The problem of document security is global and not limited to India alone. Our approach, however, is completely skewed and current solutions are nowhere close to solving the problem, says Subramanian Narayanaswamy, Managing Director of TRS Forms and Services, in an interaction with ENN

TRS has been projected as an innovative technology-based solution provider in the education vertical. How do you view it?
TRS is among the pioneers in technology solution providers in the education space in India. TRS works as an end-toend solution provider in data scanning, imaging and software solutions. We stand apart from other players because of our advanced and innovative technology solutions. Currently, TRS is a leading ITES provider that focusses on data-centric technology solutions for the education and government sector.

TRS is strongly focussed on research, innovation, developing and providing technology solutions rather than selling products. TRS has a strong resident IP with a completely indigenously developed multifarious product portfolio.

You say that TRS products and solutions are unique and innovative and that is the reason for your success so far. Can you substantiate this statement?
I am very passionate about technology and that is the reason for having an R&D division in TRS. I can proudly say that TRS is the only SME in India in this vertical to have a full-fledged R&D division which even big corporates do not have. Roughly, around 10 per cent of our turnover is being spent on R&D and that is paying dividends now. This has led to the introduction of automated solutions in the examination process. Today, we are proud to say that such a process is being widely used by the universities and education boards all over India. Some outstanding products which are the result of our R&D are FireEye (Automatic Dummy Numbering), eSekure (Ultimate Document Security), eMarquer (On Screen Marking), eXtractpro (OMR Software) and TRS Smart Scanner (OMR Hybrid Scanner).

“When a person with a good aptitude for work has full belief in his leader, only then will he perform. It becomes easy for the leader to guide him properly and extract the best out of him.”

Which of your products would you prefer to choose and why?
Undoubtedly my choice would be eSekure. This is a global product. The best part is that this solution is not restricted to any particular vertical. In my view, eSekure is a simple but powerful solution combined with lesser cost. That makes this product a customers’ delight since they spend less but get more than what they want. It does not require any investment at all from the customer’s side. It makes any document 100 per cent secure, tamper-proof and also provides instantaneous verification possible even on mobile. Introducing eSekure on certificates and transcripts will add credibility to the university/institution.

What in your opinion makes eSekure an outstanding product?
The logic that has been used to devise this solution is unique and has not been tried by anybody so far. At first glance, some people write it off as any other QR Code product. Some even claim that they have already introduced this process on their certificates. Once they understand the eSekure process, then they accept the uniqueness of this solution. There are alternative methods like eTranscript or Central Repository or QR Code which has been tried world over. eSekure is the only solution which is simple, powerful and most importantly, cost effective. We have successfully implemented the same in a few prestigious universities in India. Tell us about your other products Fire- Eye and eMarquer

FireEye, the flagship product of TRS was introduced in 2011. This is the product which brought TRS into the lime light amongst the Universities and School Boards. This is the product which made everybody to accept that only TRS can provide innovative and unique technology based solutions. FireEye, again an outcome of TRS R&D, has been registered for patent. FireEye is used for automatic dummy numbering on answer booklet and data capturing. This has brought an end to the manual numbering and data entry along with the related serious manual errors. Now the process has become fast and accurate. With the results coming on time without any issue, the student community will have more faith on the university/ institution and on the examination process as a whole.

eMarquer is the On Screen Marking (OSM) software for the essay type of examinations. Again, TRS has been the first Indian company to come out with this solution. This process involves digitisation of the answer booklets and makes the images available for valuation online or in the Lan network for the valuators to work on the screen. TRS has introduced digitisation process both with cutting and without cutting of the answer booklet. The process as such has many advantages compared to the manual evaluation. This solution is still in the infant stage and a few universities and school boards have tried so far.

What is your business vision and how are you charting the plans to achieve it?
I always believe that there is no shortcut or substitute for hard work. If you are one among the crowd, then you have no sense of achievement and spend most of the time fighting for your share in the market. I do not like to compete but always interested in creating competition. This is possible only if we have a unique product or solution which is required by the customer. By doing this, we have the early bird advantage. Since I am involved in continuous R&D, I always try to be one step ahead of others. My vision is always to put my footprint on whatever I do. Always try to be unique and not compromise on quality.

How do you approach leadership?
A leader should be a person who has good domain knowledge and wants to really lead his team. He must be good in communication. He must not differentiate or be biased with the subordinates. I believe in giving responsibility with accountability to my subordinates. I will give moral support and also guide them whenever they require my help. Give them good training on their job before giving the responsibility. Constantly update them on the current technology and encourage them to use the latest technology and improve their skill and productivity. When a person with a good aptitude for work has full belief in his leader, only then will he perform. It becomes easy for the leader to guide him properly and extract the best out of him.

