A Prime Problem by Smita Polite

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Manindra Agrawal has solved an ancient mathematical mystery and won global accolades. Why don’t we have more researchers like him?

A Prime

Problem How to resurrect research?

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CONTENTS EDU APRIL 2010

VOLUME 01 | ISSUE 06

UPDATES 06 07 08 09

PARTNERSHIP AT A GLANCE RESEARCH ACADEMICS COLLABORATION COURSE INTRODUCED VOICES

VIEWPOINTS

38 RAHUL CHOUDAHA Advantage foreign universities? 16 DHEERAJ SANGHI Re-engineering the masters programme

FACE-TO-FACE 18 MANINDRA AGRAWAL Professor, IIT Kanpur, talks of his love for research, teaching and numbers

32 RISHIKESHA T. KRISHNAN Supporting students with disability

By Smita Polite

EXPERTISE

60 AARON B. SCHWARZ Ideas to build better campus communities

TECHNOLOGY

53 PRINTING SOLUTIONS How to pick the right printers for a higher education institute By Devangshu Datta

ADMINISTRATION

34 ACADEMIC AUDIT An audit can ensure a better education system By Nupur Chaturvedi

ACADEMICS

40 TEACHING METHODS Can India transform its

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archaic classroom teaching methods to a more interesting, liberal, global system? By Navneet Anand

TIMEOUT

62 BOOKS Review: n The Ascent of Money Recent Releases: n Universities In The Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education n Financing Higher Education In India 63 PRODUCTS n Window Delight

EDU TECH April 2010

4/26/2010 8:00:16 PM

FOR LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

MANAGING DIRECTOR: Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Vikas Gupta PRINTER & PUBLISHER: Kanak Ghosh GROUP EDITOR: R Giridhar CONSULTING EDITOR: Aman Singh ASSISTANT EDITOR: Smita Polite EDITORIAL ADVISOR: Dr RK Suri INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTOR: Vinita Belani ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR: Rohini Banerjee

EVENT

COVER STORY

50 EDU 2010 Read about the conclave where experts talked about higher education, classroom teaching and technology

22 A PRIME PROBLEM Resurrecting Research in Indian Higher Education System

DESIGN SR CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jayan K Narayanan ART DIRECTOR: Binesh Sreedharan ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR: Anil VK MANAGER DESIGN: Chander Shekhar SR VISUALISERS: PC Anoop, Santosh Kushwaha SR DESIGNERS: TR Prasanth & Anil T CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER: Subhojit Paul

By Chitra Narayan

SALES & MARKETING VP SALES & MARKETING: Naveen Chand Singh BRAND MANAGER: Siddhant Raizada NATIONAL MANAGER-EVENTS & SPECIAL PROJECTS: Mahantesh Godi NATIONAL MANAGER ONLINE: Nitin Walia ( 09811772466) ASSISTANT BRAND MANAGER: Arpita Ganguli CO-ORDINATOR AD SALES, MIS, SCHEDULING: Deepak Sharma GM SOUTH: Vinodh Kaliappan(09740714817) GM NORTH: Pranav Saran(09312685289) GM WEST: Sachin N Mhashilkar(09920348755)

DIALOGUE 28 SHIFTING PARADIGMS OF SCIENCE M.G.K. Menon, ex-minister for state for science & technology

PRODUCTION & LOGISTICS SR. GM OPERATIONS: Shivshankar M Hiremath PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE: Vilas Mhatre LOGISTICS: MP Singh, Mohamed Ansari, Shashi Shekhar Singh

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ADVERTISER INDEX

Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, ex-director-general, CSIR

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CASE STUDY

58 DATA MANAGEMENT LPU has developed a customised, IT-based solution to store data

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Manindra Agrawal has solved an ancient mathematical mystery and won global accolades. Why don’t we have more researchers like him?

FOR LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

A Prime

Problem How to resurrect research?

WWW.EDU-LEADERS.COM

64 Homi J. Bhabha Passionate and determined

VOLUME 01 EDU | VOLUME 01 | ISSUE 06

LEGACY

05 12-15

ADMINISTRATION

ACADEMIC AUDIT CAN ENSURE ONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT P26

ACADEMICS

TEACHERS HAVE TO MOVE BEYOND BEING SAGES ON STAGE P60

EDU 2010

ADVANCING THE ENTERPRISE OF EDUCATION P30

Cover Art: DESIGN: ANOOP PC PHOTO: SUBHOJIT PAUL

OFFICE ADDRESS Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector-30, Vashi, Navi Mumbai-400703, India Printed and published by Kanak Ghosh for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector-30, Vashi, Navi Mumbai-400703, India EDITOR: Anuradha Das Mathur C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector-30, Vashi, Navi Mumbai-400703, India Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt Ltd D 107,TTC Industrial Area, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400 706 COPYRIGHT, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED : Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd is prohibited.

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FOREWORD Exception Proves The Rule

F WE ARE OPTIMISTIC THAT MANINDRA (AGRAWAL) IS AN EXCEPTION WHO WILL PROVE THE RULE

or those familiar with a phenomenon called Manindra Agrawal, he is one of the most, if not the most, globally acknowledged young researchers in India today. This young professor at IIT Kanpur, and his two students, developed an algorithm that determines whether a number, however large, is a prime number or not—a problem that mathematicians have mulled for centuries. A Clay Research, Fulkerson and Gödel awardee, Manindra and his breed of world-class researchers are rare—primarily in India. And that’s why he is on our cover. He is a quite the hero, because he stayed back and made a laggard system work to his advantage—while his peers made their way overseas. He stayed true to his love for research and kept himself away from the corporate mainstream, where he obviously would have minted money. He is also a hero, because like the royal guru, Dronacharya, he managed to inspire two students to make Indian laboratories their work place. And, like a true guru, he gave them their due credit—their last names figure in the title of the algorithm they co-created, the “AKS Primality Test”. We are optimistic that Manindra is an exception who will prove the rule. For long, academics, stakeholders and observers have lamented the quality of research in Indian higher education institutions. Indians power research in international laboratories and universities. Yet, we fail to get the best out of them here in India. By proposing the launch of multiple IITs, IIMs and world-class and innovation universities, the government believes it can rectify the situation. Research begins with basic questions. And in this issue, we are trying to figure out those basic questions surrounding India’s R&D—what ails it? What can be done to make it better, especially in institutions of higher education. Hopefully, if we can figure out the solutions we may get to see another home grown Nobel prize winner!

Dr Pramath Raj Sinha pramath@edu-leaders.com

EDU TECH April 2010

Edu Tech December 2009

at a glance 06 PARTNERSHIP 07 STUDY 07 ACADEMICS 08 COLLABORATION 08 COURSE 09 INTRODUCED 09 TALK 09 VOICES & MORE

Looking for a way out

partnership

IIM A, Darden To Exchange Faculty IIM A faculty will visit Darden for a training workshop in caseteaching and case writing, other programmes also on cards

niversity of Virginia Darden School of Business and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) have inked a new partnership recently. “By linking two strong programmes together, we will solidify links that foster student-exchange, joint case-writing and research,” said Peter Rodriguez, Darden’s associate dean for international affairs and director of Darden’s Tayloe Murphy Center International. Tayloe Murphy International Fellowships will bring young IIMA faculty to Darden for a month to develop case-teaching and case-writing skills. IIM A provides international opportunities and develops programmes to enhance understanding of international issues. “We hope to enter more such collaborations to facilitate several activities in area of joint case writing and research, given that both Darden and IIM Ahemedabad uses this method,” hopes professor Samir Barua, the IIMA director.

EDU TECH April 2010

IIM BANGALORE RAISES COURSE FEE Aspirants to the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore will find that their dream course just got more expensive. The prestigious B-school has hiked its fee from Rs 11 lakh to Rs 13 lakh for its two-year postgraduate management programme. This is the third year (in a row) that the institute has hiked its annual fee. The hike, which was rumoured for long, was confirmed by the institute director Pankaj Chandra. Chandra said with an increased (student) intake of 375 by 2010, the institute will meet expansion requirements mandated by the implementation of the OBC quota. In 2011, he said, the institute plans to increase intake to 420 by adding an additional section of students. Chandra was speaking at a meeting of the board of governors, chaired by the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited Mukesh Ambani. With this announcement, the effective fee structure will be Rs 6.25 lakh and Rs 6.75 lakh for the first and second-year, respectively, for students joining the prospective batch of 20102012. Chandra also pointed out that the institute had doubled the grants provided to students last year.

FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN A signature campaign to reform the Indian education system and de-stress students was started at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology (RGIT), Andheri, during its intra-college festival to check the spate of student suicides. The campaign—Follow Your Dreams—was initiated by the “I Pledge to Stop Student Suicides movement”, in association with Mexus Education, an education enterprise. The campaign is one among a series of efforts. Earlier in 2010, an inspirational music album was launched featuring leading artists such as Euphoria, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and Kailash Kher, who donated a song each to urge students not to give up. The initiative has been started on social networking website Facebook, and aims to create consensus in the society to recognise this issue as a systemic flaw.

UPDATES research

academics

Survey Reveals Education Gaps

Postgraduate Management Course for Professionals Course to be conducted over 52 alternative weekends and two years

Overall literacy rate in north India is 60 percent, against the 69 percent and 71 percent in south and west, respectively

joint study conducted by CII and KPMG (a consulting organisation) has revealed that north India will require approximately $84 billion to meet the demand-supply challenges in its skill and education sector. And to catch up with the rest of India, especially the south and the west. “The road map to industrialisation in north India should be in tune with an effective delivery mechanism of skilled manpower and environmental consciousness,” outlines the report. The report advises north Indian states to focus on development of education standards and ensure that the working age population meets emerging global demands. This would be instrumental in transforming India into a knowledge superpower. “Currently, the northern region trails the western and

southern regions significantly, with an overall literacy rate of 60 percent as against the 69 percent and 71 percent in the south and the west, respectively. Therefore, education and skill infrastructure in the region needs to be upgraded,” the report states. Available demographic data suggests that by 2016, there would be 106 million people in north India between the ages of 15 and 24 years. This implies that around 33.4 million students would enter higher, and vocational, education in the region. Furthermore, the report outlines that the current number of ITIs (per 100 sq km is 1.7) in the north, in constrast to 4.7 in the south. “North needs to upgrade its education system and build capacity,” the report states.

GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE of Management, Chennai, announced the launch of PGWPM—a postgraduate Working Professional Programme in Management. The programme will have the same academic rigour that is currently being offered to the institute’s core residential PGPM students. Only the time frame for the new course promises to be different. The course will be spread over 52 alternate weekends, making it an eightterm, two-year course. Professor S. Sriram, the executive director, Great Lakes, said, “We are approached by people who want to pursue management education without quitting Jobs. This is our response to such a need.” Though the programme is primarily intended for professionals based in Chennai, the institute forecasts that aspirants will soon travel from other cities for the course.

launched

NYU Stern Launches “Regulating Wall Street” Blog AS REFORM BILLS that have the potential to transform the future of financial regulation work their way through US Congress, NYU Stern professors are providing their unbiased, real-time views on a new blog, “Regulating Wall Street.” Last year, many of these faculty members developed 18 independent policy papers that addressed the causes of the financial crisis, and proposed market-focused solutions to reform the global financial system. Their recommendations, which were favorably received by Washington, were published in a book, Restoring Financial Stability: How to Repair a Failed System, (Wiley, March 2009). The blog is a prelude to a forthcoming book of the same title authored by Stern faculty and to be published by John Wiley & Sons later this year. “NYU Stern’s faculty continue to provide important insight into the fundamental policy questions facing the world in the aftermath of the financial crisis,” said Peter Henry, dean of NYU Stern. Their independent analysis is critical to the reform.debate and fully engages our institution in a critically important conversation on the future of the global economy.” Read the blog at www.regulatingwallstreet.com and follow Regulating Wall Street on Twitter at www.twitter.com/regwallst.

GLOBAL UPDATE

16%

rise in income was witnessed across UK universities between 2008 and 2009

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency, UK

Billion pounds was the approximate income of UK varsities April 2010 EDU TECH

UPDATES collaboration

TiE Mentorship Programme At MICA Students present 30 ideas to ‘mentors’ at the daylong event

tudents of Entrepreneurship Development Centre of MICA welcomed an august audience, consisting members of TiE’s Mumbai, Ahmedabad and students’ chapters, for a mentorship programme that was held on-campus. The session had students presenting over 30 ideas to their “mentors”—all of them a major industry player. On their turn, mentors chose students for a oneto-one discussion. They provided inputs and related personal experiences to the students to help them with a particular problem. Parag Desai, the CEO of Wagh Bakri Group, said, “I am impressed by the quality of ideas presented by the students. The amount of work that was put in by these students was commendable.” “The MICA meet was a brilliant concept. I wish I had received such an opportunity when I was younger. This is the first time I have heard of such a course,” said M. Hariharan of

Savoir Faire—one of the several mentors. Other mentors included leaders like Pramod Gothi (Northstars Advisors), S. Hariharan (Savoir Faire Management Services), Rajesh Solanki (Energos Technologies), Jay Ruparel, (Azure Technologies Ltd), Parag Desai, (Wagh Bakri Group) and Kaushal Mehta, (Motif India).

course

NID Searches For Its Rancho Design school drafts a new course for engineering graduates in innovative product designing NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN (NID), Ahmedabad, has developed a postgraduate course on product design engineering for engineering colleges, including IITs, to promote research and development. NID faculty met directors and principals of IITs to discuss the programme. “Engineering graduates are ideal candidates for this programme. The 2,000 AICTEapproved engineering colleges have the required facilities and expertise in terms of infrastructure, faculties, library resources, equipment, laboratories and workshops. An additional course in product design engineering can easily be introduced,” said Shashank Mehta, the senior faculty at NID, who has developed the course.

EDU TECH April 2010

Professor Ashok Ranchhod, the director of MICA, professor G.R. Jain, the chairperson of MICA’s Entrepreneurship Development Centre, and faculty, staff and students from Entrepreneurship in Media and Communications postgraduate programme were also present. Jain began the proceedings. He highlighted the programme strengths and shed light on its need and focused on co-creation of ideas. Jay Ruparel, COO, Azure Technologies, shared his views on new platforms of entrepreneurship. “This event was ideal to foster entrepreneurship and bring budding entrepreneurs together and with venture capitalists, management consultants, advertisers and seasoned entrepreneurs,” observed Kaushal Mehta of Motif India and the president of TiE Ahmedabad. “We witnessed an energetic meet. The collaboration between TiE and MICA heralds a significant step,” praised Ruparel, COO, Azure Technologies Ltd. Manek Singh, executive director of TiE Mumbai, applauded every entrepreneurial effort. Singh said, “The enterprising India movement took another step forward with MICA today. Mentors from TiE Mumbai & Ahmedabad have been left impressed. These ideas have the potential to change the nation.”

“The curriculum blends design theory with hands-on practice. Elements and theory of design, management, human factors engineering, science and liberal arts, advanced manufacturing, information technology (IT), concurrent engineering and prototyping methods will be some of the core contents,” said Mehta. Individual and group projects, seminars, workshops, exhibitions, live-industry projects will form the core of the curriculum methodology. Internships, training, design audit and industry visits have also been integrated into the course. So far, NID has received a positive response from the heads of engineering colleges.

UPDATES introduced

Nissan Course To Rope In Biz Pupils Brand managers will help bring brand Nissan closer to customers Nissan introduced a Student Brand Manager programme for B-school pupils, especially toppers, across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Through the programme, selected brand managers (students) will play a role in bringing the Nissan brand closer to the community. After training, students will work with Nissan officials—and set up an auto-

club or test-drive days at their respective universities. Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director, Nissan Motor India Private Ltd, said, “We have always created opportunities.” Abhijeet Pandit, vice president (operations), Hover Automotive India (HAI), said, “We are inviting students to push their skills to the fifth-gear.”

talk

REC Singapore To Set Up 5 New Colleges Design colleges will be set up in Chandigarh, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad this year

VOICES “In the Northeast, competitiveness cannot be attained in isolation. ALL MAJOR STAKEHOLDERS—GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA—MUST CONNECT TO CREATE A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT for growth.” —AJAY CHOWDHRY, Chairman of CII’s National Committee on Technology and Innovation

I want every Indian child, girl and boy, to be TOUCHED BY THE LIGHT OF EDUCATION. I WANT EVERY INDIAN to dream of a better future and live that dream —MANMOHAN SINGH India Prime Minister

Distribution of land for retail educational purposes WILL ENSURE THAT EACH SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE ZONE HAS INSTITUTIONS OF DIFFERENT KIND including schools, colleges and institutes for specialised courses —HASMUKH ADHIA Principal Secretary , Gujarat Education Department

Singapore-based Raffles Education Corporation (REC) will invest US $24 million to expand its operations in India to offer design skills in multiple sectors, a top company official said. As part of its expansion, the company will set up five more design colleges across the country in Chandigarh, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad this year. In a joint venture with the New Delhi-based technology driven education firm Educomp Solutions, REC opened three design colleges in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai in 2009. “In the long term, we are planning to operate about 20 colleges in India keeping in view the growing demand for design skills in fashion, interiors, graphics, multimedia, animation and jewellery,” said Raffles Chief Executive Chew Hua Seng.

India’s higher education needs are significant. THE COUNTRY NEEDS MORE ENROLLMENT CAPACITY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SYSTEM AS WELL AS MORE PLACES AT ITS SMALL ELITE SECTOR AT THE TOP. The system needs systemic reform. Furthermore, fresh breeze from abroad might help to galvanise local thinking. Yet, it is impossible for foreigners to solve or even make a visible dent in India’s higher education system. —PHILLIP G. ALTBACH Monan University Professor

April 2010 EDU TECH

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Fading campus boundaries through Technology ABSTRACT The irony is that it is always harder to tell what is imminent than to frame what is farfetched. Internet technologies and online social activity have created as much curiosity in education as they have in business. How would these trends disrupt the education system is a story half told. We find that these trends would not change the fundamentals of education and teaching. Rather, they would help revive what we have lost due to the increasing commoditization of Education. These trends will also help Institutions embrace the openness of Internet which is blurring campus boundaries today.

