TReE-Teaching, Research and Empowering

TReE

Branch 2

Vision and Approach for Quality Higher Education and NEP 2020

Prof M. Sai Baba

Director, Centre for Professional Development & Training

Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences

Continuing with my attempt to summarise various sessions conducted as part of the TReE (Training, Research and Empowering), Faculty Development Program organised under the auspices of the Centre for Professional Development and Training. TReE, the first in the series, was organised (in blended mode) from 20-24th February 2023. TReE aims to provide this opportunity; expert and experienced faculty from reputed academic institutes and the RUAS have delivered talks in various sessions.?

I took the second session. A summary of my talk is given below.

Higher Educational Institutions are growing so are the challenges. The academic institutes aim to impart training to aspiring students, conduct research, and contribute to managing the institutes. Faculty has the role of imparting teaching to make learning effective. While students remain at the educational institute's core, so would the faculty.

Knowledge would be the principal resource in the 21st Century. Societies would move from Science to Science-based technologies. Availability of quality human resources, capacity building and knowledge Management pave the way for national prosperity. Advancements in Science and Technology are vital for developing globally competitive technologies. Establishing Research-Industry-Academic linkage is critical in realising the advanced technologies. Academic institutes have a significant role in nurturing young talents and guiding them to become future leaders. Harnessing the benefits of Industry 4.0, access to affordable health care, and public acceptance of modern advanced technologies is critical, and advancements in basic sciences lay the foundation for such growth. ????????

The higher education system in India is facing challenges. Some of them: Rigid separation of disciplines with early specialisation, limited access to people living in rural areas and socio-economically disadvantaged regions, and large affiliating universities (difficult to handle many cases in time being a challenge). Another challenge the education system is facing is the knowledge-jobs mismatch. Steps being taken to meet the challenges were discussed.

I described how we moved into narrow specialisation. Given the example of the electrical engineering discipline. Expanded from what used to be electrical engineering to computer science and then so many variants of them like AI, Data Science, Cyber Security and IoT etc.

The new education policy (NEP 2020) addressed the issues covering the entire gamut of the education system, starting from preschool to doctoral studies. ????????

My talk covered various facets of the NEP2020.

• The complex nomenclature of HEIs will be replaced and called Universities.
• Promoting professional institutions and providing recognition to the courses offered by them. Repositioning them as Professional Standard setting bodies in a given field of training.
• Establishing four independent verticals, one each for Regulation (National Higher Education Regulatory Council), Funding (Higher Education Grants Council), Accreditation (NAAC) and Standard Setting (General Education Council).
• Integrate vocational education with higher education, in sync with the National Skills Qualification network.
• Internationalisation of Education.
• Higher Education Institutes provide vocational courses that are integrated into UG programs.
• Introducing multiple exit and entry options in UG courses. Shifting to 4-year UG courses. ??????????????
• Establishing an Academic bank of credits and facilitating the transfer of students from one institute to the other. ?
• Encouraging online learning and paving the way for establishing digital universities.
• Encouraging students to pursue languages, literature, fine arts, and sports, which become part of their curriculum and giving credit for the time spent pursuing them.
• Focus on Strengthening in-service continuous professional development for faculty.

NEP gives importance to teacher education. There would be four-year integrated BEd programs, which becomes essential for getting into a teaching position. All the research scholars pursuing a PhD would go through credit-based courses in teaching,/education/pedagogy and technical writing. Establishing the Department of Education in the universities.

Vibrant campus life is essential for a high-quality teaching-learning process. Ensuring the availability of quality faculty and their growth with excellence.

Several programs being offered at RUAS have already come under the NEP framework. Many educational institutes are earnestly implementing NEP. The state of Karnataka has taken a lead role in implementing the same.

Imparting quality education is the goal of any academic institution. NEP focuses on ensuring the students think and through their thoughts, they achieve the goals (recalling what Gautam Buddha said). ?

Branch 1: A summary of the talk given by Prof Razdan can be accessed at: https://lnkd.in/ggS_YX38.