How do you maintain the balance between your personal and business life?
In the initial days, it was difficult to balance personal life and business life. I had to sacrifice lot of things in the personal life for the sake of achieving big in business. In the past 4 to 5 years, I have created and trained a second line of managers who now take care of day to day activities of the business and allow me to concentrate on my favourite R&D. Hence, now I am able to share my time judiciously between personal and business. In situations where both clashed, I decide based on the situation and priority.

What qualities do you think are important to make a successful entrepreneur?
Any work you do, do it with joy and enthusiasm. Grab any opportunity that comes across. Prepare well and give 200 per cent to execute the job well. Success will automatically come.

In a short span of 5 years, NComputing has deployed over 13 lakh seats in India and shared computing devices in over 50,000 government schools across the country. Excerpts from an interaction with Manish Sharma, VP – Asia Pacific, NComputing Inc

How does NComputing help in making the country digitalised?
NComputing tries to spread the benefits to millions of students and the underprivileged workforce across the world that do not have the privilege of access to computers due to budget constraints faced by organisations and institutions. There are schools located in the rural areas of the country where they find it difficult to access the technology they require for making the school digitalised. NComputing has reached them and has helped in setting up a computing infrastructure at a much lower price.

NComputing has been the enabler for providing computing/digital access to millions of people – not only in India, but also globally. With its array of affordable desktop virtualisation (also called shared computing) solutions, the company is working closely with the central government, majority of the state governments, and with many nongovernment agencies in the country to enable digitisation in the country by making computing solutions available at the most economical price point so that the benefits of computing reach far and wide.

Please give us a business overview of NComputing, its offerings for various sectors, revenues and performance.
NComputing’s mission is to enable everyone in the world to have access to computing at an affordable cost. The NComputing solution is based on a simple fact: today’s PCs are so powerful that the vast majority of applications only use a small fraction of the computer’s capacity. NComputing’s virtualisation software and hardware tap this unused capacity so that it can be simultaneously shared by multiple users. Over a million NComputing seats have been sold to thousands of organisations to slash their computing costs by as much as 70 per cent and electric consumption by 90 per cent.

In the education sector, every subsegment (primary, secondary, college, university, training centres) needs to have computer labs or computers in classrooms so that students can learn about computers and learn their subjects on the computer through e-learning programmes (for example, english, science, math). Pretty much all educational institutions have limited funds for computer equipment. We enable them to use their existing budget and stretch it so that they can double or triple the number of students who can have computer access for the same cost.

In the business sector, there are many small and medium businesses that also have limited funds and watch every rupee of spending. Since most business users only use the computer for accounts, web or other low-intensity work, they use at most 5 per cent of the PC’s power. We enable them to share that computer’s excess capacity with many more users. They also like NComputing because they have to maintain far fewer PCs than before. In government, we provide affordable computing for government offices (municipal, state, central) in urban as well as rural areas. In addition to government offices, NComputing is also a great fit for community computing centres and e-governance projects.

How does NComputing make computing accessible and affordable?
In a short span of 5 years alone, NComputing has deployed over 13 lakh seats in India, which is helping in transforming the lives of over 2 crore users in the country, daily. These 13 lakh seats comprise 5 lakh seats under government education (through various projects), 4 lakh seats in private education including schools, colleges, training centres, universities, etc; and another 4 lakh seats in SMBs and enterprises – these mostly focussed at verticals like manufacturing, service oriented organisations. The NComputing solutions are built specifically to break the price barrier, and have a unique way to enable computing access for people from different customer segments at a fraction of the cost of the traditional all-PC set up. While initially it was difficult for people to break away from the conventional/traditional way of computing, over time, as they realised the value that a revolutionary technology such as NComputing can deliver at half (or even lesser) the cost of the traditional computing set up. Its adoption across domains and verticals such as education, business, government, manufacturing, banking and finance, retail, and so on, has grown dramatically.

Please elaborate on your solutions for schools. How many countries have adopted them so far? How have these schools benefitted from these solutions?
There are a million public schools in India, and the vast majority of them cannot afford to provide their students with a sufficient number of computers. Our solution enables a school to set up a 40- seat computer lab for less than the cost of 10 standalone PCs. We are growing rapidly worldwide, mostly in developing nations like India. Over the next 5 years, the growth of computing will be in the emerging markets and underserved markets. Emerging markets are wellknown – these are the countries where PC penetration is still less than 300 per 1,000 population. What is also interesting (and often overlooked) are what we call “underserved” markets. So, there is still a large need for additional computing – if only the cost was more affordable. So, we see tremendous opportunity to bring affordable computing to the next billion people around the world. All the state governments are increasing the budget for the computer education. Their aim is to give computer education from the school level itself.