EDU TECH April 2010

The practitioner dare not become a teacher he paradox of practitioner becoming a teacher has stayed for ages, drawing a fine line

between academia and industry. Ironically, we spent significant time in looking at each other to connect theory with practice. This attempt would continue through civilizations. And, when

an industry attempts to be more academic than it is mandated, it faces an identity crisis - the best example being the Palo Alto Research Center of Xerox, which has been the mother of many

CO N V ERGEN CE IN ED U C AT I O N

industrialized products today (GUI PCs, LCD, Optical Disks, LAN) but played little role when those got commoditized. Such examples of theoretical brilliance alongside industrial failure make many firms overly cautious when we delve into the specialized world of academia. Given this, I still draw the courage to attempt and write about the future course of education, and let me be cautious that I

would do so in the capacity of an industry practitioner and not transgress. I would draw this line by limiting myself to talking about the role of IT in framing new education models, which

seems as much obvious as it is intriguing. Technology is disruptive. The Facebooks, Wikipedia, iPhones, Kindle, all these have changed the way society has defined its boundaries. Would this also disrupt education where many of the principles have survived ages since Plato created the Academy? And when we are here to talk about a notion that computers would become intelligent and take over the role of the teachers, we fear that we may lose many of the cherished principles of traditional education that are still sacrosanct. Hence, the role of technology in education is more delicate than one would think. This is understood when we delve into the challenges in education – which suffers from the evil of knowledge commoditization in terms of curriculum and some IT geeks now expect computers to “industrialize” it. On the contrary, the role of technology would emerge to be very different. The death of impersonal teaching One of the pitfalls in our pursuit of knowledge lies in the notion that there exists more information that could change the way we think. This is an endless mirage, and often detracts us from stopping to look back on how we can utilize the information already gathered. Students of today suffer from this (the scholars even more!) – overwhelmed by a fire hose of information, being consumers for a notional gratification but little to produce. The purpose of education has changed from delivering knowledge to spurring the natural curiosity. This methodology had swept western education and we

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…and when we are here to talk about a notion that computers would become intelligent and take over the role of the teachers, we fear that we may lose many of the cherished principles of traditional education which are still sacrosanct. are glad to see institutions in this part of the world now embracing it. The role of the teacher is transformed to a facilitator, and this does not lessen the role in this noble profession because being a facilitator is more intricate than being a teacher. The facilitator engages with the learner’s mind, a function that is more personal. Teaching, on the contrary, has always been an impersonal skill. Question remains, has technology a role to play in this? Let me draw an analogy from technology itself where it is changing a very different domain – that of entertainment. Here the dilemma between being personal and impersonal is as much intriguing as it has been in education. Since 70’s we saw the age of “broadcasting” where entertainment has been delivered by Televisions with a scheduled program reaching the choiceless masses. Today, with YouTube and concepts in IP TV, we are moving towards “unicast” where one finds and chooses

what he or she would like to watch. The departure from being fed to being a seeker is as much applicable in education as it is in entertainment, with the role of technology being no less disruptive. Hence, in our age of “unicast” education, the role of the facilitator remains paramount. How does a teacher morph into a facilitator, and what technologies are incidental? In this discussion, I would cover two aspects of education technology. One, how technology is set to increase the effectiveness of teaching. Two, how technology would improve efficiency in institutes. I claim that we would eventually discover that the two are related – an institute can teach well only if it is efficient. The fading campus boundaries In the institutions of tomorrow, neither the student nor the faculty would be captive to the campus. The line between the land and the virtual is becoming blurred. The teacher could

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be a member of an education department or an avatar on the internet. The student could be an active blogger – being source of knowledge himself. The transition here is that we would see the taught to be a teacher himself - the student creating content on internet by reproducing what he has learnt with his interpretations. Isn’t this cycle of enrichment fundamental to any learning? This existed since the prehistoric Academy was created – Plato wrote what Socrates had taught, but he used his version in doing so. One would never know how much of Plato is in the Socrates that we know. These fundamentals don’t change in education; what changes is the way we lose it and then try to bring it back. This time we are empowered by technology to revive the fundamentals of teaching. The emphasis of today’s education shifts from being institutions of imparting knowledge to communities of enriching knowledge. Consider some statistics that

reflects how knowledge sharing and development is picking up on the internet - a recent Forrester study shows that 61% on the online adults are internet “contributors”, who actively participate in creating internet content – this is either in way of blogs, critiques or even videos and music. More interestingly, number of people joining online communities has doubled in the last two years. The success of Wikipedia is a fine example of content being created by people across the globe. Initially there were questions raised whether such a model would swamp the system with information of doubtful validity. However the new model revolutionized content contribution and its usage. This reflects that creating content by sharing knowledge or skill is an instinctive societal behavior, which found internet as the natural platform of expression. “Natural” because it has no boundaries and no regiments. In the context of education, I see campus as the constraining boundary and curriculum as the

…fundamentals don’t change in education; what changes is the way we lose it and then try to bring it back. This time we are empowered by technology to revive fundamentals of teaching.

EDU TECH April 2010

imposing regiment. The internet is exactly the opposite. Hence, we are to infer that institutions of tomorrow will have to embrace the looseness of the internet and revisit many of cherished practices in education, which would soon look antiquated to the newly empowered scholar – one who is here to exploit the online media. One good example in the IT world is the development program for one of the popular browsers, “Mozilla”. Mozilla foundation leveraged the internet to develop the browser with loosely held volunteer developers across the world. In a similar way, learning can be interactive and loosely coupled with required structures for mentoring, assessing skills and certification to establish reputation. Re-industrializing the administration I am inclined to infer that the purpose of curriculum has always been dominated by the economics of running the institute, often overriding the need of the students, or even the generation. Curriculums, and justifiably so, are tailored to the availability of faculty and the wherewithal of the institute. This model worked economically in past when students were reliant on the institution to impart knowledge, and they were mere recipients. It worked well also because the institutions could arrange for long term faculties in seemingly unchanging subjects. For instance, a management curriculum in a good institute could remain sacrosanct for a long time since many of the subjects in it, like organizational behavior, deals with relatively veteran disciplines like psychology. Hence, it would not seem very orthodox

for institute to emphasize heavily on, for example, Freudian teachings in an MBA course. If at all this teaching is not absolute in the context of modern developments, it would have remained unquestioned since the campus had closed boundaries. Today, however such shortcomings show up blatantly. A curious student may well stand up to question the applicability, if not ably refute it. The openness of content and debates on internet has brought us to this situation. This means that technology has equally disrupted the industrial model of education and the pedagogy. While this disruption causes many of the orthodox institutes to re-engineer their functioning, it also presents new opportunities for efficiency. For an IT practitioner like me, I can relate the change with what we saw in banking. Traditional banking relied on the concept of branch, with each managing its finances and profitability. This got entirely changed with information technology bringing in the model of core banking. Here a branch is non-existent. Rather, ATMs and online media like internet banking enable the network and outreach. Today, even the ATMs are not captive to banks; the same ATM is shared by many banks. The campus would see the same fate that branches and ATMs saw in banking. It would reach to learners, practitioners, mentors, and teachers through channels less physical and less captive. Interestingly, the lines between these roles would get blurred. This is social networking brought to education. This efficiency model is unprecedented - no longer would you need a full time faculty, with

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If at all this teaching is not absolute in the context of modern developments, it would have remained unquestioned since campus had closed boundaries… Today, however such shortcomings show up blatantly. A curious student may well stand up to question the applicability, if not ably refute it. a static curriculum to oblige it. No longer would you need your own captive laboratories, but you would use shared facilities nearest to the learner and faculty. Would this mean that there would be emergence of multiple players in the ecosystem, each confined to its niche competency? An industrial supplier thence would provide laboratory services; the institution would share faculty with each specializing on few; and the student would choose the best-of-breed learning package and precociously enrich it to present a thesis! Convergence in media, not in disciplines It is apparent now that efficiency and effectiveness of education are inter-related. An institute would consume less resource and include more knowledge with IT. One question is obvious to most institutes that have built significant reputation over the past – does the new paradigm threaten the identity of the institute, with one not differentiable from the other? I believe, like any community art form, each institute would preserve a genre and would efficiently manage it. It is like the Italian opera or the Paris painting school or the Broadway theatre, all would continue to differentiate no matter how globalized these art forms become.

Education has to positively embrace this globalization and consciously choose its genre. I am provoked to think that in 10 years from now each IIM or IIT would pick very niche areas, just like how Princeton is known for theoretical physics and Carnegie Mellon for software engineering. Hence, the convergence that I see is not in disciplines of teaching but in that of the campus. This is the future education in its true industrialized form. With this, the processes and software to run education need a roadmap that includes the fast changing pedagogy and economics of the sector. Role of IT sector – a line still finely drawn I strongly believe that no software solution can provide a complete alternate to the education model that is in store. The purpose of any software in business model transformation lies in how the software adapts to unforeseen changes. Such software would help the business architect its model continually, in tandem setting a roadmap for itself. At TCS, our experience in helping transformation of business models has taught this firmly. Power of information technology lies in setting the connects between resources and con-

sumers. In the world of education, the faculty and students are resources and consumers themselves, making the system self-enriching. Hence, the purpose of the software is to enable this enrichment and support new forms to do it. Simply setting up a local networking site for enrichment and adopting a packaged ERP for process efficiency is not the panacea. We need to connect the two by raising questions like: Can Wikipedia be the canvas where students reproduced their knowledge, leaving the sanity to be judged by the social mechanisms, and not buy a faculty – the model that has already given high credence to the information on Wikipedia? Can the likes of Facebook or Linked-in be our campus, where faculty and expertise are validated by network mandate, not by institutional stamps? Can administrative part of education, like enrollment, be managed by shared services specialized in dealing with the learning lifecycle? Can this service provider tell you which students are likely to drop out and what faculty would help retain them? In this age of management by analytics, why should the education sector be left out? Today, I believe the education sector would seek this support

from the IT industry, as much as IT looks back to the sector for talents. Our role in the emerging ecosystem is in being a provider of IT that supports changing education models. The synergy lies in the rule that the education sector cannot afford to be reduced to a manager for IT ecosystems, and conversely the IT industry cannot afford to be academic. The line is finely drawn. Venguswamy Ramaswamy Venguswamy Ramaswamy, or “Swamy” as he is better known, globally heads the TCS Small and Medium Business (SMB). SMB is a strategic business unit of TCS and provides end to end business solutions to SMB segment. In his previous role, he was the Director of TCS' Global Consulting Practice (GCP) and was instrumental in the structural formation, development and positioning of TCS' consulting offerings. Consulting Magazine has named him amongst the top 25 consultants of the year 2007. During his 16 year tenure at TCS, Swamy has held several strategic positions including managing key customer relationships, building and heading the Process Consulting group, managing the Corporate Resource Management function, leading numerous Centers of Excellence, as well as launching TCS' first steps in geographies such as Hungary and China. Swamy is a firm believer in the power of IT to create business value and is known for his interest in Innovation & Quality and expertise in Six Sigma. He is also recognized as a champion of many digitization drives within TCS, including deploying digital platforms for Six Sigma, creativity and talent acquisition.

