etc.
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Leaders have a deep reservoir of energy. If one can acquire this depth, it will take you very far ahead in life. The superficial knowledge of a book and scoring good marks is not enough to make someone a leader.

What makes someone a leader is to be able to unleash this energy to inspire and move people. The ability to inculcate such qualities is the role of a business coach.

We call ourselves management schools and not business schools because a much broader spectrum of knowledge is distributed here. With this knowledge, our students run multidisciplinary businesses; hence you can say that our students not only have roots in the depths but also wings with which they can fly.
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The students are in a state of panic because they are unable to study well, especially in courses like MBA where a lot of case and practical study takes place. Moreover, professors are also going through a tough time.

So, how are you nurturing both these parts of the institution?
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This year has produced a great magnitude of uncertainty.

There are 2 parts to the equation of availability.

One of them is, ‘How much more can I get?’ Here, people look at the number of jobs in the market, the net worth of companies, etc.

The second part of the equation is about ‘How happy can I be with what I have?’ Right now, we do not have access to friends, jobs, or network.

Due to this, the momentum has changed and the second part of the equation has become much more important.

I may not be able to go out in the world and expand, but I can go deeper within my space. I can learn and reflect more about a subject, and acquire its skills.

Not being able to go out, go to the movies, go shopping; gives you the time and opportunity to look within yourself and figure out who you really are.
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“The current time is an appointment with your own self, make the most of it.”

When I used to teach at Harvard, one day while I was going for a lecture, I met a student at the bus stop, waiting for the same bus as me. Within 15s of waiting time, he checked his watch 10 times!

Upon reaching class, I asked him, why he was checking his watch so frequently? ; to which he replied that he was bored with himself.

Can you imagine being so bored with your own company just for 15 seconds?

At such a point, you have to ask yourself what kind of person have you become?

Now is the time for the young generation to unlearn the wrong things.

Students think that when a business becomes successful, it will stay at the top. They don’t realize that every business faces its ups and downs. This is something that they need to re-learn.

Smart faculty members are using this opportunity to finish the books that they wanted to publish. To convert non-authors into authors, I have forced my faculty to be a part of four- book series that I wish to publish.

I explained to them, that it is not that difficult. They can start with writing one sentence, then a page, and then eventually hundreds of pages. They simply need to start.

This is the time for the faculty to engage themselves in the creation of knowledge and not just dissemination of knowledge.

From the student’s perspective, this is the best time to figure out what is their learning style.

Some students learn by reading, some by listening and some by seeing. Thus, if a student realizes that he/she will be able to learn the best by listening, they should watch as many YouTube videos as they like.

Thus, students and faculty should be able to stagger their learning curve in a way that they haven’t been able to do before. If someone used to be a passive learner in classrooms, this is the perfect chance to actively learn.
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If you don’t make good use of this time to amp up your learning curve, you will feel lost when the world resumes.

The tiger knows how to run fast, therefore it is equally important for the deer to know how to run fast in order to survive. When the world resumes, time will gobble you up if you do not know how to run fast.

I partake in physical exercise every day for 40 minutes and encourage all the students and faculty to do the same. Physical exercise is very crucial in this lockdown period because the body and the mind are integrated together, and to keep the mind healthy, the body needs to be healthy.

Hence, I would encourage everyone to build an exercise regime that they can follow throughout life.
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In this time of crisis, when the economy is down, what according to you are the actions leaders and corporates should take in order to tackle this problem without overshadowing their employees?
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First and foremost, the economy is not going to open up at the same level as where it was before.

There are two aspects to working in such an economy.

One aspect is your own capability. The second and not so well known aspect is your ability to cope. The second aspect is very crucial for everyone, from business leaders to students.

How can we cope with dwindling expectations, and how can we cope with decreasing customer interests are two questions that need to be answered.

The only salvation from. the market that is dead is to re-invent yourself and your organization.

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I still remember the story of Konosuke Matsushita of Panasonic company. Due to the crisis of the economy in Japan, his company was down in the dumps.

He had two options. One was to sell the company, and the other was to pay his employees half the salary and ask them to turn it around within 6 months. He offered them the ownership of the company if they could do so because he was going to sell it anyway.

For 6 months, the employees were so energetic that they took to the streets of Osaka and Tokyo, and completely transformed the company. As promised, Matsushita gave away the company to them.

When a journalist asked him why he did so, he replied that he simply held out an umbrella when it was raining.

I think we learn from the people who have fought through such troubled times.

When I joined as the Director of IIM,Kozhikode, we were facing a crisis, but soon, we bounced back, because the team became more innovative in such a situation..

The educational sector will move more towards the Edu-Technological sector. Hence, there will be sunrises and sunsets, one has to look for new possibilities.

A lot of people fail to see when an opportunity arises. People usually ask me, why should we see the big picture? I tell them that it is because the big picture lies in the small pictures.

If someone asks me, what is a cup of tea?

I tell them, that you are drinking photons. The photons that fall on the tea leaves, which we dry the leaves till become brown, to consume them. We don’t consume them dry, we put them in water and boil them.

If this isn’t the desired taste, we add white milk from a good grazing cow on a green field. To better the taste, we add crystallized sap from the sugarcane grown on earth. All these elements of life are compiled into one cup of tea. This is the big picture of a cup of tea – air, water, fire, earth coming together over a cup of tea.

If you can understand the combination of the needs of people from various states, your business is going to run on a national scale.

Hence, the technology that has been established will help students reach new customer bases. This is an opportunity to access and reach out to people because everyone is bound at home.

We need to have that big picture in mind because there is still hope.
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How are the student placements going to be affected by the pandemic, and how you have planned to endure it?
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We should take this positively. I know there have been job losses, but they will come back too.

The jobs might have disappeared, but the customer hasn’t. You can still serve the customer with your talent and your capabilities.
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The human being is a synthesis of many capacities. We have rationality, will power, emotional capability and ingenuity. Hence, we must use our god gifted talents to do things in a way never been done before.

