At the Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning (SCDL), Pune, the desideratum is crystal clear–offering students the best education. But in a fast-changing world, this means keeping pace with constant technological changes. The aim of the institute is to produce cutting edge professionals using teaching methodologies that could transform a college student into a valuable industry asset, and WizIQ was a natural choice for them.

 The Challenge In their quest to provide the students with best possible education, SCDL found itself on the horns of a dilemma. They wanted their distance learners to be as accomplished as regular students. It was a tall order, till WizIQ entered into the picture.

“Initiative to use WizIQ is an attempt towards bridging the distance between the teachers and the taught.” Swati Mujumdar, Director, SCDL

 WizIQ answered their pressing issues with rich features such as a user friendly interface, easy integration with SCDL’s learning management system, high performance content library and real-time virtual classroom technology. WizIQ’s smart technology bridged the geographical gap between professors and students from remote areas as well as foreign countries. To top it all, the students did not settle for second best. They got the ambience, facilities, access and feel of a real time classroom. With WizIQ integrating its resources with SCDL’s learning management system, classes proceeded like they would in the physical presence of teachers  and students. Even class discussions and clarification of doubts happened in a split second, with ease.

The modus operandi
SCDL’s distance learning students were able to see faculty members and hear the lectures using WizIQ virtual classroom. What’s more, they could get the teacher’s attention whenever they were in doubt by simply ‘raising their hand’ – just as in a regular classroom. For the distance education students, this meant a revolutionary change in their approach to education. It gave them competitive advantage without forcing them to relocate

The achievement
SCDL started using the WizIQ platform on July 24, 2010, much to the delight of students, who took to the classes instantly. They had 250 classes of 75 minutes duration each in the first seven months, with a whooping 4,500 students attending them.-

The USP
WizIQ’s success at SCDL is not a simple case of good sales pitch or advertising. It is the result of WizIQ’s innate understanding of students’ needs. Students used this platform to stay in touch with teachers, get their queries answered like a regular student, attend and follow sessions easily and even create a databank for future use. Features like chat, virtual hand raising and recordings for revision or for those who missed the class ensured that WizIQ created instant rapport with teachers and students alike. Another important factor for the popularity of the educational platform is the minimal investment or set up needed. The students only need an internet-connected computer for the sessions.

The Future
The way the world is evolving, constraints are irrelevant. Learning should be universal and those disseminating education need to be sensitive to the needs of students who will have to deal with cutthroat competition as soon as they foray into professional life. Things are not easy but WizIQ makes them less difficult. No matter where students are, what their background and aspirations may be, WizIQ gives them an opportunity to realize their dreams. Integrating classroom and online teaching is not only advisable but inevitable. It is how students in the future will be taught. At WizIQ, the needs of tomorrow are gauged today to make the tomorrow better. It is all about reaching out and WizIQ knows how to do just that. For queries, suggestions, feedback or ideas to share, feel free to drop a mail to Kalyan Sarkar, Director, Academic Liaisons, WizIQ.com, at kalyan@wiziq.com or call +91-9216405405 or +91- 9897072888.

 “Odisha has a number of ITIs and Polytechnic colleges to help our youth attain the right skills for having gainful employment in the industry of their choice,” says Dr Chandra Shekhar Kumar. In conversation with Nayana Singh and Kartik Sharma of Elets News Network (ENN)

Please tell us about the measures that are being undertaken in the state of Odisha to ensure that the citizens are adequately trained for being employed in the modern industry.
In order to streamline and pay more attention for improving employability of youths through systematic pattern of training, the government of Odisha has created the new department named Employment and Technical Education & Training Department (ETET). The basic purpose of this department is to look after the skill upgradation of the youth and provide quality technical education at various  levels. Odisha has a number of ITIs and Polytechnic colleges to help our youth attain the right skills for having gainful employment in the industry of their choice. In fact, I would like to point out that our educated youth are finding good jobs not only in Odisha but outside the state also. The work for skill development of our youth is being done through the formal sector as well as the informal sector. In the formal sector we are strengthening, upgrading and expanding new ITIs and Polytechnic institutions. In 12th Five Year Plan, we are targeting more than 80 new ITIs, which will add up to 40,000 seats and will also strengthen the existing ITIs. Also in coming five years we are planning to set up 20 new Polytechnics, which will add 10,000 more seats. In the informal sector we basically try to cater to the needs of the students who have dropped out of the education system during their schooling period and have not been able to pursue higher education. To these students we provide short duration courses that can enable them to gain skills for different sectors like manufacturing, construction, retail, banking, computers, etc.