“TCS Small and Medium Business (SMB) unit provides Education solution that offers integrated capabilities for institutes by enabling core functions, support functions and management of institutional resources. The on-demand solutions are offered through an innovative business model-“IT-as-a-Service” in a “Pay as you use”; “Build as you grow” mode. To know more about Education solution call at 1-800-209-6030 or email at smb.queries@tcs.com”

April 2010 EDU TECH

VIEWPOINT

Dheeraj Sanghi

Re-engineering The Masters Programme

n India, the two-year MTech course is often considered to be an equivalent of a research programme. But, is a simple MTech degree adequate to fulfill our country’s growing demand for technocrats? Not really. Students and the industry desperately need master-level programmes that help meet changing needs. And the innovation universities could help.

Take the example of India’s software industry. In the past 10 years, it has recruited more than a million graduates. However, post-recruitment, newbies are often not ready for the industry—a fact that is evidenced by the extensive training that they have to undertake. Such “training” is a reality for corporate India. However, after a decade of such training and growth, employees find themselves on a plateau. The only way up seems to be through the management route. This perception is partly due to the structure of the software industry, and partly due to the fact that an MBA course is often easy to pursue—when compared to a technical engineering course. It is unrealistic to expect a professional to take a long break—and management institutes have realised that. Engineering institutes, however, have not. As long as the industry grows at a rate of 20 percent and more, it will be able to absorb a large number of management graduates. Soon, however, the need for technical knowledge will be greater. The training that a company provides cannot compensate for on-campus education. If the industry has to move up the value chain, it will require better educated, not just well-trained employees. Which implies that there is a scope and a market for year-long MTech. If some university starts it, it would be doing the industry a favour.

EDU TECH April 2010

Brevity Is The Key

Such short programmes are common in the US. The country offers multiple options for a master’s degree. A student can tailor his or her coursework to suit one’s needs and ambitions—few classes and loads of projects, or more classes and less research. And the programme is short—and can often be completed within a year. (Though a thesis option normally takes six months more). The way MTech programmes are structured in India, it would be easy to compress them into even shorter and compact courses. At one of the IITs, an MTech student was required to do four courses in his first two semesters and follow it up with research work in his last two. Each course was worth four credits, and a student is expected to complete 32 such credits from the course work and 32 from the research work. Till a few years ago, an MTech student only received 48 credits. Why is it that a BTech student completes six courses in a semester while an MTech student only four? Granted that MTech students are expected to provide teaching or research support to their department for 10 hours a week. For this extra effort, students also receive financial assistantship. If some student is willing to forego this financial support and go for the additional courses to finish early (and grab a better, higher corporate salary), our system should make it possible to complete six courses in a semester. The system should give more credit to MTechs—after all they

Dheeraj Sanghi

are older and more mature than undergrads.

Technical Course Map The rest is straight-forward enough. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s say an MTech programme starts at the beginning of summer. A student can complete two courses in one summer, six in the two semesters, and another two in the next summer. In 14 months, a student will then have completed 16 courses. The aim is not to dilute quality, or reduce credit requirements, but shorten the time taken to do this. Since, the focus group for such courses would be professionals who wish to enrich their technical knowledge, it would be possible to start such a programme in the beginning of summer, without waiting for BTech results. In fact, one can further reduce the time span to one year, by making a student complete his or her project work (equivalent to two courses) in the second summer of the course. To ensure that the programme runs smoothly, the ISB model can be adopted. The ISB model does not have an 18-week semester. It has a six week term (including a couple of days break

VIEWPOINT

pressed learning. Corporate training is almost always in the compressed mode. The programme makes financial sense for all stake-holders. Assuming that high-quality faculty could be recruited by offering a compensation of Rs 10,000 per lecture hour, the faculty cost would be Rs 400,000 per course. If the infrastructure exists, one could expect all non-faculty costs to be roughly equal. So, the total cost would be around Rs 800,000. Assuming that the course taken in 40 students, average cost per student would come to around Rs 20,000 per course. If a student has to complete 14 courses, the total cost would be around Rs 2,800,000. Even if we include perks such as a free laptop, invite foreign faculty at a higher cost, include personal costs of the student such as mess food, total cost will be within Rs 400,000 for the programme. In current two-year programmes, typically a student earns enough to take care of tuition. In the proposed programme, a student will incur a cost of Rs 400,000. This is peanuts compared to what he or she can earn in the year that will be saved.

t the masters-level, when one has motivated students and faculty, learning can be made faster.

between two terms). A student does not complete six courses in parallel, but two at a time within six weeks. It is easier to bring in high-quality visiting faculty for six weeks, rather than for a full semester (18 weeks). In all, the year is divided into seven six-week-long terms. Dates are tweaked to invite faculty and experts from overseas. A similar model can be adopted here. We do know that between June and August, it is summer (term) in the US. Working this to our advantage, the first two terms of a compressed course may be fitted in this period. One could offer a break of three weeks after four termsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to be used for placement. Puritans may balk at compressing courses so much. But, I believe that at the masters-level, when one has motivated students and faculty, learning can be made faster. Management education has already shown the effectiveness of com-

Students will be attracted to this programme, if their employers promise to retain their jobs after they return, or there are other employers who promise to consider them at a higher salary, posttraining. To smoothen out additional wrinkles, the institutes may enter into agreements with banks and corporate houses before offering this programme. Again, since the target would be professionals, it will be unrealistic to expect them to sit for GATE. The admission process will have to be flexible, considering their academic record, testimonials and an interview. It may be a good idea to consider the GRE scores, if a candidate has taken this exam. To summarise, Indian universities need to innovate to solve real problems of the industry â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a lack of employable technical leaders as NASSCOM points out. The idea of an executive MTech programme is a step towards this direction.

Dheeraj Sanghi Dr Sanghi is the director of Laxmi Narayan Mittal Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur. He is currently on leave from IIT Kanpur, where he is a professor of computer science. He has a BTech in computer science from IIT Kanpur and an MS and a PhD from University of Maryland, USA . He can be reached at dheeraj. sanghi@edu-leaders.com

April 2010 EDU TECH

COVER STORY Face to Face

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Face to Face COVER STORY

Manindra Agrawal

WIRED

Differently BY SUBHOJIT PAUL

BY SMITA POLITE

He defies the stereotypical profile of a professor. Dressed in jeans and a white shirt, he looks younger than his 44 years. He springs two steps at a time, and disappears to the top of the stairs, before your eyes can get used to the dark corridor. He jokes and laughs with you like a student would. It is difficult to imagine that he has solved a problem that has baffled mathematicians since the time of Euclid. His solution can test the primality of very large numbers, and is always correct. EDU brings you face to face with the man who developed the key that can unlock myriad possibilities in the field of mathematics

joined the Government Intermediate College, Allahabad, in Class XI. It was considered to be one of the good colleges under the UP government. The entrance to the institution was lined with Gulmohur and Neem trees, and it had a grand gate. The grounds were reasonably big. Inside, the red and white building was bare and in constant need of maintenance. The academic environment was nonchalant and casual. Few students were interested in studies, and even fewer teachers interested in teaching. The gates would be closed in the morning and no one was allowed to leave until recess. But, just

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COVER STORY Face to Face metres away from the gate, the boundary wall had appropriately dislocated bricks that enabled students to escape. It was perfect for a teenager. Every morning, I would leave my house in Khuldabad (old Allahabad) on my cycle, and rush to college. I would attend the chemistry class—our chemistry teacher was surprisingly good—and escape to the town with friends. At the end of two years, I had seen almost all films that were released. Of course, I became very good at chemistry, and very bad at all the other subjects.

Manindra ignored subjects that did not interest him. Thankfully, he says, he had an excellent short-term memory. Maths was his favourite and physics came a close second. Incidentally, his father, Surendra Prasad, was a professor of maths at Allahabad Agricultural Institute, while mother Himanshu Bala was a professor of education at a degree college in Allahabad.

hough we had an academic atmosphere at home, we never felt pressurised to “perform”. Appearing for IIT was not a big deal. My elder brother, Shachindra, heard of IIT from someone and suggested that I should take the test. I got a rather good rank, and opted for computer science at IIT Kanpur. Believe it or not, IIT Kanpur turned out to be more fun than the Intercollege. In the first semester, I was a bit intimidated by the gravity of being in a “serious institution” and attended almost all classes. But I soon discovered ways to relapse into my old habit of attending only those lectures that were interesting. After all, there were more exciting ways to spend your time at the IIT, like the nightly ritual of going to the rooftop of our hostel Hall II and hurling innovative expletives at our rivals in Hall III. In the third year at IIT, I went for an internship at a software company, where I had to develop and write a software.

While I enjoyed the process, I also realised that I could not do it for the rest of my life. I also did not want to do management, so a corporate career was ruled out. Academics was a natural choice. I decided to stay on at IIT for a PhD.

world, including Harvard and MIT, offer undergraduate studies. Our poor performance in research is because of this divide. All research institutions should be merged into universities if we want this situation to improve.

For Manindra, IIT Kanpur is synonymous with freedom. It is perhaps one of the reasons that has held him there. Even as a professor, Manindra has not relinquished his relaxed attitude. When students demanded a feast after he returned from Boston with the Clay Award, he took his entire class out.