What are your views and perspective on the current demand for your product in the Indian market?
NComputing is an ideal product for the Indian market, making computing simpler, affordable and extremely energy efficient. The value the product can deliver is being understood by the government as well. Over 15 state governments have either deployed or are seriously evaluating this technology for their various projects. India is a huge potential market for NComputing and therefore it is a focussed country for the company. We are investing in teams and strengthening our channel and support network to service the rapidly growing customer base.

From your global experience of digitisation what are the biggest and immediate roadblocks that you foresee in the implementation of India’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme?
In India, the key challenges in achieving 100 per cent computer digitisation include limited funds for setting up and managing IT infrastructure, limited staff, acute power shortage; dependence on power backup systems and related costs; poor connectivity due to location in remote areas, and so on. Considering this scenario, ‘Making India Digital’ programme is a great way to develop the digital backbone of the country. There is no denying the fact that facilitating more and more computing access can go a long way in enabling digitisation of an economy, especially when it comes to emerging economies. This is true for India also. Hence, there is a great need to create a strong pool of computer literate people who will take India to the next level. The Indian government has been playing its part in enabling the spread of ICT in the country. However, leaving everything to the government is perhaps not the right approach; private sector also must support the government and play its part in making this endeavour successful. NComputing’s initiative to make computing affordable has also been a step in the same direction

What is relevant to students will be the guiding factor for institutions, believes Lux Rao, CTO – Technology Services, HP India Sales. In conversation with ENN, he emphasises on the importance of connecting with the student community on a plane that resonates with their learning priorities

How is the confluence of the four forces – cloud, mobility, big data and social media – creating a robust network for better solutions in education vertical?In this context, how do you see HP’s role in bringing a paradigm shift in education sector in India?
The confluence of the four forces namely cloud, mobility, big data and social media has democratised technology in a big way. As it has for businesses, this confluence of technologies has also touched the education domain in an unprecedented manner enabling content and context to a connected institute. At HP, we believe that this disruptive change enables great automation for the education sector; be it for experiential learning for the student or comprehensive tools for better managing the school, college or university.

When was HP Education Cloud launched? How successful has it been leveraging the massive opportunities in India?
HP Education Cloud was soft launched 3 months ago and has seen quick successes in schools and colleges across the country. Simplicity of use, single unified portal, subscription-based billing and service standards have been the driving factors. We are now looking at an aggressive GTM to reach out to schools and colleges across the country.

As several global firms are eyeing the Indian education market, what is the business strategy for IT leaders like HP in view of the ‘Digital India’ programme?
We believe that students should be engaged with learning tools that leverage emerging technologies such as Cloud, Mobility and MOOCs that provide an experiential training to students and skill seekers. This will create a new generation of digital natives who are conversant and prepared for the challenges of the increasingly pervasive digital-powered economies around the world. This will enhance the collective learning index (as opposed to studying for marks) and increase the employability factor.

Has HP done any impact assessment after its solutions been implemented in educational institutions in India? If so what are the insights?
While there are obvious gains on productivity and operational efficiencies by way of streamlined workflows on processes such as admissions, examinations, HR, finance et al, the biggest impact is in terms of the learning quotient for students. Initial pilots that were carried out indicated a 49 per cent higher test scores over just 2-3 months for the test group that were provided the tools vis-à-vis the group that were not provided the tools.

As HP has massive global presence, has it been easy to get a breakthrough in educational institutions in India?
The education segment has nascent opportunities for integrated solutions. HP Future school, as envisioned 3 years ago, has been the bulwark of these developments. This is a pioneering effort and the concept of a single stop learning-automation solution is unprecedented. We are putting in efforts to pursue the future school vision and solutions such as Education Cloud, VideoBook, SIMS (Student Information Management Solution) are the first tangible results of our program. We have several innovative solutions and enhancements planned in our roadmap for the education segment in India.

The Digital India programme is now on ground. What, according to you, will it take to make this programme successful?
Our Future School vision resonates very well with the Digital India objectives and we are confident that our solutions will provide impetus for skill building initiatives.