When a student applies for a company, I tell them to speak to the alumni. This is because the alumni can give the students the appropriate feedback, about what are the opportunities in this sector, where else can the student apply, etc.

Hence, if you apply for more posts, and discuss it with knowledgeable people, the outcome is ought to be better as compared to when you silently apply to a few places and wait; because in that case, you may get demoralized.

When you share your agony with people, the agony seems less. So, we should involve a larger community of stakeholders in whatever we do. That is the best way to keep your sanity.

If a company has taken back its job offer as of now, the students can create their own job offer. Even if the institution could not place them, the students can employ themselves by using their tools.

Let us take the story of a product leader, who just came up with a new product.
He/she is not a part of the multinational companies and needs to take the product to the market. He/she does not have the organizational tools and only has social skills.

Two factors can inhibit his/her growth.

One of them is the image of self that we create about the work we have to do, and the work we are supposed to do. This is because at times one may have to do certain things they may not have done before by ways they may have not used before. At such times, this image comes crumbling down.

The second inhibitor is ego. I have not seen anyone put their ego to the side just to work in someone else’s way. A lot of us have been trained to think in a particular way, for example; engineers approach a problem in a cause-effect manner, but, the world is not linear.

Hence, such linear and uni-dimensional ways may not work.

People may have lost their job in the current situation, but they haven’t lost their aspirations and ability to re-engage in other jobs.

Everyone should invest about 4 years learning a skill in depth. You must be the absolute best in what you do.

We can literally get better at anything we wish to.

Fundamental to your growth is the passion for the subject you wish to master and the ability to find a market place for that passion and competence.

The market place you can outsource, but you have to insource the passion.

If anyone wishes to make a mark in such a situation, they need to combine their passion and technology to access the marketplace. If you can master these two, you can fight and resurrect yourself in a way you never would have imagined.
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Do you think now is a good time to promote and teach entrepreneurship to students?
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Entrepreneurship is a way of looking at things. I don’t think it can be given to someone, but it can be nurtured.

At IIM, Kozhikode, we have an incubation centre called Live, where we take up startups from Kerala and other such states. We only come to know whether an idea is good or not when it is presented to us. We should hone the idea at the nascent stage. The idea may not be a fully baked one, but to help the students bake it is our job as institutions.
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Ideas don’t simply run businesses, execution does.

Out of 100 efforts, only one might succeed, but the mechanics behind that 1 successful idea will keep the others going. Thus, the entrepreneurs that succeed will create an aspirational space, and those that do not succeed will learn. This learning process is very important.

A failed business will give you important feedback, and if you get defeated by this failure, you will succeed by learning. If you ask any successful entrepreneur, they will tell you that they have faced failure numerous times.

I would like to conclude with the story of the Gold Rush which took place in California. At one particular place, a lot of gold was found and everyone from all chapters of life, young and old; men and women rushed to get that gold.

There was one young man, who was making iron shovels at the roadside. When asked why he was doing so, he replied that the people who wish to get gold will have to dig it, and for that, they will require my shovel. These people will buy my shovels at the price of gold.

It was an extremely motivating session with Prof. Debashis Chatterjee. The words he used truly moved me. His ideas, his approach, his way of looking at things is inspiring and every student and faculty should learn to look with the perspective of a leader by following his valuable suggestions.

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July 14, 2020
Encouraging Faculty Development Programs With Dr. Jayant Sonwalkar
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Dr. Jayant Sonwalkar
- Vice Chancellor, M.P. Bhoj Open University, Bhopal
- Has Trained over 4000 people in SME sector, Over 2000 people in Export Import Area and Over 2000 in Marketing, Strategic Management, Education Management area
- Expert in Teaching at Masters and Ph.D. Level
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“When someone decides to excel on a global level, and not only among their colleagues or in their state, development takes place.”

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The education system comprises three major elements, the infrastructure, the teachers, and the students. Since the teachers are such a vital element, they are one of the key factors that need to be developed to improve the overall education.

We need more academicians and faculty who possess the sincerity and willingness to grow as well as improve in their personal and professional life.

In an insightful discussion with Dr. Jayant Sonwalkar, who is the Vice-Chancellor of M.P. Bhoj Open University, Bhopal, and specializes in guiding faculty members to conduct international-level research, I learned a lot about faculty development programs.

During the conversation, he spoke about the difficulties as well as hurdles faced in faculty development. Mr. Sonwalkar also talked about the future of open and distance education.
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You are well known for transforming the institutions from national to international level. What are the changes the head of the institutes expect to bring in the institute after the transformation?
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Transforming an institution is a big decision. To transform, firstly one has to know what their strengths as well as weaknesses are and what is the environment into which they wish to transform.

Some institutes which are in existence since the last 200-300 years don’t wish to transform themselves while some organizations may decide to do so just after 25 years only.

So, this is a decision that has to be taken by the top authorities. Once they decide to do so, they need to examine factors like;
- What is the current position of the institute?
- Where do they wish to take it in 5-10 years?
- Why are they transforming?
- What are the benefits of the transformation that they will avail of shortly?
For every organization, there are opportunities as well as threats in the environment.

It’s the heads who have to decide whether the University has a scope of transformation and it has enough strength or not. For an impactful transformation, you need to have a strong team that knows where it is heading, and each member of the team should work together for at least 2 to 5 years.

Overall, it’s a long decision and a long process.
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Today our major focus is on updating curriculums to improve education. Do you think we should focus more on faculty development programs?
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It is very important to focus on faculty development. The elements of the education system include building infrastructure, the teachers, and the students. After that comes the supporting environment like computers and libraries.

Out of these three elements, the faculty is the most important one. If you go back to the gurukul system of Indian education, there used to be competitive exams to get into the Ashrams of the Gurus. The Gurus used to have the complete right to accept or reject a student.