While he might think that research is ailing in India, the angst has not prompted him to settle overseas. He went to the University of Ulm in Germany as a Humblodt Fellow, but came back to India. He says, “Maybe, I am too much of a UP-wallah.” He has a unique way of teaching. He refrains from preparing for his classes, and gets stuck while looking for solutions. That often starts an interesting discussion, and forces students to think along. Mostly it works well. It was with two undergraduate students in IIT, Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena, that he published the paper “PRIMES Is In P” which described a deterministic polynomial time algorithm for deciding primality of numbers of very large digits, now known as AKS algorithm.

t was only after I took up academics as a career that I truly started enjoying the process. I was always attracted to maths, because my brain is wired in a way that makes me look for certainty. This is the only science where I can be absolutely sure of the truth. While I spend a lot of time teaching, I have never ignored research. Research and teaching go hand in hand. You cannot teach advanced-level courses unless you understand, and have thought deeply, about that subject. On the other hand, often you cannot do good research if you are not involved in teaching. Research can sometimes get very depressing, because it involves a large number of failures. It can drag you down and make you disinterested. There is a certain joy in teaching. And you also get to learn a lot from students. The easiest way to learn more about an unknown field is to offer a course in that field. Unfortunately in India universities and research centres do not coexist. It has become fashionable for star researchers to start their own research centres, which remain tiny and focused on one area. We have not been able to develop and exploit multi-disciplinary research. Most researchers at these specialised centres consider teaching undergraduate students hindrance to their research. But, the fact is that all publicly funded top research institutions in the

t was not really a conscious decision to work on this algorithm. In 1998, my colleague, Somenath Biswas, and I were discussing the work of some other researchers. We found the method applied by these researchers interesting. We realised that we could use this technique and develop our own algorithm. Since it was similar to algorithms developed earlier, it had the same problem—it was not always correct. I was annoyed with this situation. Sometime after that, Neeraj and Nitin turned up at my office looking for a BTech project, I decided to revisit the problem with them. They were a unique pair of students. They became so engrossed with the project, that they almost exclusively worked on it for a year. In April 2002, they graduated. By then they had both decided to go for a

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Face to Face COVER STORY

ABOUT MANINDRA AGRAWAL BORN: 20th May, 1966 EDUCATION: BTech in computer science and engineering, IIT Kanpur, 1986 PhD in computer science from IIT Kanpur, 1991 AREA OF WORK: Complexity theory Computational number theory MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS: Clay Research Award for the AKS Algorithm. His “PRIMES is in P” paper which he co-authored with students Nitin Saxena and Neeraj Kayal, also won him the Fulkerson Prize, G¨odel Prize and the Infosys Mathematics Prize

PhD. Neeraj decided to study in India, while Nitin wanted to try overseas. All the universities Nitin had applied to, rejected his application. In May, he decided to join me for a PhD. When Neeraj heard that Nitin was staying back, he, too, decided to abandon his plans. Instead of going for an interview at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, he turned up at IIT Kanpur. That summer, we decided to work on the problem. It was an exciting time. For three years I had struggled, and failed, but enjoyed it so much that I would look forward to it. That summer was no different. It seemed like an impossible task, until at the last moment. On a hot July day it all fit!

For the work on the AKS algorithm, Manindra got The Clay Research Award from the Clay Mathematics Institute, Boston. Neeraj and Nitin were also invited for the ceremony, but could not get their visas, because the consular officer suspected that they might not return to India.

t is the individual who drives research, but an institution has to support it. When compared to many other places, IIT Kanpur is less bureaucratic—a big reason why I have spent more than half of

my life here. Research can take a back seat in institutions if administration does not show appreciation. In our system there is no incentive for research. Out of 100 faculty members, 10 will do research no matter what, because their drive comes from within. Twenty will not, because they are bored, or incapable. That leaves 70, and this 70 will not do research if they are not pushed. But, this pushing has to be done in a way that egos are not hurt. We are all prima donnas (laughs). The administration has to remember that. A good researcher has to have the ability to absorb failures. She has to enjoy the process as much as obsessing over results. But, enjoying the process is not always easy, especially when you are paid peanuts. In India, we believe that Laxmi and Saraswati do not go together. We assume that committed people do not need money as the cause matters more. But, this is true for a very small minority. Academia loses really good talent to corporates, just because we do not pay enough. This has to change.

Algorithms to test primality are useful for validating internetbased transactions like paying through credit card, where the codes are almost 100 digits long. The AKS Algorithm can test primality efficiently and is always correct, but it is slower

than the other algorithms. The AKS algorithm is especially useful for defence and security applications. Attempts have been made to improve the speed of AKS Algorithm, but so far none has succeeded. About 12 years ago, Manindra was approached by the Indian Navy to design the encryption system, Trinetra, for securing the communication network. Later, he designed Indra to secure Indian Airforce communications. But Manindra, is reluctant to discuss his role in these projects.

live on the IIT campus with my wife Rachna, who is a software engineer, and my daughters Isha 13, and Arushi 11. A touchy subject in the family is the fact that I don’t have free time. That’s because in my free time, I like to think! I don’t have a hobby. Thinking is my favourite pastime. I want my daughters to pursue something that they are genuinely interested in, and I wish the same for my students. Tomorrow if one of my computer science students wishes to study philosophy, I would be happy for her. It is more important to love what you do, more than doing what is expected from you. I have always done that, from the time I first ran away from my Intermediate class. April 2010 EDU TECH

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COVER STORY

PR O 22

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COVER STORY

A Prime

R OBLEM Research in India is reeling from shortage of funds, poor infrastructure and lack of initiative. EDU takes a closer look BY CHITRA NARAYAN IMAGING BINESH SREEDHARAN

ince Euclid’s time, mathematicians have been trying to figure out a simple way method to differentiate between prime and non-prime numbers. Two thousand years later, an Indian professor of computer science, and his two students, have developed out an algorithm that solves this dilemma. The elegant solution—only 13 lines long and with a proof of correctness running less than three pages—is expected to change computational number theory. Professor Manindra Agrawal, a professor at IIT Kanpur, has indeed raised the research bar. It’s not surprising that an Indian has solved the prime number conundrum. The land of Ramanujan has the brains, but research in India is a strange animal. On one hand, there is brilliant work going on. On the other, this “brilliant” work is rarely rewarded and mostly conducted away from the limelight in standalone research laboratories. Needless to add, only a few academics know of the 44-year-old Agrawal’s ground-breaking research. There are over 700 MNCs that have set up R&D labs in India, eager to pick the “clever Indian’s brain”. In 2009, when MIT’s Technology Review started its Indian edition, editor Jason Pontin said, “They didn’t want to miss out on the action.” But, this “action” has been elusive. A 2009 report by FICCI-E&Y, “Making Indian Higher Education Future Ready”, shows that less than one percent of students enrolled in higher education in India are pursuing PhDs. With just 130,000 researchers, India has barely had 100 researchers per million people, a mere two percent of the number of researchers (per million people) that most developed countries have. More alarming—the number has fallen by 18 percent between April 2010 EDU TECH

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COVER STORY Research

LEVEL OF R&D ACTIVITY While the government R&D labarotories and academic institutions focus largely on basic and applied research, the corporate sector concentrates on product and process Stakeholders

Basic Research

Applied Research

Product development

Proecess development

Indian Government (R&D

Medium

Low

Academic Institutions

Medium

Low

Indian Companies

Low

Medium

High

Foreign Companies

Low

Medium

High

Lack of industry linkages and conducting research in isolation through public sector R&D centres has severely hampered the quality of research in Indian institutions Industry-Academic Collaboration There is a lack of an enabling environment for the corporate sector to work with the academic sector on joint research or commercialisation, due to the: n Absence of a clear IPR regime governing the ownership of intellectual property created through government-funded projects n Limited incentives for academic institutions/academicians to partner with corporate bodies and vice versa n Lack of structured processes and systems for academic institutions to partner with corporate bodies

Source: EY FICCI Higher Education Survey 2009

2001 and 2006. The FICCI-E&Y survey also showed that 60 percent of higher educational institutions surveyed complained of grant difficulties. Though funds were available in principle, exclusion clauses (age limits and such) ensured that many deserving candidates did not make the cut. An University Grants Commission survey also revealed that about a quarter of faculty in Indian institutions spends less than five hours per week on research. Five percent spends more than 20 hours a week on it. Even while there are so few people conducting research in India, the education system’s ancient rule books make things difficult. Vinita Mathur, an associate professor of geography at Delhi University, points out how despite her 27 years teaching experience, she cannot supervise a PhD—because associate professors are rarely allowed to. “I known only two associate professors who have guided a PhD,” she says. So, which is the real world of research in India—the optimistic projections of international companies, or the gloomy prognosis of our consultants, policy

makers and teachers? “Passion for research, what’s that?” asks Mathur, adding, “In the past decade, students have pursued PhDs to grab a teaching post, to avail library and hostel facilities while preparing for other professions, or for building CVs that would help them to apply abroad.” If professors are cynical, students are equally irked. They crib about the lack of faculty, guidance, poor infrastructure, inflexible system and inadequate exposure. Take Vinay Eapen, 22, for instance. Eapen began his doctoral programme at Brandeis University, Boston, in August 2009. “Back home, I could not enroll for a PhD unless I had some sort of postgraduate degree. Here I could.” Bureaucracy and red tape also makes the process tedious. Chennai-based Pavithra Shivakumar, a gold medalist and a doctorate from Taramani campus of Dr AL Mudaliar Postgraduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, emphasises that opportunities exist mainly on paper. “There may be UGC or DST grants, but they are not easily accessible. Especially for Indians

living in the south. When it comes to telephone conversations, all answers are in Hindi. I could never understand what was being said. If one has to make trips to New Delhi to secure fellowship approvals, when does the research happen?” she asks. A doctoral student usually receives a stipend of Rs 8,000 a month. And then he or she has to share computer and lab facilities. Not surprisingly, India’s research output is alarming. If we take the number of patents as a yardstick, then the top 10 institutes (IITs and IISc included) filed 236 patents between 1999 and 2002. During that time, University of California (alone) filed 431 patents. As for Nobel Laureates, there has been no homegrown one in recent years. Amartya Sen and Venkat Ramakrishnan lived and worked abroad. Interestingly, Ramakrishnan could not clear the entrance exams for CMC Vellore, and had to go abroad for further studies. Two decades ago, India managed to ride the IT services wave that helped the economy leapfrog to an eight percent growth. The next wave hitting the

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Research COVER STORY shores is the demand for R&D services—potentially a high revenue earner. The question is where will the talent come from?