What are the roadblocks that you see in this process as things unfold?
Resistance to change and mindsets are the key roadblocks. We are confident that the gains experienced by early adopters will be the motivating factor for mass scale adoption. We are also working on driving awareness around education technology & technology for education that would provide a framework for accelerating the technology adoption.

Do you think there is a need for a paradigm shift in educational institutions for better teachinglearning outcomes and skill development?
It is important to connect with the generation in a way that is reflective of their learning behavior. For instance, the current student community can be classified as digital natives that are at home with Cloud and mobile Apps (although they may not know it consciously).

We believe that connecting in a way that makes learning a fun experience is the best approach. For instance, HP VideoBook is a solution that aggregates the best of videos from across the globe and provides relevant snippets of information. This enhances learning and provides a holistic view of concepts. This makes learning a very enjoyable experience.

How do you see the accessibility and affordability of education solutions offered by IT giants such as HP as many of these are targeted towards public and private schools and private universities?
Technology has made it possible to provide global standard tools at affordable rates. What was hitherto available only to elite institutions can now be implemented on Opex models. Institutions such as Xavier University have fully leveraged tools such as HP Education Cloud to create a Digital University that stays relevant to the student communities with a slew of learning tools whilst having a campus ERP that covers the gamut of automation needs of a university.

Do IT firms see a volume business in state-run educational institutions?
Yes and concurrent technologies namely cloud et al make it very viable to address the needs of the volume business. Technology is a great equaliser and democratisation of technology tools via cloud makes it possible to have global grade solutions at affordable rates.

Do you think education policy makers and administrators are taking long to adopt to digital solutions in their educational institutions?
The availability of affordable Internet, cloud based technologies, enabling and empowering policies and willing institutions has created the perfect environment. Hitherto, one or the other factors were short and hence resulted in rather slow adoptions but the current context is optimal.

Is it lack of finance or mindset that hampers digitisation of educational institutions in India?
It is a combination of both factors. While the mindset itself is a transient factor, it is important that technology providers ‘right-price’ their solutions and offer excellent value to stay relevant to the education domain. Solutions that are being offered on pay-per-use model (read Opex model) that can scale as needed are very attractive to institutions as typically they need low/no upfront investments (read Capex).

Most current solutions are built on archaic technology frameworks and are woefully out-of-context with the current generation. It is important to connect with the student community on a plane that resonates with their learning priorities and that will be one of key factors in driving adoption. In short, what is relevant to students will be the guiding factor for institutions.

The challenges and opportunities that India’s potential digital revolution will present are enormous. There is immense hope and hype around the ambitious Digital India programme. The journey has just begun. Elets News Network reads the fine print

The announcement of the Digital India programme has been received with a lot of enthusiasm from the Indian corporate sector. For long, we have been listening and discussing the impact that technological interventions can bring to the education sector in India. News revolving developments was also limited to politicians, academicians and the industry recognising the merits of technology. However, never before had there been such a clear and visible push towards digitisation from the corridors of power.

The time for hesitation is over. The time now is to act. The announceament of the Digital India programme has triggered a lot of hope about the boost the corporate sector will get. Opportunities will be huge.

In a favourable scenario such as this, the engagement between the private sector and the government is only set to grow. One of the primary reasons behind this will be the government’s inability to meet the demands of higher education with limited public resources. One challenge that India faces at this point of time is heightening its funding for promoting research and improving quality. The participation of the corporate sector towards this end will be crucial. The government mechanism for funding and assistance is limited to maintenance and salaries. This approach does not manage to look into curriculum and quality improvement. This is one crucial area that the corporate sector can be roped in for participation.

India still lives in its villages. The quality of education in the rural areas and the interiors need utmost attention. Though recent times have seen interest by start-ups to cater to this section, private investment in this area has been negligent. Private universities have managed to fill this void to some extent. However, the impact towards improving the quality, access and affordability has not been addressed. Neglecting villages and tier II and tier III cities will fail India’s future both in terms of education and the Digital India programme.

Skill development is another area that India needs to urgently build. Time and again, we hear of India’s demographic dividend in the coming years and how India needs to take urgent steps to bridge the gap between the knowledge and skills quotient of university graduates and the demands of the industry. India needs to develop a skilled workforce if it has to claim its rightful place in future world order. Things, as they stand today, are worrying. Reports after report have pointed to the unemployability factor among young graduates and post-graduates and this will be one area where all eyes will be on us.

In India, we breed a habit of blaming the government for all ills that plague our nation and society. The corporate sector and the government need to work hand in hand if India has to overcome issues plaguing the development of our education sector.

