Although the university is all geared up to deliver tech-enabled education, difficulties often arise in its adoption, says Nupur Prakash, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women. In an interaction with ENN, she says that the bottlenecks arise either in the form of infrastructure or on account of the closed mindset of teachers and students who still believe that the chalk and talk method is the best mode of education delivery
Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi
Delhi Technical University for Women
As a premier institute for women in the field of technical education, how well do you think has the university succeeded in addressing the gender gap observed in the workforce at tech companies?
Every year, 300 women engineers pass out from this University and get placed in prestigious Indian companies and abroad. Most of the companies visit our campus to recruit our girls to correct their skewed gender ratio.
There has been a concerted push from the HRD ministry towards technology enabled learning. Being an engineering institute, what are the initiatives that you have streamlined at your university in this regard?
We have recently got high-speed National Knowledge Network (NKN) connectivity on our campus which can be used to stream live lectures and Webinars. We have introduced electives in our B.Tech, MCA and M.Tech programmes where students can opt for digital lecture series from NPTEL (National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning) which provides e-learning through online Web and Video courses in engineering, science and humanities streams.
Any plans to engage with private players to take technology enabled learning to the next level?
No, not in the near future. However, we are looking for cloud-based campus management solution for automating different activities of our University.
“The bottlenecks are due to inadequate infrastructure and the closed mindset of teachers and students who still believe that the chalk and talk method is the best mode of education delivery”
What in your view is the impact of the use of technological resources and ICT on the quality and accessibility of education? How has it helped the students and faculty?
We are able to offer more number of electives using ICT as good quality lectures and course material is available online these days. Moreover, students can enroll for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and take lessons any- time, anywhere on the subjects of their interest.
How well is your university geared to imbibe this new phenomenon of tech-enabled education? What are the major challenges or bottlenecks that you have faced while implementing the same?
We are geared up to deliver tech-enabled education, but often face difficulties in terms of adoption. The bottlenecks are sometimes due to inadequate infrastructure and sometimes on account of the closed mindset of teachers and students who still believe that the chalk and talk method is the best mode of education delivery.
What are the other priority areas for the university in the near future?
We would like to upgrade the existing lab, buildings and IT infrastructure of our campus to improve the overall academic ambiance of the campus. We have recently started doctoral programmes in various branches of engineering, sci- ence and technology and would like to improve upon our research culture, industry tie-ups and academic alliances.