What steps are being taken to ensure that there is adequate level of interface between the academic community, who are involved in providing skills related training, and the industrial sector?
A healthy level of interface between the  academic community and the industry is of great importance. The academic community in the ITIs and Polytechnics of Odisha are interacting with the industry leaders. We do our best to upgrade and reform the courseware and teaching systems in our education institutions by taking into account the changes that are happening in the industrial area. The institutions often approach the important industry bodies for knowing their views on the kind of curriculum that is most suited for skills development. In today’s world the technology being used by the industry is constantly evolving, so it is necessary that the students be imparted training that takes into account the exact requirements of the industry.

Tell us about the steps that you are taking to ensure that the educational institutions follow better curriculum.
Government of Odisha has created State Employment Mission that seeks to create synergy in various development sectors in terms of skill development of youths and linkages of employment opportunities. The mission’s principal task is to formulate sector and trade specific strategies for specialized skill trainings in order to maximize employment opportunities on a sustainable basis in the state-supported and private sectors. To fulfil these objectives the mission seeks to work in close coordination with National Skill Development Mission. Access to education has to be improved, more and more students must be able to take advantage of higher education and technical education. We need to ensure that students from weaker sections of society are also in a position to pursue the education that they desire.

Tell us about the ways by which you are using Information  Technology to bring efficiency into the quality of education that is being imparted.
The Information & Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool in education is available to us at this juncture and we wish to fully utilize it to enhance the current enrolment rate in higher and technical education. We have a number  of programs for delivering education through ICT. We are part of Government of India’s National Mission on Education through ICT. Under this mission, a proper balance between content generation, research in critical areas relating to imparting of education and connectivity for integrating our knowledge with the advancements in other countries is to be attempted. We are also part of a programme under which we will be able to broadcast lectures online in polytechnic colleges. Capacity building through knowledge empowerment of our youth is necessary to sustain a high growth rate of our economy.

What kind of initiatives does your department have on improving the employability of the youth in the state?
There is lot of improvement in employability of the youth in the state and that is also having a positive impact in the overall economy of the state. Availability of skilled manpower is most important for achieving the targets of higher productivity, accuracy, consistency and thus competitiveness for domestic and other sectors micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises as well as process sector industries. Odisha is host to the biggest new names in the business world in the field of steel, power, aluminium, and cement etc. The presence of such strong industrial players distinctly provides required synergy for human capital investment through establishment of Technological Universities, IIT, IIIT, IIM level institutions to boost Research & Development (R&D) activities and providing managerial, supervisory, skill workforce to the emerging labour market.

 We are trying to improve our infrastructure to meet the education related needs of women students, differently-abled students and students from socially deprived backgrounds,” says S S Prasad. In conversation with Ankush Kumar of Elets News Network (ENN)

Please provide us with an overview of the work that your department is doing in the area of education?
The mandate of the state Government is to provide access to quality higher education to all eligible students. Haryana possesses a well developed higher education system which offers facility of education and training in almost all spheres of learning and knowledge. We have taken a number of steps to bring about an improvement in the scope and  quality in higher education. Haryana has witnessed a phenomenal growth in higher education sector in the last nine years. Number of universities has increased from 7 in 2005 to 36 at present and the number of government colleges has increased from 60 in 2005 to 95 presently. The number of private colleges has gone up from 108 to 610. Nine years ago there were about two lakh students and today we have around 12 lakh students pursuing higher education through regular and distance modes. Similarly, budget provision for higher education has been increased from about 288 crores to about 1,098 crores. Due to the measures taken by the state government, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Haryana is about 24.1 percent as compared to the national GER of  19.40 percent. And the number of girl students attending colleges is about 54 percent in comparison to boys. There are no tuition fees for girl students. Scholarships are given quite generously to the under privileged and socio-economic backward students. Main challenges are to provide relevant education, make it more employability centric, to make the institutions financially stable and to introduce accountability among teachers and students with a greater degree of responsibility.