Emerging Opportunities
> Indian education industry is growing at an average CAGR of 14 per cent
> The size of business was $50 billion in 2011
> Expected to reach $87 billion by the year end
> Higher education poised for a growth of 18% per year till 2020
> India’s economy is expected to grow at a fast pace
> India has the opportunity to become a prominent R&D destination

Education has experienced immense benefits of technology and is poised to scale to a new era of education delivery prompting a digital way of learning, says Fr. Paul Fernandes, S.J., Vice-Chancellor of Xavier University Bhubaneswar, in conversation with ENN

Being a private university, has it been easier for you to adopt digital and campus management solutions compared to central and state universities?
It is relatively faster to take decisions once we are convinced on the efficacy of our initiatives. Since we had the autonomy, I had opportunity and privilege to move this project forward from initial vision to its completion. In July 2013, we were planning for the future of the newly created Xavier University. We looked 5 years ahead and aimed to develop and create the digital university with complete and holistic ICT solutions. Our vision is to provide the best quality of education and we see technology as a key enabler. Our objective was to automate the campus management and learning solutions and we explored potential solutions in the market before zoning in on the HP Education Cloud. We were cautioned about the many risks and hurdles on our path of creating the ICT enabled learning, teaching, campus ERP etc.

How do you see digital solutions impacting the university in terms of learning-teaching methods and campus management?
Digital Solutions offer a better way of engaging with the students and providing a platform enabling holistic learning. Technology is bringing a confluence of content, context and connect to education in a big way. In recent past, education has experienced immense benefits of technology and is poised to scale to a new era of education delivery methodology prompting a digital way of learning. We are mindful of the challenges Indian professional and skilled workforce face in 21st century India and global digitally enabled education and economy.

The concept of Digital India should begin with higher education, especially in the professional institutions like medical, law, engineering, etc., and later enter basic traditional universities and colleges, Prof. S Jeelani, Director, Centre for Distance and Virtual Learning, University of Hyderabad, tells Elets News Network

What are the challenge areas which you think that need to be urgently addressed so as to revamp Indian higher education in general and your state?
In India, many national research institutions are involved in excellent work in various applied aspects like rural development, agriculture, geology, meteorology, telecommunications and other fields. Such institutions may be given degree awarding facility by simplifying procedures of the regulatory bodies so that the available infrastructure, laboratories, library, hostels can help facilitate admission to various career and placement oriented courses.

The challenges include strengthening quality; promoting technology based learning; revision of course syllabi and curriculum; accreditation and offering professional courses like medicine, engineering, pharmacy etc to students through a subsidised fee structure by government and private institutions.

What are the new initiatives which you have taken as the Director? Can you suggest if any of them can be implemented at pan-India level?
Offering joint collaborations with the public institutions and collaborations with industries in offering job oriented courses need to be initiated. Promoting technology based and virtual learning for those who cannot come regularly to the university from rural areas is also required.

There have been suggestions that India needs to address the issue of increasing the gross enrolment ratio from 18 per cent to more than 30 per cent. This calls for substantial investment and a paradigm shift in our education policy. How do you see it?
Increase of course enrolment ratio from 18 per cent to 30 per cent is a major challenge where it needs strengthening of existing 700 universities by means of appointment of faculty, administrative staff, etc., in the available vacancies. Jurisdiction of each state university may be expanded at least for two or three states so that colleges in one state can get affiliation with another university in the neighbouring state. Establishment of common resource centres with all common facilities like virtual classrooms, instruments, laboratory facilities, and seminar and conference halls in each state is also required. We should also look at networking of colleges and universities so the lecture in one university can be shared and viewed by other university students. Increase of student enrolment may be given more emphasis in rural and semi- urban areas where there are more dropouts.

The HRD Minister has recently announced the formulation of a new national education policy. What innovative measures do you advocate to ensure that it translates into quality education for all the Indians?
In India, there are more than 15 regulatory bodies like UGC, AICTE, NCTE, MCI, PCI, NCI, Homeo Council of India, etc. These bodies are independently controlling permissions for establishing various courses like medical, pharmacy, engineering, law, agriculture, homeo, etc. If a university wants to support multiple courses, it has to approach various bodies which is time-taking and has more constraints in getting approvals. In such cases, single regulatory body should be established which will monitor all the programmes. Professional courses have huge demand and should be encouraged. More programmes should be offered through virtual learning, ICT and online programmes.

Private universities should be monitored by the national body for conducting quality standards, examinations reforms, and their revenues through the education so as to control the private universities from getting commercialised by simply distributing degree certificates to students without imparting any practical knowledge. Preparation of a national database for the teaching faculty so that the universities can invite the faculty of other universities for guest lectures and other exchange programmes should also be looked into.

