Jnana Sangama, a two-day conference, which was held in Bangalore on May 27-28, 2016, highlighted the idea of bringing large-scale reforms for facilitating quality education and good content delivery using the power of ICT.
Organised jointly by the Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, and Elets Technomedia, the event focused on Karnataka as a prime destination for Higher Education in India by promoting the state’s model of Best ICT Practices in Higher Education.
TB Jayachandra, Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, inaugurated the two-day conference while Bharat Lal Meena, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, and SV Ranganath, former Chief Secretary and Vice-Chairman, Karnataka State Higher Education Council addressed the inaugural session. The participants of the event included vice chancellors of universities, experts in the education domain and secretaries of Department of Education.
Addressing the gathering, TB Jayachandra, said: “Our vision for Karnataka is to continue to empower students by imparting quality education, enabling skill development opportunities, and facilitating needful resources equally for one and all.”
Kadiyam Srihari, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Education, Government of Telangana, who was the Chief Guest at the conference, observed that higher education in the country was moving towards “transformative change” with the proposed “new education policy” by the Central Government. According to him, ICT was being treated as a modern tool to enhance the quality of education, which can make significant contribution towards improving teaching and learning at all stages of higher education.
Education Disparity
We are mobilising our resources and this year (2016-17) we have presented a budget of Rs.1,15,000 crore and are spending nearly Rs. 18000 crores on total education
Observes, the sub-standard quality of classroom education conttributing in the overall degradation inviting serious issues in higher education like low enrollment ratio, and gender gap.
Quality Education
The higher education strength of India in terms of students is third largest in the world next only to China and the United States. Unlike China, India has the advantage of English as a primary language of higher education and research
Stresses on the availability of manpower as the backbone for the development of the state of Karnataka and suggests the institutions of higher education to provide education in such a way that they become competitive.
Revised Curriculum
Possible changes can be made in curriculum ensuring that more autonomy is granted. Vice Chancellors need not be just people of competence but also people of charisma, character, commitment and compassion
Believes that the higher education sector in India is facing various challenges and it is the need for promoting excellence while seeking expansion of the higher education sector.
Lacking Infrastructure
Our vision is to integrate all institutes in Karnataka in terms of facilities to students. If a student is studying in ‘X’ institute then he should have the best of facilities in institute ‘Y’
Feels a dire need to upgrade the processes of imparting education and ICT is the only way forward. Support from National Informatics Centre (NIC), will prepare for a vision and convert it into programme for execution.
End-to-End Solution
We have made the entire system digitised which promotes transparency on the part of both the college and the university although through our system much of the hassles of day to day functioning are done away with
Talks about his latest innovative product CAREEVS ( Campus Affiliation Registration Examination Enquiry Verification System) that intends to provide complete end to end solution for any university or board.
Interactive Platform
Mobile Tutor is a dynamic and interactive digital tutorial wherein we create animated content which will induce passion in the students
Tells the basic inspiration of Mobile Tutor is to make the student understand what they are learning and how Mobile Tutor is going to connect with all the stakeholders in one platform for the benefit of the students.
Broad Connectivity
IGNOU has the privilege of having four DTH (Direct To Home) telecast channels for round the clock teaching through DTH telecast which will make a major shift in the overall learning environment of the education atmosphere in the country.
Views a paradigm shift in the nature of students they are addressing and that the students can be rightly called digital natives and not digital immigrants.
DTH Education
Through our advanced level training programmes we impart training to lecturers to improve their teaching abilities. 1 GB connectivity is supported to the universities and in Karnataka around 29 universities are already utilising the services
Informs that 20 colleges in Karnataka are using their broadband network and that 75 % of the cost is borne by MHRD.
Future Workforce
Our survey tells us that close to 90 % of the graduated students are not employable and hence companies induct students in their system, train them over a period of 6-9 months at a cost of 10-15 lakhs just to make them tenable
Believes in investing on time and building an ecosystem where people are ready to get into industry in a much faster pace.
Inadequate Leaders
With 700 universities and thousands of colleges we will need efficient leaders to drive these institutions to excellence. A good leader will always pull through the best out of an average team
Says that there is a big vacuum in the leadership space of educational institutions as there is dearth of well trained and experts educationists.