“A SCIENTIST HAS TO BE SELFCRITICAL. AND BE OPEN TO CRITICISM AS WELL”

Two-Box Disease At the root of the problem lies a segregation—educational institutions and research bodies function independently of each other. The country’s academic sector contribute only 14 percent of the total research manpower. A comparatively larger part is housed in scientific agencies (31 percent) or in the private sector. “The focus on funding independent research institutions at the cost of enhancing universities has contributed to the downfall of research in higher educational institutes,” believes Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, the chairperson of the Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. As an example she points to the centre that she recently founded—National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), Gurgaon. “Isolation is never good. If we had been with a university or college, our growth would have been faster,” she rues. India suffers from the two-box disease—there is no pressure on research agency staff (from CSIR, ICMR and ICAR) to teach at universities. Likewise, no professor in any leading university is pressurised to conduct research at the expense of his “teaching”. The problem does not end here. Professor M.G.K. Menon, the former minister of science, technology and education, points out, before Independence the focus was on

—ALEXIUS COLLETTE Outgoing CEO, Phillip’s Innovation Campus, Bangalore

small science requiring small investments. Now, in this era of “bigger” science, funds, state-of-the-art labs and cutting-edge equipment are required, along with a team comprising diverse fields. “Traditional borders between disciplines have disappeared. This is an era of convergence. Our system, however, does not recognise teamwork across diverse fields, but only individual players,” stresses Ravindranath. At the MIT lab (Cambridge, US) there are no silos. So, a neuroscience laboratory will not only have doctors, but software developers, biologists and physicists working in tandem. In the social sciences, too, silos are breaking. India is also plagued by a top-down approach to research—so at the undergraduate level there is absolutely no exposure to research, and students go through the motions of getting

FUNDS TO BOOST RESEARCH National Science and Engineering Research Board, a new funding agency that policymakers hope will liberate funding from the bureaucratic red tape, will start functioning from April—two years after it was first approved by the Parliament. C.N.R. Rao, the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Science Advisory Council, believes that the agency will take “a few more months to become fully operational”. The Board, modelled on USA’s National Science Foundation, will be independent from the government. It will have an initial allotment of Rs 10 billion, which will be used for basic scientific research that does not directly result in patentable inventions. It will also take over and enhance the extramural funding functions of Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) within the department of science and technology—but will not affect the latter’s funding.

a degree. Whereas overseas, even undergraduates get to interact with researchers Professor Mihir Deb, a senior scient i s t a t I n d i a n Na t i o n a l S c i e n c e Academy’s department of geology (University of Delhi), deplores the lack of leadership and vision among senior people. “Insecurity, jealousy and mediocrity are main reasons for our poor performance in science,” he says.

Mind The Mindset Alexius Collette, the outgoing CEO of Philips Innovation’s Bangalore campus, admits that the Dutch major only hires doctorates from IITs and IISc—but at least they are homegrown students. There are Indian MNCs that have a policy of hiring students who have studied at universities abroad. Collette explains, that most students produced by the Indian system need to be taught to think out of the box. “A cultural change needs to happen,” he says. “You have to be critical for good science to emerge. A scientist has to be selfcritical. And be open to criticism as well, to undo and redo what has been done.” “A lot of people who could be leaders in research are going in directions that are different—into entrepreneurship and business. Today, we don’t have an equivalent of a Homi Bhabha or J.C. Bose,” rues professor Menon.

Reinventing Research A wake-up call has been sounded by the National Knowledge Commission and April 2010 EDU TECH

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COVER STORY Research

LOOKING FOR RESEARCHERS A large proportion of faculty in private institutions do not focus on research 15% 24%

61%

56%

11% 33%

Private

Proportion of faculty involved in research <40% 40-80% >80%

Public Source: EY FICCI Higher Education Survey 2009

UGC, both of which have come up with plans to reinvent research. Except that some of the plans are 60 years too late— experts say. NKC’s quick fix is the plan for 14 “innovation universities”. But as Ravindranath points out, “There are things that cannot be jump started. Education institutes need time.” For professor Menon, the problem lies elsewhere. “Is it a good idea to instill an environment of research only at an innovation university. Anyone who studies should

be curious and innovate wherever he or she may be,” he adds. Every one agrees that there are no easy routes and the re-engineering process needs to be slow and steady. Break Silos: At government universities, departments rarely interact for research purposes. However, private universities are breaking this silos. Dr Abhijit Mukherjee, director, Thapar University, says that the barriers of traditional departments have been broken at his university.

“MINUTE YOU LOWER YOUR BENCHMARKS YOU CANNOT PRODUCE GOOD STUDENTS.” —VIJAYALAKSHMI RAVINDRANATH Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

NIIT University also promotes interdisciplinary research. “Faculties need to talk to each other across departments,” says Mukherjee. “When I was an engineering student I missed the chance of studying finance and micro-economics. Now, I am making sure that if there are more students like me, they get to do what they want.” Facilitate industry-academia collaboration: NIIT’s Vice Chancellor Rajiv Shorey believes that the academic caste system needs to be broken. “We have theoreticians sitting at universities, the so-called Brahmins. Admit it, the finest minds are in the industry and R&D labs, it’s time to tap them, get them to teach,” he says. NIIT plans to get experts from industries to co-supervise a PhD. “Why does the guide have to be only a professor or a head of a department. Why can’t industry experts be involved?” he asks. There are instances of industry-academia collaboration—involving undergrads and postgrads, and not just doctoral students. Collette describes the collaboration between Manipal University and Phillips—how the company involves masters students for their operational project. At NIIT, a large part of the campus has been set aside as an incubation centre. Reward Research: Instead of saying “Agrawal who?”, a research academic should be celebrated and be given financial aid. “It’s frustrating for a researcher to be dependent on the family even after completing postgraduate studies. There should be more rewards for an academic trying to pursue research,” says Rajiv Shorey. As Shorey points out, in the NIIT model, the university encourages a system of rewards for academics who have journal publications to his or her credit. Reform the admissions process: “Getting a 90 percent in any examination does not guarantee a research base. Applications to US universities are different. Though you still have exams such as the GRE, colleges are more keen to see the statement of purpose. Recommendations from qualified people in the field is also closely

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Research COVER STORY

KEY CHALLENGES TO IMPROVING RESEARCH QUALITY More than half the higher education institutes surveyed, said that obtaining research grants is the biggest challenge, as they seek to improve the quality of research 60%

20%

16% 4%

Obtaining research grants

Industry partnership/supprt

Quality of human resources

Others

Source: EY FICCI Higher Education Survey 2009

“FACULTIES NEED TO TALK ACROSS DEPARTMENTS AND COLLABORATE” —ABHIJIT MUKHERJEE Director, Thapar University

examined. Add to that the exhaustive interviews..all these show the overall aptitude of a student,” says Eapen. Agrees Ravindranath. Admission criteria should be made less tough— remember Ramakrishnan? The Nobel Laureate was denied admission in India, which compelled him to go overseas for his higher studies. Transparency in grants: Research can flourish only if there is enough facility. In India, total extramural grant for research projects was Rs 11.63 billion during 2006 to 2007, with the science and technology department providing almost 50 percent of the funds. Though DST, CSIR and ICMR offer positive programmes (Inspire and

Kishore Vaigyanik Schemes), they also entail clauses that are restrictive. “The process of granting fellowships and grants should be made online and transparent. Everything should be merit-based and not quota-based,” urges Shivakumar. Also, more private initiatives (such as the Wellcome Trust International Senior Research scheme) are needed. Create integrated programmes: More integrated programmes covering masters and doctoral studies are needed. The system in which a student enrolls for a undergraduate programme at a college, moves to a postgraduate in a university, and finally a doctoral elsewhere, needs to be streamlined. If the three processes

are tied together, it would encourage more students to stay in the system. Also, it would improve quality. Seek foreign help: Alexius Collette describes how the city of Singapore involved foreigners to boost its research. Today, the place is a destination for bio-scientists. “I know that Dutch universities are keen to collaborate with India. And, if India opens up, it could lead to an absorbing exchange of ideas,” he says. Research parks: United States-based education specialist Rahul Choudaha believes that research may be fostered by creating an ecosystem of innovation, entrepreneurship and development where government, corporate and institutions collaborate. He points how the concept of research parks has been implemented in the US for past decades. Numbers game: “For 20 to 25 years we did not worry about the scarcity of researchers—now we are trying to plug the gap fast, too fast,” said Ravindranath. She feels that increased speed is leading to a lowering of benchmark. “The minute you lower your benchmarks, you cannot produce good students. I don’t mind less number of degree-holders, but those who graduate should be our best,” she says. Finally, the point is that if Agrawal can survive and thrive in India with all its R&D drawbacks, why can’t others? April 2010 EDU TECH

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COVER STORY Dialogue

PARADIGMS Of Science

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BY SUBHOJIT PAUL

Shifting

Dialogue COVER STORY EDU: You have been closely associated with the evolution of Indian science. If you look at the research climate then and now—what are the big changes?