A mechanized system was then implemented by the Britishers and over the years, in the pursuit of teaching, we have become mechanized due to this, we forget to revise our syllabuses.

Earlier it used to be done every 5 years, and now, because AICTE has mandated that it should be revised every three years, it is taking place more effectively.

The students must get the latest knowledge and that the latest knowledge has to be delivered by the best faculty. If the faculty themselves are not ready or are not trained enough, the students won’t attend their classes.

This is why we end up hearing from the teachers that the students don’t attend their classes, and they only start coming when the exams are close.

This is not the case in UTDs and IIMs. In these institutions, all the students come to class and the attendance is 85-90% just because they have better faculty. Therefore, if the faculty is good, most of the problems of the education system will be resolved.

We need to pay the utmost attention to faculty development programs. Another suggestion which I also proposed in the National Economic Policies meeting, which was a meeting of about 700 Vice-Chancellors; was that faculty from practical sectors like engineering, management, etc., must be sent back to the industry every five years, for one year. After this, they should come back and teach.

This is very important because if the faculty is not exposed to current technologies and trends then s/he won’t be able to provide relevant information to the students and train them effectively. It’s just like a doctor who practices surgery but cannot operate a patient. If a doctor is more bookish, he will not be able to diagnose the patients correctly.

That is why it is imperative for the faculty to train themselves every five years and to update themselves on their knowledge.
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We see that institutions hesitate to enroll their faculties in such development programs. How can we encourage them to put their faculty forward in these development programs?
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There are multiple reasons for this. If you talk about private institutions, they cannot leave their faculty because the faculty here does everything other than teaching, like keeping records, and all other such tasks. So these institutes don’t wish to lose their manpower for a month or so.

In government institutions, people are lazy, the teachers don’t want to go, or the HOD doesn’t want his teachers to go and he allows only his favorite teachers for such programs. So, there is a lot of politics that goes on.

Another thing which I have observed is that when the female faculty members get settled in their lives and have kids, they restrict themselves from growing and developing further.

They hesitate to do this because if they go and learn new things, they will have to teach new classes. Be it male or female faculty, nobody wants to get out of their comfort zone. They don’t want to learn new subjects.
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We know how important faculty development is. Should we plan some norms and compulsions to get them into action?
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There are certain compulsions already in existence. Once you become a lecturer, and unless you attend two long time faculty development programs, of 21 days, authorized and certified by UGC and AICTE, you cannot get promoted to the position of an associate professor or leader. Similarly, you need to attend two more to be promoted further.

Also, what happens in these programs is that there are groups from different subjects and there is a mix of people. Thus, a very non-specific program is conducted. The faculty development programs should be more specific and workshop based, where more practical work is done.

Like in IIMs, they used to have faculty development programs of three months but now they have reduced the tenure to one month; even in one month, they teach the faculty for 6-8 hours and provide exercise or homework for 4 hours a day.

Unless the faculties themselves get sincere towards these kinds of programs, it is very difficult to develop them. It is always a two-way process, the faculty should be eager to learn and their teachers should be able to train them well.

This eagerness should arise as a result of the competition itself. If my colleague is performing well, I should do even better than them. If this kind of healthy competition gets into the faculty development programs, then it will become an automated process.

The new policies do take care of this. They have reduced the period of the programs and have made it compulsory for the faculties to attend these programs in every 2 to 3 years.
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Certainly changes in the policies have been made but are they enough for the transformation of institutes?
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A transformation has to be well thought out and well designed. It should take place a specific amount of time, say 3,5, or even 10 years and after that time one can become fairly global or even national.

Transformations come with the vice-chancellors. If the Vice-Chancellor is keen to develop his university, then good transformations take place but some Vice-Chancellors come with the mindset that they are there for merely 5 years, what can they do? They will let things remain as they are and complete their tenure of five years.

If people have such a mindset, they cannot bring a change.

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If we look at it, the faculty development program is more than just for developing education and the students. It is for the betterment of the faculty themselves too. So, should we be motivating the faculty to improve themselves?
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Yes, absolutely but unfortunately, there exists a kind of lethargy in many of the Indian faculties. I am very much Swadeshi, but still, I see that the lethargy is the highest in Indian faculty. They think that “My salary will remain the same for the next 8-10 years as an associate professor then Why should I work hard?”

So people don’t put in the extra effort. “If others aren’t doing so, why should I?” is their mentality. A change in this should come from within.

If you see, the number of researchers has gone down in universities because of this. They think that they have a Ph.D., so why do research now?

Thus, UGC made it compulsory to write two papers before the Ph.D. is awarded. Still, some faculty members will write two papers and stop. Research work should be done for personal and professional satisfaction, not just for the sake of doing it.

I met a 50-year-old faculty from the finance department on my trip to the US. Later I came to know about her, that in the 30 years of her career, she has written 45 books, 200 research papers in US Journals, she was the editor of 10 journals, and she was publishing two journals herself!

If we start writing a paper for the US journals, we take from six months to a year to publish them!

When I checked the profile of that institute, I saw that almost all the faculty has 20-30 books in their name and nearly 100 papers.

“When someone decides to excel not only among their colleagues or in their state/country but also globally, only then development takes place.”

The government is trying hard to make universities globally known but the biggest hurdle is lack of research work.
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I agree, that research is one of the hurdles in our path and it is stopping us from becoming global platforms. As per you, what steps should the government and the institutes take to make research a more sought after thing?
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I think people in research are starting to do well now, thanks to the policies and awareness. As per the statistics, for the last two years, the articles from Indian authors in international journals have increased to 40%! All thanks to Government policies!!

Not only should we start writing good articles in international journals, but we should also start publishing international journals, by making a global editorial board.

When UGC made it compulsory to publish two articles every year, even though that policy was no longer in existence, at that time, a lot of Indian publishers mushroomed. Even from a small city or taluka, they published international journals.

We need more than just this. We need to have an international editorial board, an international reviewer board, and then if we publish journals, we will grow very rapidly.