Poor faculty and lack of teachers seem to mar Indian education at the primary, secondary and higher levels. How do you plan to address this challenge at your university?
The faculty at the primary, secondary education levels are better numbered when compared with higher education institutions. Though many people have required qualifications, they have not been considered for faculty as they lack experience and exposure. For example, many members of the non-teaching staff are NET, M.Phil and Ph.D. qualified, but they are not taken as teachers because they don’t have teaching experience. Therefore, for the appointment of the faculty, administrative experience in the academic institutions should be considered as teaching experience, so that the teacher positions in the higher education level can be filled up.

At the primary and secondary levels, state government has taken major responsibility in opening of institutions, appointment of teachers, promotions, etc. Therefore, many of the teachers are appointed by the state government under the scheme Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, etc. In case of higher education, most of the faculty is supported by the Centre only for a period of 5 years and the state governments are not getting any block grant for the appointment of teachers even after five years. The central government should allocate more grants to the state governments for the appointment of teachers and also for the infrastructure facilities in the schools and colleges. Also, the Rashtriya Uccha Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has only Rs. 22,000 crore. This grant needs to be increased to the tune of Rs. 1,00,000 crore in a plan period.

There is a concerted push from the government towards Digital India’. Are educational institutes geared up to take it on?
The concept of `Digital India’ needs to be promoted in a phased manner. It should begin with higher education, especially in the professional institutions like medical, law, engineering, etc., and later enter the basic traditional universities and colleges as most of our students are still dependent on the traditional system. Institutions may be encouraged to come forward for ‘Digital India’ by providing infrastructure facilities and laptops to the students. All students may be provided tablet PCs.

Innovation and research by universities drive industries and economic growth in many south East Asian eco omies. When can we expect Indian universities transfer knowledge to industry? How is your university engaging industries?
The funding for state and central universities for innovative research needs to be increased as we have nearly 700 universities and only a few of them get innovative research support.

Are the states geared up to make our education system world class?
Many of the state universities are having the shortage of funds. Some state universities are facing shortage of faculty and infrastructure facilities. Syllabus and curriculum of the courses are also outdated. If the above facilities are fulfilled, the university can become world class.

There is good amount of stress from the Prime Minister on skill development vis-a-vis actualising the benefits of India’s demographic dividend. How well are universities geared up to address the mismatch between the industry demands and the students’ skills?
Syllabus and curriculum need to be revised according to the needs of the industry. Starting of new employment oriented and industry oriented courses in institutions are also required.

Lack of teachers is not the problem, says A P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Rajasthan. In conversation with Elets News Network, he says good and motivated teachers are what universities lack today

What are the challenge areas you think need to be urgently addressed to revamp Indian higher education in general and your state?

Teaching in universities is examination oriented where you memorise things and reproduce them in the examination. It has no relevance to the need of the society/industry. Practical application of the knowledge gained is missing. The challenge is to create job-oriented courses and full weightage should be given to such courses and they should be recognised. For example, a course such as “Master in Car Manufacture” should be created where the student learns all relevant material dealing with manufacturing, marketing, technical skills, hands on with the industry etc., so that he is immediately absorbed in the manufacturing sector and does not have to wait for any training at a later stage.

What are the new initiatives which you have taken as the VC? Can you suggest if any of them can be implemented at pan-India level?

While the teaching faculty is required to teach and guide students and not get involved with administration work, the work of administration is to facilitate the teachers to work and not create hurdles. There should be complete coordination between academic and administration. A nodal committee consisting of members from academic and administration should be formed and meet regularly to set out any bone of contention.

An increase in our gross enrollment ratio calls for substantial investment and a paradigm shift in our education policy. How do you see it?

Education is the key to the success of a country. Increase of gross enrollment number from 18 per cent to 30 per cent is a welcome step. Of course, there are going to be several problems in getting good faculty as well as the financial constraints. However, these should not deter us. Freedom and incentive should be given to teachers to move from one university to another to overcome the difficulty till we are self-sufficient.

Poor faculty and lack of teachers seem to mar Indian education at all levels. How do you plan to address this challenge at your university?

Lack of teachers is not the problem. Good and motivated teachers are what we lack. For this, the selection at the very beginning has to be stringent as one wrong selection has to be tolerated for the next 30 to 35 years. They also give a bad influence to the next generation. After selection, the faculty should be given a free hand to experiment with their ideas and also be accountable and well monitored. Their pay should be lucrative and at the same time, they should be accountable.