Logistics Solutions
One challenge that the examination system is facing is that of impersonation. The image in the soft copy of the hall ticket can be removed by anyone and hence impersonation takes place
Informs about solutions they provide wherein the hassles of logistics can be overthrown and the question paper can be printed right at the venue of the exam an hour before the exam starts
Online Classroom
The idea of online classroom attendance is great but unfortunately most schools in our country do not have that facility
Says that at the university level the poll data of period wise attendance of all the affiliated colleges can be easily acquired through the GPS System
Education Transformation
We should create a situation where the interest of the students generates automatically and the teachers should have the enthusiasm to teach them and educate them
Stresses that education is informal where the student learn certain things without the patronage of the teacher like Ekalavya from the Mahabharata
Technology Empowerment
To what extent we have to adopt technology is a question we have to ask. We don’t know whether this technology is better than the old one
Remarks that the industry expects certain skill set from the candidate but unfortunately lack of internet facility poses big challenge for students in Karnataka
Faculty Supplies
The purpose of sending students abroad is to get enriched as there is no dearth of faculty supplies in American Universities or any Western Universities
Asserts that technology now has become the indispensable factor in education, irrespective of the level of education
Productive Workforce
Our desired outcome from learning is to be able to get a skilled, job ready and a productive workforce by imparting technical and soft skill training
Suggests the courses should be synchronised with the market requirement and should be a combination of the theory with the practical
Class Education
It is not enough to have good teachers, good buildings and a group of good students if they cannot interact with each other. A student must understand what the teacher is saying, assimilate it and reproduce in the exams
Informs that the government of India has just brought in the new draft of National Building Code which mentions 0.75 seconds as code for educational buildings
Research Scholars
I think when we talk of undergraduate courses we should go for breadth and when we are talking about postgraduate courses or research then we should have depth in knowledge
Remarks about quality that varies with different strata of society and expecting the same quality at centres of excellence is not a good idea
Value Education
We do not teach value education to our science students, such as language and literacy education, social responsibility, ethical behaviour, national pride. Unless we integrate these there cannot be good citizens
Remarks our graduates to be industry ready, and they should go to the universities for more knowledge as universities are knowledge providers
Lacking Infrastructure
I look at three aspects in any university, one is the teaching and learning process, the second is research and innovation and the third one is entrepreneurship
Says Higher education has also socio economic responsibility in the context of where it exists and thus we should think globally and act locally
Assessment Tools
Implementing of unique assessment tools for affiliation of colleges is a challenging task for universities because there are many complaints in the ways colleges are affiliated
Informs about students of affiliated colleges having access to e-books and e-journals equipped with portable cameras that can read scripts for the blind
Funds Inadequacy
We have seen that more than 86 percent of students who goes to the US for higher studies do not return to their home country. This brain drain has to be reversed for a brain gain for our homeland
Thinks the public private partnership can act as a catalyst in order to boom higher education
Teaching Challenge
After studying for four years the student does not know where to go and thus the stakeholders have to sit down together for a 360 degree change in the higher education scenario
Says everything is available on whatsapp and hence a teacher has to really work overnight for tomorrow’s classes, else the students will not be impressed
Socio-political Development
A serious challenge facing the higher education is the absence of synchronisation of policies between the UGC and other bodies and the respective state governments
Remarks that the students are giving more emphasis to individualistic attitude, material comfort and are not bothered about the society
Online Payments
By using our online payment system the institutions, the students and the parents at tier II and III cities have benefitted in a big way
Says that they have installed point of sale terminals wherein parents can go and make payments which is both cost and time effective
Knowledge Impartation
The knowledge impartation should be in such a way that it should impact the lives of the students so that they can give something back to the society
Believes that lack of communication between the administration and the students can hamper the reputation of the college
Faculty Evaluation
I think a transparent faculty evaluation is very important so that the faculty is also made responsible or accountable as to what he or she communicates
Tells about the development of their mobile app where results and other student related activities take place
Student Involvement
One of the best practices we should follow is involve the students in the process of impartation. The technique is called ‘Z to A’, which means answer first and discuss next
Thinks that universities should emphasise that their students become wiser rather than simply acquiring knowledge
Quality Education
Many universities are having shortage of funds and it takes a lot of time to extract the sanctioned money of the government, instead it is better for the university to raise their own finance
Feel that technological universities are facing the dual problem of qualified faculties and quality of education simultaneously
Performance Evaluation
We have made it compulsory to pass the skill based papers which were not taken seriously by the students otherwise
Informs with the advanced technology in application the performance evaluation of faculties has become easy
Scholarship Programmes
In the recent past the state of Karnataka has taken a slew of measures in the higher education department with regards to implementation of ICT which has been appreciated by the Hon’ble Education Minister
Talks about enabling the students of Jammu and Kashmir through various scholarship programmes to study in other parts of the country
Learning Methods
We follow 70:30 learning method, wherein 70 percent of the student’s learning has to come from off the classroom and the rest 30 percent has to come from inside
Teaching empowerement
If the teachers impose themselves on the students then the students will learn only to pass the exam and will neither respect nor carry anything what the teacher teaches
Motivational aspects
The students are looking up to their seniors rather than teachers for motivational aspects and we’ve roped in our alumnus to communicate with them in any manner possible via any media
Skill development
The syllabus bound curriculum leaves very little room for exploring and experimenting with anything else
Student involvement
Student involvement in a number of internal and external projects of the college which keeps the student interested is essential
Tools & technologies
Our virtual lab is fully equipped and students have to go there compulsorily and our civil engineering students are directly put on site since we have ties with Nagarju
Eligibility Criteria
To increase the skill levels of the students, we try to segregate them on the basis of their eligibility and try to uplift and motivate the weaker ones