I am very optimistic about my approach, and I think the number will increase very fast and things will improve.

With that being said, a lot still has to be done.

The biggest hurdle in writing research is that there is no hand-holding being done. Senior professors don’t guide their juniors.

One of the toxic things in the Indian psyche is personal jealousy. This is much more in India than in any other country and it is highly visible in their behavior.

The senior professors feel that their junior will excel and move ahead of them if the junior completes his/her Ph.D. and writes in an international journal. Finally, tomorrow the junior will become their competitor.

When you are already an established professor and you have your path of growth, how will anyone cross your path?

They should feel confident about themselves. It is their job to train the younger generation to write better and publish better journals. The openness of the mind should come with the senior faculty members and they should give a lot of time in hand-holding and training their juniors.
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The pandemic is transforming the way we see education. It has opened up ways for virtual classrooms and distance learning in colleges. What is your view of open learning and distance education post COVID era?
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We are currently in the COVID era and are passing through it.

There were times when people were not using online transactions, and due to Modi Ji’s efforts, Paytm overnight became popular. Similarly, in these times, apps like zoom or google classroom have automatically become very popular.

I have been fighting for universities to go online for the last 10 years and that is why when I became the Vice-Chancellor of this open university, I was very happy.

It was now my turn to make my university go online. This is God’s gift and a blessing in disguise.

You must have heard that in the last few days our finance minister announced that 100 universities are to be given sanction to start online programs.

If each university starts 35-40 courses, 4,000 courses are going to be offered very soon and our country will be full of online programs and online courses.

So, my assumption of post-COVID times, which is yet to come, is that post-COVID video conferencing will be a norm. It will not be unusual. Already a lot of universities have started taking Ph.D. vivas on video conferencing.

When I suggested this to one of the Universities in Madhya Pradesh before this situation, the answer I got from the Dean of the faculty there was that “it is illegal” and “please don’t force us to do this, You come to take the viva.” Today, he is telling me that you are most welcome to take your viva online!

Within just 60 days, even our mindset at Bhoj university has changed. We never used to take lectures online on platforms like Youtube, but now, we have taken over 250 classes online.

Technology will get into our lives faster as well as in a more intense manner and we will be able to use it productively. People should use technology for their benefits because it saves a lot of time.

If you were to come to take my interview from Delhi, you would’ve taken at least 2 days to come but now you took it in just a short span of half an hour!

This is going to become a norm and post the COVID scenario, people will appreciate open and distance learning. The gap between regular and distance learning will fade away in India, which the other nations already have bridged.

If you go abroad for a job and you tell them that you have completed your education from a distance university, they won’t raise an eyebrow but here if you go for an interview and if you have done distance learning and if some other candidate has done regular learning, then he is preferred over you, which is not at all correct.

Therefore in the current and the coming times are prosperous for the nurturing of online as well as distance learning.

The conversation with Dr. Sonwalkar was eye-opening. He surely inspires me to keep growing and developing myself and advises all the faculties to do the same.

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July 11, 2020
Nurturing Entrepreneurship With Prof. Sibaram Khara
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Prof. Sibaram Khara
- Vice Chancellor, Sharda University
- Previously, he has served as founder Dean Academics in Galgotias University.
- His research articles are presented at seminars and conferences in many countries, namely, WEAS’02 Athens, IEEE VTC’06 Melbourne, IEEE PWC’07 Prague, IEEE/ACM SAC’10 Switzerland, etc.
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“Education and Entrepreneurship cannot come to a standstill. It must go on.”

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Entrepreneurship is all about innovation and execution. It is about minds that can create brilliant ideas to serve all of mankind. Such brilliant ideas need to be fostered. This is where universities come into the picture.

Students have creative minds and are highly capable of innovating. All they need is the right guidance and freedom to learn.

Thus, as people from academia, it is our role to seed these ideas and assist the students in nurturing them. This can be done by providing them incubation centers, by helping students partner with the industry, and through financial aid like an initial investment.

The freedom to pick the subjects that students like regardless of the course they are pursuing will help students in becoming creative and passionate about learning.

To understand more about this entrepreneurial and choice-based approach, I had a session with the incisive Prof. Sibaram Khara; who is the Vice-Chancellor of Sharda University.

Prof. Khara discussed about the wise approaches that they have adopted to support their students in their entrepreneurial pursuits. He also gave various suggestions on how we can let students chose the subjects they wish to learn through credit systems.
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“To serve the society by being a global University of higher learning in pursuit of academic excellence, innovation and nurturing entrepreneurship.”

This vision of Sharda University is commendable. What are the practices you follow to keep your vision inline especially for innovation and entrepreneurship?
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We always keep the vision in our minds because the people will recognize us for the same. To achieve our vision, we have also laid out certain mission statements.

If we talk in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship, the university has focussed on employing high profile and highly experienced faculty members to nurture young talents.

Secondly, a lot of laboratories and practical work has been embedded in our curriculum, even in content delivery, we implement experimental and project-based learning. Through the laboratory classes, the students will efficiently gain practical exposure and will understand the use-case of the things taught in the classroom.

We have highly specialized project laboratories where students can come up with any innovation, and they will have the facilities and expert guidance to move ahead with their idea.