You just mentioned that the gross enrolment ratio in Haryana is about 24.1 percent as compared to the national GER of 19.40 percent. What is the reason behind this achievement?
Opening of government colleges, private colleges, state universities and private universities and systems for distance education along with equity measures, quality infrastructure etc., have resulted in the increase of GER. The higher education system in Haryana has registered a fairly decent growth during last decade. As on date, there are twelve state universities, one central university, seven deemed universities and fourteen state private universities in Haryana. There are 95 government degree and post-graduate colleges (including around 24 women’s colleges) 97 government-aided colleges, 40 self financing colleges and 456 self financing B.Ed colleges.

It has often been found that students coming out of universities are lacking in skills that are required by our industry. What initiatives you are taking to ensure that our education system makes our students job ready?
Our colleges and universities are imparting general education and the courses related to skill development are being run under the ambit of Technical Education Department. However, under the National Skills Development Corporation, Government of India, the department has initiated the process of skill development in retail sector in 32 Government Colleges of Excellence as a pilot project. Besides it, the state government has initiated the prospects of job opportunities for the students. As many as 21 job oriented courses like BCA, MCA, Bio-technology, Microbiology, Mass Communications  etc., are presently being offered in 51 government colleges. The state government has initiated organising placement fairs for the students of government colleges at four divisional-level government colleges since 2011 after a training of 5-7 days for the students. Further, English language labs have been set up in most colleges to improve the language proficiency and soft skills of the students. Computer education has been made compulsory in all government colleges.

There is obviously the need of having more and more engineering and medical colleges, but creating such institutions is not an easy task. What can be done to ensure that the new institutions adhere to certain quality benchmarks?
Concurrent with the national focus towards expansion in higher education, it is also necessary to ensure that quality and excellence are sustained and upgraded in all the institutions of higher education to match up to international levels. In this context, the possibility of mandatory accreditation along with supplementary measures would generate pressure on the higher education system to evolve adequate norms and standards and approaches to assessment. Quality enhancing measures and support along with accreditation need to be intensified during the 12th FYP.

What is your view of the role that private sector can play in higher education? Do you think that PPP projects should be encouraged for driving better education outcomes?
The proposed government intervention would not be adequate to meet the growing demands of higher education. We may need to enlist the participation of private sector in a big way. Haryana Private Universities Act, 2006 has come into existence and private universities established under it are expected to take some of the pressure. In addition, private colleges are promoted by giving them partial aid by the state government. The state has a very conducive atmosphere for the private players.

What kind of initiatives can be taken by the state government to bring improvement to the quality of education being offered in our higher education institutions?
To bring in sustainable and continuous learning, semester system has been implemented, syllabi are updated regularly, computer education has been made compulsory, project based learning and assignment system has been introduced. To provide employment opportunity to all, placement fairs are organized regularly.

What kind of modern day technology you are using to ensure that the students in every part of the state are able to access quality education?
With the changing scenario in higher education worldwide where basic computer education has become a prerequisite for obtaining employment in most sectors, it has been felt that basic computer education programme needs to be initiated in all the government colleges, where all students can have the opportunities to learn the basics of IT education and be enabled with sufficient IT skills to obtain basic level employment in the booming IT sector on completion of their college education. The state government has started compulsory computer education for all non-IT students. Each government college has been equipped with computer labs, 25-50 computer systems, networking, internet facility, printers etc. so as to make the students computer savvy and competent for the job market.
Under the NMEICT project of Government of India, 10 broadband connections are being provided to all colleges of the state. Then EDUSAT project is running for imparting education through satellite. The project has been implemented in 63 government colleges and 39 private aided colleges in the State. Around 63 government colleges and 39 private aided colleges have been provided with satellite interactive terminals and receive-only terminals (Dual mode) and in three government colleges and 39 private aided colleges, only ROT have been installed.
The soft skill improvement programme was started in year 2005-06 in six government colleges and now has been extended to all government colleges where EDUSAT system is working. The scheme is meant for upgrading the knowledge of students and giving them an intensive training in communication skills and interpersonal skills particularly for BPO industry and ITES sector. It has become imperative that proper emphasis be laid on learning English Language and its usage.