The Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched two new initiatives; Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) and Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT) recently to boost and empower teaching faculty. Dr. Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development launched these schemes.
According to him these two schemes will facilitate and empower teaching faculty in the long run. These two schemes offer myriad of opportunities to the committed teachers. Mr. Prakash Javedkar, Union Minister of Human Resource Development also lauded these initiatives in his video message. He also put an emphasis on the fact that ‘ARPIT’ and ‘LEAP’ are set to transform the quality of teaching in India and will also focus on improving the leadership qualities.
Leadership qualities are a must for those who are running academic and administrative wings of the academic Institutions. Before we blow the victory bugle for the higher education India let us examine the features of these Initiatives.
LEAP
Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) is a three weeks leadership development training programme (2 weeks domestic and one-week foreign training) for second level academic functionaries in publicly funded higher education institutions. The main objective of this Initiative is as follows:
- To prepare the second tier teaching heads to assume leadership skills in the future.
- To facilitate senior faculties with the skills like ‘problem-solving, stress handling, team building work, understanding and challenges of governance in HEIs, financial and general administration.
15 NIRF top-ranked Indian Institutions namely, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee; IIT Kanpur, IIT (BHU); NIT Trichy; Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata; Indian Institute of Bombay; TISS Mumbai; University of Hyderabad; NIEPA, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Jamia Milia Islamia; BHU and AMU have been selected for the implementation of LEAP Programme.
The foreign Universities identified for collaboration are also within the top 100 in the world global rankings. University of Michigan; NTU Singapore; Purdue University, USA; University of Chicago; University of Pennsylvania/ Stanford; Monash University; London School of Economics/ Oxford University; the University of Cambridge and the University of Virginia, USA are the top Institutes identified for the training.
ARPIT
It is an initiative to boost online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the MOOCs (Massive Open and Online courses) platform SWAYAM. The main features of this Initiative are as follows:
- In the first phase, 75 discipline-specific institutions have been identified as National resource centers.
- They have been entrusted to prepare online training material with a focus on the latest developments in the discipline, pedagogical improvements, new and emerging trends and methodologies for devising an effective curriculum
- In the current year, the NRC’s are expected to serve around 13 lakh faculty of the total 15 lakh faculty in higher education.
The courses selected covers the diverse range of topics such as Indian culture & Heritage studies, Pedagogical innovations, Personal-Emotional Development and Counselling, ICT in Science and Maths teaching, Urdu Hindi Literature and Linguistics, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry, Physics, Biotechnology, Aerospace, and so on. Anyone who wants to register for the online refresher courses on SWAYAM platform can click athttps://swayam.gov.in/courses/publicThe course includes a 40-hour module with 20 hours of non-video content and 20 hours of video content.
- They are highly flexible and can be done at one’s one pace built-in Assessment exercises and activities are part of the academic progression.
- There will be a terminal assessment which can be either written or an online examination.
- The faculties who have successfully completed the course will be certified at the end of the course.
- The courses will commence from 1st November 2018 and will end on 28th February 2019.
- The training materials will be made available online through SWAYAM.
- All in-service teachers and those who are seeking career advancement, irrespective of their subject and seniority can register and complete the refresher course.
- It will revolutionize the professional development of faculty by leveraging ICT and online technology platform of SWAYAM.
IGNOU, IITs, Central Universities, IISc, IUCAA, IITs, IISERs, NITs, National Institute of Technical Teachers and Training (NITTTRs) State Universities under the Ministry’s Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) are selected to serve as UGC’s Human Resource Development Centres (HRDCs). How Schemes like IMPRESS, SPARC, ARPIT, and LEAP can facilitate teaching faculty?
It will have a major impact on providing the best international expertise to address major national problems. Schemes like SPARC can really elevate India’s position in the global rankings. The schemes like LEAP can really instill a sense of professional touch among teachers those who aspire to become a global leader. They will be able to counter financial and general administrative problems. The announcement of new initiatives of the HRD ministry is an extremely welcome move. If India wants to achieve its growth potential and deliver employment outcomes, its new education policy must be designed on the four pillars of excellence, expansion, equity, and employability. This will develop a system that will bring equilibrium to balances cost, quality, and scale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=NMzG4RHHlZs