This is how we came up with the robots for COVID-19, which have been purchased by the district magistrates. Our students have also developed software that gives a tough competition to pre-existing online learning platforms. Overall, there are about 150 entrepreneurs who have emerged with the help of our University.
1. We have a very strong Sharda LaunchPad, as we are the BI (Business Incubator) of MSME and we are tightly working on NISB. It is a state of the art facility. Here, we provide the space to any student, who has an innovative idea and wishes to start their own enterprise. Currently, we have 31 budding entrepreneurs who are running their companies through the Sharda LaunchPad.
2. To build the base of entrepreneurship, the skills of entrepreneurship need to be taught. What is a business, what are the factors involved, what should be the approach; without knowing such things, one cannot become a successful businessman. For this, we have the consultants Mr. Rajneeti Sharma, Mr. Rajesh; who are guiding students in multiple disciplines like business, engineering, and media. We are providing a cutting edge to these students through courses on how to start and take their business forward.
3. Further, we have another Venture Cell as a part of the mission. Through this, the students visit various communities and societies; and figure out the need of the industry and how they can fulfill it.
A few more approaches have been taken up in line with Industry 4.0 as well.
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I would like to understand how you are helping the budding entrepreneurs on your campus in terms of financing and funding?
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We are providing them with some seed funds and the rest of the funds come from outside investors. Most of the funds are provided by Mr. Suman Sarkar.

Usually, our students get investors but if they are unable to get investors, as per regulations, we give them 1 lac Rupees to start their enterprise. Other than this, we even get funds from MSME.

Our industry interface officer, Mr. Rajneeti Sharma, and his team go to the industries and invite them to our campus. We have connections with more than 200 organizations. Through such connections, the students are able to find a lot of avenues to associate with the industry.
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Sharda University is well known for attracting international students, who come from over 85 countries across the globe. With the current pandemic in action, how are you planning to have new admissions for international students? Also, what is the state of such students currently associated with you?
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It is a huge challenge to deal with the students currently on campus. We have almost 2,200 foreign students, who have a separate hostel for accommodation. Other students are also staying around greater Noida due to the availability of good accommodations.

When the lockdown was declared, staying in the hostels and maintaining social distancing was an issue. Hence, we contacted the embassy and arranged special flights, and most of these students have returned home. Only about 347 students, most of whom are Nigerian, could not be sent back.

Moreover, We are constantly communicating with the Nigerian Embassy and are trying to get them back to their home safely. As per the UGC guidelines, we cannot force students to go back, hence we are taking utmost care of them.

We have an office dedicated to international admissions which comprise 20-25 staff members. Earlier, nodal officers used to go abroad to understand and solve the concerns of students, but since that is not possible, we are working online to accomplish that.

The next semester will start before the 15th of August, which is the predicted date for the government’s decision on the allowance of students on the campus. Thus, teaching is going to start on online platforms.

Admissions too will be conducted online, and international students can attend online classes. After the situation eases, they are welcome to the University campus to participate in regular learning.

The process of admission is completely online because the parents and students are unable to visit the campus and check out the laboratories and other infrastructural facilities. Hence, the parents have to believe what is displayed on the website of the university.

To prevent misunderstandings, I have issued an unbiased message on our website informing the parents to be careful in their decisions, because they cannot fully rely on glossy advertisements that have been put up on the website. The parents also must reach out to us and contact the faculty to understand exactly how well the facilities are.
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Sharda University has been awarded the prestigious QS I.GAUGE E-LEAD Certificate for its excellence in online education. How is this certificate going to provide mileage to Sharda University in the upcoming academic year?
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I am not sure how much mileage it will provide us, but it certainly highlights the cultures followed in the university. To achieve this certificate, we had to submit all the records of online classes that were conducted since the 24th of March.

A lot of parents would compare us with other universities who were not conducting online lectures. But, we opted to continue with our lectures even after our last instructional day, which was 24th April. This was to ensure that the students get maximum guidance possible. Our faculty was so engaged with the students that we were just a phone call away.

Hence, we had to put in a lot of hard work to achieve this certificate, but I’m not sure how much mileage this will provide us. Although, it represents Sharda University’s culture and practices.

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After the unprecedented disruption created by COVID-19, the urgency and importance of drafting a robust education policy is more than ever. According to you, what changes should be made in the upcoming Educational Policy?
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“Education and entrepreneurship cannot come to a standstill. It must go on.”

We do acknowledge the fact that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the method of teaching has shifted to online means; but, the question that arises is about the innovations that are required to make it more effective.

The government has been working on the National Education Policy, which should be published soon. It had been reviewed before the COVID crisis, but looking at the impact of the virus, it was discussed and changed. Tomorrow, we will be having a meeting with EPSI, discussing the pros and cons of the policy.

The first change that needs to be considered to continue online education is that the traditional ERP systems will not be useful. The evaluation of marks and conduction of exams also demands new systems. Hence, system readiness is required. Earlier, we used to manually take attendance and upload it. Now, most universities have adopted an automated system for this.

Another vital aspect is content delivery. Virtual classrooms do not permit us to see the faces of every student present. It becomes a challenge to ensure the engagement of the students and effective learning. Therefore, the pedagogy and content delivery systems need to change.

Lesson plans will have to change and interactive sessions, as well as webinars, will have to be introduced in them.

Virtual mode raised the need to see our Evaluation Techniques. We cannot always conduct MCQ tests for the evaluation of knowledge. All the students do not have the necessary software or internet facilities for this either. Moreover, we will have to reconsider how to conduct the evaluation and online learning for the next semester.

As per the policy, 100 top universities will be permitted to conduct online courses. Although, this will be different from Distance Learning. The government will further issue the regulations of these online programs.

In these reforms, they have also spoken about curriculum; and the liberal and choice-based curriculum. In the existing scenario, the only aspect of the choice-based system was to offer the students elective subjects but it has to change.

“My approach is the ‘Cafeteria Approach’. If a lot of courses have common subjects to offer, we should let the students chose what to pursue, just how we let them eat whatever they wish to in a cafeteria.”

With this approach, the students will develop multi-disciplinary knowledge, and this will be useful in solving the problems of a variety of sectors. Even this method should be balanced with a strict curriculum. We just need to increase the credits given to elective students, say maybe from 15/100 to 30/100.

This way, the students will be able to pursue their hobbies by working in an interdisciplinary manner.

Thus, true choice-based options should be given, where the students can choose the credits they wish to acquire, either online, offline, or projects. Also, a proper infrastructure is required for the proper regulation of credits as per choice and subjects.