There is a concerted push from the government towards ‘Digital India’. Are educational institutes geared up to take it on?

‘Digital India’ is the need of the day and the earlier we accept it, the better it would be. I do agree it is going to be difficult, but that should not deter us, as the best of a person comes only when he faces challenges.

Innovation and research by universities drive industries and economic growth in many South East Asian economies. How is your university engaging industries?

Innovation and research are part and parcel of a university. Many universities have collaborations; MoUs signed with industries and have consultancy services. Our university (Central University of Rajasthan) is just five years old. We have signed MoUs with several universities and the industry. We have facilitated entrepreneurs.

How well are universities geared up to address the mismatch between industry demands and students’ skills?

Skill development is missing from our curriculum and I fully support that a lot has to be done in this direction.

It has been proven conclusively that the government’s administrative machinery does not have any clue about managing institutions of higher learning, says Akshai Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Technological University. Excerpts from an interaction with ENN

What are the challenge areas which you think that need to be urgently addressed so as to revamp Indian higher education in general and your state?

For SFIs (state funded institutions), the major issues include diversion of money paid by students out of the education system, non-payment of proper salaries to the faculty members and inadequate number of faculty members. For government- owned colleges and grant-inaid colleges, bureaucratic management has led to a total loss of morale, with no focus on organisational objectives. After decades of efforts post independence, it has been proven conclusively that the government’s administrative machinery does not have any clue about managing institutions of higher learning. The only way out is to give complete autonomy to the universities and to hand over the existing governmental colleges to universities as constituent units. The state universities may be declared legally as non-governmental institutions so that courts do not apply the governmental service rules to the faculty members, technical staff and non-teaching support staff. The boards/syndicates of universities may be made accountable like Board of Directors in registered companies. For deemed and other types of private universities, which depend upon the fees of students only, there is no way that they can conduct worldclass research and establish world-class learning systems without government support.

What are the new initiatives you have taken as the Vice Chancellor? Can any of them can be implemented on pan-India level?

Each of the following can be implemented at any university in India, provided the bureaucratic system which has chained the state and central universities can be removed:
Practice-orientation in engineering programmes and immersion studies in non-engineering programmes. For this, we have connected every group of colleges with nearby industrial estates. GTU has formed 25 such groups across the state. Special centralised evaluation and mentoring of Master’s thesis after literature survey and midway through the work on research. Annual centralised evaluation and mentoring of the research work by doctoral students.
Re-development of syllabi for designbased and project-based learning system; design orientation to be embedded into the new syllabi and open-ended problems to be included in the practical work. A strong 6-semester spine of design engineering to be included in the syllabi; seamless integration of design and project in the final year.

There have been suggestions that India needs to address the issue of increasing the gross enrollment ratio from 18 per cent to over 30 per cent. How do you see it?

Increasing GER, without addressing the issue of unemployability of university graduates is an unwise policy. First let us reduce the unemployment and underemployment of graduates. As we start getting results from these policies, then as a second step we may go for further increase of GER.

There is a concerted push from the government towards ‘Digital India’. Are educational institutes geared up to take it on?

Most of the SFIs have not invested in making classrooms digital. In most of the government colleges, even digital projectors and accessories are not used by a majority of faculty members. Very few of the colleges are using Learning Management Systems.

Are the states geared up to make our education system world class?

No. India’s administrative system is not willing to release the higher education system from the crippling chains that it has been bound with from the very beginning of the modern university system in the Indian subcontinent. n

Improving quality of educational interventions entails greater significance in the role of a teacher, believes Prof. M. Aslam, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University. In conversation with ENN, he says IGNOU would like to focus on increasing access, equity and quality. Excerpts

Why do we need the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system in India? Is its target learner different from those in other universities?

The ODL system in the country is aimed to redeem the promise of providing access to higher education to all segments of society. For a majority of Indians in villages and small towns, reaching a centre of higher learning is a challenge and the ODL system has to facilitate access to education. We should not wait for learners to come to seats of learning. Instead, learning seats would have to reach out to them wherever they are. Today, IGNOU as a National Resource Centre for Open and Distance Learning, with international recognition and presence, seeks to provide seamless access to sustainable and learner-centric quality education, skill upgradation and training by using innovative technologies and methodologies.
We cater to a unique type of target learners for our programmes. These include traditional teenage school leavers supported by their families or the state, teens forced into labour market for want of support and are in need of education, new learners who as adults want education/ training for horizontal or vertical mobility on their terms, defense personnel and the digital natives who prefer distance modality to the four-walled regimen. We are the first university in the country may be in the world as well, who made appreciable education interventions initially in Tihar Jail and subsequently in about 94 jails across the country. We provide free education to all the inmates.