BY SUBHOJIT PAUL

PROFESSOR MENON: The kind of research that was being conducted before and after the two World Wars was different—nature-wise, and as far as the amount of fund is concerned. Pre-Independence scientists such as Srinivas, Ramunjan, J.C. Bose and P.C. Mahanobolis, were concentrating on small sciences—not meaning “less important issues”. But research that required less infrastructure support or funding. The World War II changed all that. The new and “bigger” science required more money and better infrastructure. It was the time for atom bombs and atomic energy. Thus research wasn’t something that could be conducted anywhere. Hi-tech laboratories and equipment became necessary, thereby changing the profile of those who could access research. In a sense, there has been a sort of deterioration. We don’t have a Homi Bhabha, or a J.C. Bose anymore—thinkers who build schools and motivated others to take up research. There is, in that sense, a crisis of leadership. But, there have been positive changes as well. Research has gone into several new directions. When India was fighting for her Independence, there was an intense sense of

wanted to innovate and discover for their country. Nowadays, its difficult to feel the same, as the situation is not similar. Now, discoveries are for the sake of science and scientific progress.

Do we have pockets of excellence?

“WE SHOULD NOT FORCE OUR YOUNG GENERATION INTO SCIENTIFIC STRAIGHTJACKETS. WE SHOULD NOT OVERLOOK THEIR INTERESTS.” M.G.K. MENON Ex-Chairperson, ISRO, Former minister for state for science, technology and education nationalism. That feeling also influenced the research mindset—people

He may be in his eighties, but former minister of state for science, technology & education, M.G.K. Menon is as sharp as ever. In conversation with EDU, he analyses changes in the environment for research BY CHITRA NARAYAN

Yes, even today there is a smattering of positive research all over the country. But, the nature of this work being conducted now when compared to the kind of work that was being conducted previously is different. At ISRO, India is producing satellites. But, what one must understand, these innovations are engineering-driven, precise and automated—very different from the type of discovery that happened earlier. I won’t call it (modern research) spectacular, but it is certainly practical.

So, do you think innovation universities are the answer to the problem? To my mind, anybody who studies in any university or college, and is driven by curiosity is capable of innovative work. If you look at scientists of yesteryear, say someone like J.C. Bose, he remained a student for his life. He was curious, constantly innovating and was eager. We should not force our young generation into scientific straitjackets. We should not overlook their interests. We must keep them focused on discovery and research—keep the child in them alive.

In terms of funding, do you think that the research situation has improved? Efforts such as the Kishore Vaigyanik Scheme, by the DST, and Inspire Programme, are all here to encourage bright young people to make a foray into research. There is indeed more money than ever in research, developand innovations. A lot of bio-tech and life-sciences firms are investing in research and talking of collaborating with the academia. Today, the main need is not money, but the vision to strive ahead and make a difference. To look beyond the immediate and see new ways to collaborate to the best of our interests. April 2010 EDU TECH

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COVER STORY Dialogue

OPTIMIST 30

Maps

The Research Route

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BY JITEN GANDHI

Dangerous

Dialogue COVER STORY EDU: How did the research agenda evolve in India? MASHELKAR: Remarkable changes took place in post-Independence India—with the foundation laid by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. To Nehru, science was not just a tool for economic development, but a means to emancipate the country by bringing in qualitative transformation. It is fair to say that postIndependence Indian science may be viewed as a matter of national pride. Indian research and development (R&D) today is built on the four pillars of techno-nationalism, inclusive growth, techno-globalism and global leadership.

Why was the private sector so slow in getting involved with R&D?

BY JITEN GANDHI

In 1978, J.R.D. Tata had commented, ‘‘If I was allowed to make a car, it would be as good as a TELCO (a Tata company) truck.’’ But, he was not allowed to built cars—not until 1993, in a post-liberalised economy. And I believe that India celebrated its second independence in 1991, when its economy was liberated. Prior to that, tariff barriers protected the industry from the rest of the world. There was no incentive for research and development since there was no competition in the marketplace. It was not a buyer’s market; it was a seller’s market. After 1991, however, the situation changed as competition moved in. The Indian pharmaceutical (IP) industry also went through similar paradigmatic shifts. IP laws were designed in such a

way that only process patents were accepted, and product patents were not. In response, the Indian industry created a strong base by copying new molecules introduced in the Western world. This was perfectly legitimate, but it also meant that there was no new research drive conducted to create new molecules. On 1 January, 2005, in fulfillment of its agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Indian IP laws were changed. Product patents became acceptable. In anticipation of the change, the drug and pharmaceutical industry began investing heavily in innovation. Research portfolios changed from innovative process chemistry to innovative product development, including developing new molecules and new drug delivery systems. Investment in R&D, which had hovered around one to three percent of sales turnover, began to climb in some cases reaching 10 to 15 percent.

How do we get science and capital to meet? The first challenge is to recognise that the goddess of knowledge and goddess of wealth can coexist. We should learn a few things from scientists such as George Whitesides of Harvard. Whitesides showed us how to capitalise work, while remaining a leader in science. For instance, Whitesides, who is also the highest-cited scientist in the world, has co-founded over a dozen companies (Genzyme, GelTex and Theravance). Together, the companies have a market capitalisation of over $30 billion.

Amid the gloomy voices, Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, the former director-general of CSIR, is the lone evangelist for a bright future BY CHITRA NARAYAN

Academic researchers in India should learn from people like Barry Sharpless. While conducting world-class research, Sharpless also managed to register the highest number of patents. I have analysed some data through CSIR’s Unit for Research and Development of Information Products. There were disturbing discoveries— some Japanese companies had brought out patents based on original work done by leading Indian scientists. The patents arrived right after the Indian scientists published their papers. Why should a country like India allow its scientists to publish research papers from which others create patents? We should make sure that the journey from mind to marketplace takes place right here in India.

What hurdles do the Indian researchers face in completing the innovation chain? R&D converts money into knowledge. But, it is innovation that converts knowledge into money. We are good at the first, but fail at the second. Ashok Jhunjhunwala of IIT Madras develops a wireless local-loop technology and it gets implemented first in Madagascar, then Angola and then Brazil, before it comes to India! CSIR’s New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative gave the scope to fund a low-cost computer. Using it, Vinay Deshpande of Encore created Mobilis—a mobile personal computer. The first Mobilis will be produced this year. But it will be launched in Malaysia and Brazil, and not in India. Why do we fail in completing the journey from an Indian mind to an Indian market place? Because, we lack a robust national innovation ecosystem. Beyond research labs, it includes idea incubators, technology parks, conducive intellectual property rights regime, enlightened regulatory systems, academics who believe in not just “publish or perish”, but “patent, publish and prosper” system, in potent inventor-investor engagement, in “ad”venture capital, and passionate innovation leaders. April 2010 EDU TECH

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VIEWPOINT

Rishikesha T. Krishnan

Supporting Students With Disability

or decades now India’s collective aspiration has been to be one among the “developed” nations. But, for this nation of billions, what does development truly entail? Is it only measured by per capita income? In our quest for economic stability, we overlook our social responsibilities. A nation is as good as the infrastructure it offers to its citizens—all of them—including those who are disabled.

In a “developed” nation, persons with disabilities are encouraged to pursue a range of activities—go to school, avail higher education and seek employment. Options are not restricted to the moneyed section alone. Public facilities are also disabled-friendly. As a signatory to the UN Human Rights Treaty, India has promised to provide a better life to its citizens with disabilities. The legal basis to this promise is provided in the Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. According to this Act, government-funded institutions (including IITs and IIMs) have been reserving three percent of its seats for persons with visual, hearing and locomotor disabilities. The UGC has been providing grants to set up equal opportunity centres. But—is all this enough?

The Bigger Challenge According to the 2001 Census, about 2.1 percent of India’s population comprised people with disabilities. Due to inadequate facilities at the school level,

the access of children with disabilities to schooling is poor. The problem is aggravated when it comes to higher education. Entrance tests are competitive and require special coaching. Even if such tests allow some accommodations (CAT allows additional time to persons with visual disability), preparatory classes and study material are often not disability-friendly. India’s premier campuses of higher education institutions were built at a time when sensitivity to needs of the disabled was poor. As a result, physical access to these campuses can pose a challenge. To comply with the PWD Act, some campuses have installed ramps, railings, lighting, elevators, and toilets with wheelchair access. However, design constraints and non-standardised implementation have meant that some parts are still out of reach. An even more serious issue is the lack of equal access to the classroom teaching; conventional lectures pose a problem for both hearing and visually-impaired students. Use of Power Point slides is problematic for the visually challenged. Immersive learning methods (case study discussions) are difficult for hearing-impaired students.

Technical Solutions Fortunately, technology offers solutions to these problems. Software packages such as JAWS enable conversion of text into voice. Assistant technologies such as ZoomEx allow conversion of

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Rishikesha T. Krishnan

an image file into a text without the several layers of scanning and conversion. Transcription of voice to text remains a challenge when there are multiple voices with different accents and tones, but â&#x20AC;&#x153;single voiceâ&#x20AC;? transcription software is improving. The bigger challenge is to create a system that provides students with disability what they need, when they need it; and as a matter of right, not as a favour. This involves systemic and behavioural changes. Concepts of merit and equity are ingrained in us, and it takes time to realise that asking a blind student to interpret data depicted on a graph (even with the help of a scribe) is not a fair way of testing him or her. Fortunately, several best practices have emerged over time in the developed world, and some institutions in India are slowly beginning to adopt these. At the core is the formulation of a clear institutional policy to provide equal opportunity to all students with disability. This policy is put into practice through the creation of an office of disability services (ODS) at the institutional level. The ODS typically assesses each student at the

VIEWPOINT

puter with JAWS. Students with hearing disabilities have a note-taker assigned in advance, who is present in every class. Students with serious locomotor disabilities attend classes in rooms that are accessible without having to ask for it. Setting up an ODS requires an initial investment in equipment and technology, but the staffing requirements are modest. Support may be forthcoming from caring corporate partners. The ODS at IIM Bangalore was set up in January 2010 with a generous grant from Mphasis Ltd. Sensitivity training for faculty, staff and students is an important complement to the setting up of an ODS. Fortunately, there are several NGOs (including, at the national level, the NCPEDP run by disability activist Javed Abidi) who can provide access to qualified trainers. An increasingly important dimension of disability access is institutional websites. With the Internet being the primary means of information, and a medium for application and communication, institutional websites need to be compliant with standards such as WCAG 2.0 that enable visually-impaired students to navigate the site.