Another suggestion I would like to give about the National Education Policy is in terms of accountability building. How the government will ensure that every institute stays accountable for the services they provide, is a serious question.

Then comes the quality ensuring and authentication process. Such processes must ensure how authentic education is and how well the bias has been removed. This used to be a major problem in India, but now, we have grown past that and are moving towards quality education.

A foolproof method of accreditation and quality assurance needs to be created. Corruption also needs to be removed from the Industry.

The people will believe in the quality of ground-level universities only if the government ensures such accountability and accreditations. It is easy to do so virtually and on paper, but such assurance needs to come from physical practice.

We have started so many colleges and produced so many engineers, but the employability is only 30%. This is due to the lack of reforms in curriculum, lack of quality ensuring bodies, etc. Biasness has been removed from a majority of colleges in the last 5 years, but we still have a long way to go.

If via policies, the colleges are forced to maintain good quality education, it will benefit the students, who in turn will contribute to the nation.

This session with Prof. Khara vividly explains to us about the steps that Sharda University has taken to battle the crisis and give rise to budding entrepreneurs.

Very intelligently, he explained to us about the Launchpad, the mentorships, and the support Sharda University provides to their budding entrepreneurs.

Mr. Khara also gave his suggestions for the National Education Policy, especially about the Cafeteria approach and accountability systems.

Prof. Sibaram Khara inspires us to work hard and to be accountable for our work.

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July 3, 2020
How We Can Safely Re-Open Our Universities With Mrs. Rajita Kulkarni
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Mrs. Rajita Kulkarni
- President, Sri Sri University
- Featured in Top 100 Inspirational Women of India
- Expert in Banking, Finance, Strategy, Education, Ethics, Leadership, Change & Mind Management
- Awarded with “Future 50 High Impact Leader in 2019” by Fortune Magazine
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“A new way of living demands a new way of being.”

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As our country battles the COVID 19 pandemic, we are constantly facing new challenges. One of them is having to re-open the educational institutions while keeping in mind the well-being of students as well as teachers.

Health, nutrition, and mental well-being, all are important aspects to stay immune to the disease, and thus, need to be emphasized.

In this beautiful session, I had a delightful discussion with Mrs. Rajita Kulkarni, who is the President of Sri Sri University; she explained various measures that we should keep in mind before Re-Opening of the Universities and Colleges. She also suggested optimistic approaches to well being in such stressful situations.
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Recently, our HRD minister Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal has revealed that colleges are finally going to reopen after 15th August. What is your view on this new phase of un-locking and how should we proceed with the opening of our institutions?
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All educational institutes are preparing to re-open. The second week of June is a very critical one, as many cities have been unlocked. It will reveal how successful was the idea of revoking the lockdown.

The important challenge educational institutes will face is to maintain social distancing norms and to balance the load of students. Every institute is built to accommodate full capacity. If due to social distancing norms, the load has to come down to 60% then we will have to think of different ways to accommodate the students or to increase our capacity.

Right now, there are multiple questions in the minds of the stakeholders of the institutions, such as whether to cut down class strength, how to manage students in the hostel facilities on the campus.

We are planning such strategies. We are fully prepared to take classes online on July 01, so we don’t lose teaching time. We are already making plans to start university. Perhaps by July 15, we will have a picture of how things stand.

We have been in touch with many universities, and we convened the Higher Education Conclave in which about 100 Vice-Chancellors had participated. Due to the way some universities have been constituted, it is not easy for them to go online. Luckily, for us, that is not a challenge.

But we still have to address some issues. For example, our dining hall, the most vibrant place for students to meet over meals, will have to have to be run as per social distancing norms.

Overall, it is going to be a new path for both the teachers and students, and we will have to embrace this change in a positive way because it concerns our health and our lives.
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Reopening date is nearby, How universities should plan this for a safe and hassle free reopening? What should be the priority list?
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Health and hygiene are priorities. We will have to re-orient our campuses for social distancing norms. We may have to cut down occupants per hostel room from three to two.

Classrooms also will have to be organized as per social distancing norms. We may have to adopt the system of one student on one desk, or bring in single chair classrooms, already running in our Department of Architecture.

When a student is at home, the mother takes care of the needs of feeding him/her with nutritious food, but on campus, we have to play the role of parents. We have an ISO 22000 certified kitchen, which means that the food cooked in our kitchens is nutritious, healthy, and delicious.

I also think that the mental health of students is very important. I have been in touch with many students and this has not been an easy time for them. Simply put, younger people do not thrive mentally when their mobility is restricted.

However, our campus is well equipped to take care of the student’s mental health as well. We encourage them to do meditation by following Sudarshan Kriya and practicing yoga. We will step up our measures in this area and we will find ways to increase the ability of students to meditate 2-3 times a day in short spurts. This will have a very lasting effect on the state of the mind.

Physical health is equally important. Everyone has to get in regular exercise because physical exercise is important to keep our immunity high. In our huge 200 acre campus, students can walk, run, or participate in any sports activity, while maintaining social distance.

It is also crucial to be available to talk to and counsel students. We have a well-equipped counseling center with a good panel of counselors.

The Art Of Living Foundation is working with hundreds of colleges around the country, and there is incredible research on how meditation, when done by young students, increases their confidence, reduces anxiety, makes them feel better about themselves.

One common problem I have seen with the young generation is that they feel that either they or their life is not good enough. Simply telling them to not worry does not work. Hence, such breathing techniques create a switch and a change in their feelings. That is why we encourage various colleges to incorporate this practice.
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Everyone around is facing a lot of anxiety and stress about what will happen as we progress into the phase of un-lockdown. What is your suggestion, how we can stay anxiety-free when we step out of the house?
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I am a believer in the power of meditation. Meditating twice a day to breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya, Pranayam helps us to stay energized and nourishes our mind. It keeps you feeling optimistic, and has a psycho-somatic effect.