Have you promoted any key initiative in reaching the unreached?

IGNOU has been mandated to reach out to the marginalised sections of our society. We have responded to the need to initiate special measures to attract learners from the disadvantaged groups. An estimated 690 Special Study Centres address specific educational needs of disadvantaged learners.

There is a lot of talk around ICT, digital learning etc. Since IGNOU is expected to make maximum use of ICT for teaching and learning, what steps have you taken towards ICT upgradation and outreach?

The university is keen to harness the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for enhancing the teaching-learning process. IGNOU became a pioneer in delivering technological mediated education in South-East Asia. National and international agencies acknowledge the significance and contribution of IGNOU in offering quality education. The UNESCO described IGNOU as a “… living embodiment of inclusive knowledge societies in a globalised world”. The Government of Japan acknowledge the role of IGNOU in the delivery of telecast/broadcast based education by awarding the third Japanese Grant for the project “Strengthening of Electronic Media Production Centre in Indira Gandhi National Open University” with an outlay of 787 million yen. As a result of this, a high definition studio has been made operational recently. Multi-media form an important feature of self-instructional materials offered by IGNOU to distance learners.
IGNOU has 4,375 video programmes and 2,258 audio programmes which supplement the printed course materials. Recently, we launched web-based broadcast & telecast channels for the benefit of its students across the country and abroad, who will now be able to access high quality curriculum based programmes and get an opportunity to interact with subject experts in real time through this new initiative.

Poor faculty and lack of teachers seem to mar Indian education at all levels. How do you plan to address this challenge at your university?

When we talk of improving quality of our educational interventions, role of a teacher assumes great significance. In order to improve quality of education, capacity building of teachers has to receive top priority. There are lakhs who need to be trained. The conventional system of training imposes lot of limitations in terms of number to be covered by training. The ODL system has the capability and capacity to undertake training of in-service teachers covering large numbers without compromising quality. IGNOU has signed MOAs with Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim to train about 36,500 inservice teachers. The university has also taken up a project to train about 24,000 in-service teachers, employed by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

There is good amount of stress from the Prime Minister on skill development vis-à-vis actualising the benefits of India’s demographic dividend. How well are universities geared up to address the mismatch between the industry demands and the students’ skills?

I fully agree that skill development in India needs special attention and the Prime Minister had rightly done so. India has set a target of skilling 500 million people by 2022, for which a herculean effort would be required. IGNOU offers several job-oriented programmes in several areas. In particular, I would like to mention about two of them. The first is the Certificate in Motorcycle Service and Repair (CMSR) is aimed towards the structured competency based skill development training for the learners. Any functionally literate person who can read, write and understand and having basic knowledge of motorcycle systems and repair on self-certification basis is eligible for this programme. This is a collaborative project with Hero Motors Limited. The second is Certificate in Bee-Keeping (CIB), which is a skill based programme that requires only an 8th standard qualification.
Consequent upon the Prime Minister’s call of “Skilling India” and in line with the skill development initiatives of MHRD, the university is initiating steps to align some of our existing certificate programmes with the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF). The university has appointed a task force for paying special attention to programmes and courses in vocational and skill based areas. We are also working on our flagship undergraduate programme (B.A. /B.Com) to blend its curriculum with skill-based component so that along with graduation, the students can have some skill competency certification to enhance their employability.

How do you visualise the future of open & distance learning in higher education in India?

The university stands at the threshold of a future envisaged to provide leadership and direction to the ODL system in the country. This brings with it pride at our notable achievements but great responsibility too. This calls for review, reflection, introspection and appropriate action to enhance quality while maintaining and consolidating our best practices. We would like to dedicate ourselves to focus on increasing access, equity and quality. Although, expansion of activities of the university is an achievement in itself, it is equally important to ensure that we consolidate our efforts and design, develop and deliver ‘quality higher education’. It is only the quality of our educational interventions that will help us to make our presence felt nationally and internationally. The importance of technology enabled education, skill development are other changes that we need to keep pace with and to draw advantages. To achieve above, it is important that distance education system is viewed as synergistic with conventional educational systems. The boundary between conventional face-to-face and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) need to be dismantled such that the two approaches are integrative rather than segregating. Given due and equal recognition, ODL will certainly live up to the country’s expectations of providing quality education to the less privileged, upgrade the skills of the aspiring and provide enrichment opportunities wherever they are in demand. n