My advice to everyone is to be aware of our surroundings, but also limit the intake of bad news. An incessant stream of negative information can overtake our minds and can be detrimental to our mental health.

Lastly, we know that the world is online, and always connected to its smartphones and computers. We need to take a moment and disconnect from these.

We should take breaks, called micro-breaks; where every 2 hours we should take a mental break and we should give a break to the eyes too for at least 5 to 7 minutes.

“A new way of living demands a new way of being.”

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Professors feel burdened and anxious because it is difficult for them to learn and adapt to new technologies and teaching pedagogies. As the President of the university, how have you handled this situation and how have you provided relief to the teachers?
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We are applauding the front line workers of our and other countries, but the people that have not been applauded enough are teachers. The way they have made this transition and the way they have embraced the changes is unbelievable.

Within just 4-5 days of shutting down our campus, our teachers were able to begin their online classes! Those who were not comfortable conducting online classes took lessons from our ITT and started conducting their classes online.

Also, we conducted a number of sessions and orientations for our teachers to get them comfortable over the new platform.

It took them at most one week, and I find that to be incredible. This has to do with the ‘I can do it’ attitude. Regardless of their comfort levels, their attitudes were brilliant.

All the teachers were adaptable. They made and embraced the change. The teachers have worked even with their small children sitting in their laps.

Most importantly all of them stayed very agile. Our faculty has conducted a lot of online management programs, free webinars. Several research papers have been published and IPRs have been filed by them. The faculty has used its time productively.

I have a very deep appreciation for such faculty members who have embraced the change and made most of their time, and still, continue to make most of their time.

We are now preparing for our next academic year. Along with this, we have had fun too; we got along informally and had some fun game sessions as well.

I felt very optimistic about the un-locking after talking to Mrs. Kulkarni. She made me believe that we can tackle this problem with the right measures. She inspires me to have a positive attitude and a mindful approach.

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July 2, 2020
Understanding And Catering To The Needs Of Students With Dr. Harsh Sadawarti
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Dr. Harsh Sadawarti
- Vice Chancellor, CT University, Punjab
- Youngest Vice Chancellor of India, with 25 years of experience in General Administration, Research & Development and Teaching Functions
- Supervised 10 Ph.D scholars, 12 M.Tech scholars, 2 M.Phil scholars and Supervising 8 Ph.D scholars and has more than 80 research publications in various National, International Conferences and Journals to credit
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“We should adopt means to help the students with relevant programs and admission facilities.”

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Thousands of students apply to foreign universities every year, for the means of education, training, and even long term settlement. Students from all over India enthusiastically started preparing for exams that were needed to be cleared to study abroad. However, their enthusiasm was curbed by the unfortunate pandemic of COVID-19.

At times of such a crisis, Universities stood up for their students and arranged as many facilities and courses as they could. To learn more about the actions of Universities, we had an informative session with Dr. Harsh Sadawarti, who is the Vice-Chancellor of CT University, Punjab.

In this session, he discussed how colleges or universities can plan special courses and programs so that despite the challenges, the students can make the most out of this academic year.
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Around 7.5 lakh students from India were studying in foreign countries in 2019. Post-COVID-19, we will see a big dip in the number of students choosing to go abroad.

Do you think this is an opportunity for the Indian Universities to capitalize on their admissions for 2020-21 and especially universities that are based in Punjab?
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The Punjabi youth is always enthusiastic to emigrate to Canada, America, and other such countries in search of green pastures and for education, employment, emigration, and permanent residence.

According to media reports, 10.9 lakh students sought admission to foreign universities recently. About 60% of students sought admissions to Canada and 28% of them preferred to select American colleges in 2018. These findings suggest how popular it is for students to go abroad to study.

However, many foreign universities are finding it difficult to have admission seekers due to travel restrictions imposed by India owing to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic situation.

The results of examinations like the 12th standard, IELTS, and TOFEL are pending, which are the utmost compulsion to get a Visa.

Apart from that, COVID-19 has prompted different countries, including Canada and India to suspend Visas and close international borders.

This has indeed created an uncertain situation for the foreign going aspirants and the parents are worried about wasting the precious time of their wards.

To tackle this, CT University made a provision for the students who are not able to get the Visa to travel abroad, so that, they could study at home online.

“Need-based special courses have been started exclusively for students.”

The young students, on their part, are keenly endeavoring to fulfill the band requirement of IELTS, TOEFL, or a certificate course in any language as per the requirement of the respective country. We have started programs to help them with such examinations.

CT University is also granting scholarships called ‘COVID-19 Financial Aid Warrior’ to the children of the frontline workers.

It’s for recognition of their selfless work for society. The scholarship will be available to their children in the regular programs of the academic session 2020-21 for the entire duration of the undergraduate and postgraduate study.

CT University is highly industry-driven and we have about 25 meaningful tie-ups with the industry. Thus, we have started job oriented courses, short-time certification programs and we are running need-based high priority courses. Based on these, we expect that the admission of local students will increase significantly.

The foreign universities are also seeking tie-ups with Universities in Punjab so that they can run programs, courses, and activities of relevance to them.

As a response, we have started 1+1 and 1+2 programs where the students can study for 1 year at our university and then migrate to study in Canada for the rest of the years. Therefore, we will admit them into foreign Colleges by the credit transfer mode, and in this manner, their year 2021 will not be wasted.

The primary reason why students migrate to Canada is that they are offered permanent residency there, and the students usually have relatives in Canada to stay with. Hence, we are collaborating with Canadian and Australian Universities, and starting these credit transfer programs, to send them there next year.

Thus, the financial aid scholarship and the decline in number of students migrating to other states and countries guarantees an increase in admission for the local universities.

Moreover, we are providing transport within a radius of 90kms from our university for the local students. Overall, the admission of local level students will increase.

Therefore, I strongly feel that this indeed is a golden opportunity for the Indian Universities in general and Punjab Universities in particular, to capitalize on their admissions of 2020-21.

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Schools are unable to collect fees and henceforth unable to pay their staff, who in turn may not be able to teach students. The whole system is at a loss.

In a month, higher education will face a similar situation.

We are now exposed to the fact that institutes have to totally rely on student fees to run their operations. What model can universities work on to reduce the risks and increase their rewards?
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The situation during the COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter has really been alarming. It has affected the Universities and Colleges greatly. As a consequence, recovery of fees has been impacted adversely due to the disruption of work, business, or other occupations of the students’ parents as well as due to the government’s restrictions on fee payment.

Due to this, the State Private Universities have either imposed delayed payment or payment of salaries in installments.

It is money that makes the mare go.

Thus, something needs to be done to get the money flowing in order to save the economy.

Our University has followed a diversity of initiatives to gather fees. The first is promoting the intermediate Semester students to the next semesters and linking the resumption of new classes with payment of fees. We are making the students well versed with the next semester, giving them assignments and starting certain certification courses.

Thus, we will be conducting an orientation program for the First Year students, and we have already started classes for the intermediate semester students, to ease the worries of parents about the resumption of classes.

The second step we are taking is that we are motivating the parents to pay fees by making them understand that their fees are crucial to run the business.

The third and co-operative initiative we have adopted is providing facilities of partial payment to encourage the recovery of fees as much as we can.

We are also promoting connectivity with the university through our new certification courses, diplomas, job oriented courses, short-timer certification programs, etc.

Recently, we were approved by MSME as an Incubation Center. This was a great achievement for us. Owing to this, we have started research and innovation in CT University.

For this, we will be applying for certain grants from UGC and other statutory bodies. We have already completed about 20 projects, for which we will be getting a grant of 1 crore Rupees. This will also relieve our financial stress to a great degree, and we will be able to pay salaries to our teachers.

To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, we have manufactured 6-8 products and are selling them in the market. We are also providing consultancy to the industry. Through these, our students have received hands-on training, and are prepared to become successful future entrepreneurs.

Hence, if one is able to engage students and can provide value for money, the students as well as parents will be willing to pay the fees.

Moreover, we are offering another means of financial aid by providing opportunities to students to earn by working part-time jobs such as working in a library, laboratories, assisting the conduct of research, or field experiments and thereby assisting them in earning money and paying their fees.

Earn while you learn is a concept that can help students earn money to pay their fees, at least partially, in fields like agriculture, hotel management, bakery, etc.

We are planning to appoint the students that are smart and well versed with communication skills as University Ambassadors to help in mobilizing admissions and spreading the mission of the University amongst society.

This is another means by which they can earn and thus pay their fees.

Further, we suggest students get involved in running businesses as per personal interests. They can start their own cafeteria, florists shop, sale points for agricultural produce, fashion design products, bakery products engineering products, etc., enabling them to earn and pay fees.
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Practical and fieldwork is an important aspect of learning. What latest methodology should universities adopt to impart such learning among students in the lockdown scenario?
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As we know that during this COVID-19 era, the Universities have been closed and the option of online course delivery has been followed. I’d like to tell you that the academic routines such as curricular delivery, interactions with students, giving and evaluating assignments, quizzes, and examinations have been going on exceedingly well for us.

However, in certain subjects such as mechanical engineering, robotics, agriculture, architecture, hotel management, etc., practical hands-on experience is an integral part of education and it has been a challenge to impart this knowledge.

Hence, my suggestion is that Universities should try to develop virtual modules of different lab experiments, field exercises, dynamic models as well as simulators for explaining the concepts and practicality to students online.

The videos of places of curricular and extracurricular interest, excursions, field visits, industrial visits, etc., should be prepared and issued to students for this type of exposure.

Universities should set up video libraries for students and faculties.

We practice what we preach, and these implementations have been very successful. We have also partnered with Coursera, Udemy, upGrad, etc. and provided multiple certification courses to the students for free. This has been done because we believe that upskilling is very important. If the students are trained up to the global standard in their domain, they will be market-ready.

Further, the course methodology should be redesigned with stuff to serve the upcoming needs of practicality and fieldwork.

Once the pandemic is over, we will start weekend classes so that the students can cover up their missed practical sessions.
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After the unprecedented disruption created by COVID-19, the urgency and importance of a robust education policy is more important than ever. What changes would you suggest for the upcoming Educational Policy?

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COVID-19 has inflicted both short term and long term impacts on the economy, environment, education, and employment. This effect will be discernible soon. Keeping this in mind, the following should be incorporated into the Education Policy to make it robust and purposeful.

A center for Stress Management of students and faculty needs to be established in the University.

Programs like ‘My Dost’ or ‘Your Friend’ need to be started wherein the facility of online counseling for the needy students and faculty by experts of psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and motivational therapy is provided to them on campus.

This will be an urgent need post-pandemic because the students are isolated and in stress. There is a lack of peer interaction and this severely affects their development and happiness.

Thus, Happiness schools and centers, like our very own School of Happiness and Wellbeing at CT University, should be created wherein students are involved in stress-busting exercises/activities and these are delivered as a part of their education curriculum.

Another suggestion I would like to give is that universities should focus on Disaster or Crisis Management by starting the need-based courses and programs. Having a Centre for Disaster Management in Each University is a good idea.

Moreover, from time to time the University should organize film shows, FDPs, Webinars, Expert Talks on need-based topics for the benefit of students, staff, and faculty.

We can make sure that the curriculum delivers information on the history of occurrence and impact of various disasters and calamities/crisis such as the Great Bengal Famine of 1943, the plight of the partition of India in 1947, the outbreak of the plague, and the COVID-19 pandemic that India has witnessed

The faculty, staff, and students must be provided hands-on-training for crisis management.

It was a very well informed discussion with Mr. Sadawarti. He gave some prestigious tips on how colleges can run courses to meet the needs of the students, how universities can aid the students financially, and various other policy changes that can be implemented to better the education system.

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June 30, 2020