he challenge is to create a system that provides students with disability what they need and as a matter of right, not as a favour

time of admission and determines what additional support (called accommodations) are required for the disabled student. These accommodations are communicated automatically, and in advance, by the ODS to faculty, teaching assistants, and facilities providers, so that these are provided without the student having to seek them each time. (This determination of accommodations to be provided is different from the certification of disability which according to law is done by a medical board constituted by the commissioner for disabilities in each state). If this system works, then a student with visual disability receives a CD with the reading material converted into JAWS-compatible textfilesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;at the same time when others receive their textbooks and article binders. Similarly, students with visual disabilities receive a copy of the PPT file of their classes so that they can load it on a personal com-

While finding appropriate job opportunities for graduating students with disability is sometimes a challenge, the good news is that a commitment to greater diversity is now visible in corporate India. When we first started reservation for students with disability at IIM Bangalore 10 years ago, we had to beg or arm twist employers into providing internships. Things, however, have changed. This year, for example, we had companies such as Mphasis, IBM and Wipro seeking out students with disability. While support for students with disability is mandated by law for government-funded institutions, it could be a great differentiator for private universities. Incorporating disability-friendly access is much easier in new buildings than in existing ones. Private universities can aspire to place themselves among the best in the world right from their inception if only they keep these disability-friendly steps in mind!

Rishikesha T. Krishnan Dr Krishnan is a professor of Corporate Strategy at IIM Bangalore. He has a MSc in Physics from IIT Kanpur, MS in EngineeringEconomic Systems from Stanford University, and a PhD from IIM Ahmedabad. He can be reached at rishikesha.krishnan@eduleaders.com

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ADMINISTRATION

Documentation

Leveraging audits to create a better education system

BY NUPUR CHATURVEDI

EYE STOPPER IN INDIA only 15 percent of the 400,000 engineering graduates are industry ready— MeritTrac survey report THE WORD AUDIT is derived from the Latin term ‘auditus’ meaning ‘to hear’

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A A

ccording to MeritTrac, an independent skill assessment company, every year the Indian corporate sector requires 128,000 MBAs. However, Indian B-schools collectively produce about 100,000 MBAs annually. MeritTrac also points out that, of those thousands, only 23 percent are employable—increasing the already-existing gap between demand and supply. Another MeritTrac report on engineering states that India produces over 400,000 engineering graduates. But, only 15 percent of these 400,000 are industry-ready. It is apparent that some of the colleges (and universities) are failing to equip students for the industry. Exactly why this happens needs to be examined—which an audit can do. However, in India, an audit is often seen as a facilitator for accreditation, and rarely as a means, to improve an institution’s functions.

Examining differences

he word “audit” comes from the Latin word auditus, meaning “to hear”. By definition, an audit entails an examination and verification of records—originally an oral process. In context of an institution, the word means the process of assessing whether a college or university is indeed fulfilling its purpose of disseminating knowledge, as well as contributing to the creation of a talent pool. In a report titled Quality Audit in the Universities, C. Webb writes that in context of higher education the word (audit) was first used by professor Stewart Sutherland, Vice Chancellor, University of London. (Sutherland was also the chairman of the academic standards group at the Committee of Vice Chancellor and Principals and was a member of the management board of UK’s Academic Audit Unit between 1990 and 1992.) Sutherland tried to distinguish an academic audit from other kinds of peer reviews, and hinted at its intended methodology. Webb, on his part, explains, “Academic audit would seek to borrow techniques from the financial audit.” It would not mean that a university’s functioning would be akin to the balance sheet of a company. It just means that the level of scrutiny would be the same. Dr David Woodhouse, executive director of Australian Universities Quality Agency, clears the matter further. In Putting ‘A’ into Quality (a paper that he authored) Woodhouse distinguishes between audit, assessment and accreditation. While an audit, he says, “is a check on an organisation’s explicit or

“THE CONCEPT OF AN ACADEMIC AUDIT DOES NOT EXIST IN INDIA.” —SHASHI GULHATI, Professor IIT Delhi

Documentation

ADMINISTRATION

implicit claims about itself”, an assessment is more result-oriented. It answers the question “how good are your outputs?” “According to the International Standards’ Organisation (ISO), quality audit is a threepronged process—checking suitability of the planned quality procedures in relation to the stated objectives; conformity of actual quality activities with plans; and effectiveness of the activities in achieving the stated objectives,” Woodhouse explains. Accreditation is the outcome of the audit and assessment processes. Thus; audit is a process, assessment is the result and accreditation is the qualified result. The proliferation of institutions offering higher education in India and increased student mobility and globalisation has made a quality compass critical. An audit is that compass. With foreign institutions making their foray into India, now there is also the need for a standardised assessment. As Professor Shashi Gulhati, points out, “The concept of an academic audit does not exist in India. An institution such as the IIT is better because there is the pressure to perform. We ensure that curriculum is revised, faculty is assessed—even by students—and teaching assignments and assessments are regularly scrutinised.” Gulhati has been a professor at IIT Delhi for 40 years. There are several types of academic audits, based on levels of assessment and on people carrying out this assessment. Institutional audit: When a holistic assessment of colleges or universities is carried out, the process is an institutional audit. It may be both at an external or an internal level. An example of such an audit is the one carried out by accreditation agencies. It is true that an institutional audit is often a step towards seeking accreditation, approval, or rating. However, the issue with this is that institutional audit gauges tangible realities (physical infrastructure, resource quality and faculty-student ratio). Intangibles such as teaching quality and learning outcomes fall through gaps. Sub-institutional audit: When a particular aspect of an institution is assessed (say a department, faculty, or curriculum) it is called a sub-institutional audit. Again the process may be carried out by an external or internal agency—peers from another department within the same university, April 2010 EDU TECH

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ADMINISTRATION

Academic Audit

or by peers from another institute. But, students are not the only stakeholders in an institution. With increased investment going into the higher education sector, returns have to be tangible—and they have to be measured. For that, an academic audit (not just financial audit) is necessary. Brigadier Rajiv Divekar (retired), director, Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, says, “Recently we received our ISO certification. It made us confident of our abilities and qualities. In today’s academic world transparency and consistency are important. Run an honest office with regular audits, then every person understands what is expected from him, or her. Accountability increases and processes become standardised.” In India an audit is rarely seen as an ongoing exercise. If that is the case then Andhra University (AU), is one of the few exceptions. The university will be conducting audits from the 2009 to 2010 session. Of course, the need for a mandatory audit was driven by the quest for an ISO rating. But, soon, Beela Satyanarayan, the VC admits, the process was seen as a proactive internal measure. Osmania University, Hyderabad, is a pioneer because of its internal audit cell. Professor Lingamurthy, Vice Chancellor, Kakatiya University, tells us, “Osmania was probably the first university in the country to start an audit cell. We followed that model. Professor G. Ram Reddy, the then Vice Chancellor, created the Director Academic Audit Cell. Later, when Professor Vidyavathi became the Vice Chancellor of Kakatiya University, I asked her to create a similar cell here.” Curriculum watch: Keeping a curricula updated is a challenge. Usually, there isn’t a fixed way to arrive at this. Professor Gulhati says, “At IIT we try and update the curriculum frequently. The usual way is when a faculty member realises from his or her research that there is something that can be developed as a new programme they present a proposal in individual capacity to the departmental board. It is then put forth for approval.” This ensures frequent upgrade. But, the process is limited to

“In today’s academic world transparency and consistency are important. Run an honest office with regular audits, then every person understands what is expected from him, or her” —BRIGADIER (RETD) RAJIV DIVEKAR, Symbiosis Insitute of Management Studies

the IITs. In universities, curriculum upgrade is a long-drawn process, because it has to be acceptable to all col-

leges falling under its jurisdiction before change is internalised. Regular curriculum audits are required to understand what the focus is, and if that focus is relevant. There are no fixed ways to conduct a curriculum audit—an external agency can do it, or it could be an internal audit. If you choose the latter, there are templates and guidelines available on the internet from institutions that help the process. Some (sites) even give a step-bystep approach. But the core idea is to start with objectives, obviously. The next step is to set standards against which curriculum may be measured—this can be developed after interviews with stakeholders and representatives—management, teachers, students, parents, industry and, of course, experts. For developing such a survey questionnaire, resources available on the web can guide you. Then the actual design of the audit begins, again involving stakeholders. For internal audits, guidelines are necessary, as is a schedule. And the process needs to be monitored as it happens. Then data have to be collated and analysed, with a final report on findings. The process is straightforward enough.

HE AUDIT ADVANTAGE

How self academic auditing can help your institution:

Faculty, administrators and students can get together to self reflect, collaborate and give feedback through structured conversation to do a self-audit. This model is low cost, simple to do and has many advantages likel Set up of a process for continuous improvement for quality assurance l Increased interaction among faculty, students, and administrators l Self-assessment based on quality principles l Promotes integration across programs and disciplines l Provides accountability to stakeholders and promotes stewardship of financial resources It can be designed by focusing on the following areas: l Determining Learning Objectives l Designing Curriculum and Co-curriculum l Designing Teaching and Learning Methods l Developing Student Learning Assessment l Assuring Implementation of Quality Education

Source: Papers on Academic Audit by Paula Short, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Tennessee Board of Regents and Professor of Educational Leadership, Tennessee State University

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Academic Audit

Of course, the answers come when you ask the right questions, so the challenge is in the design. Pedagogical process: It is not just the content that needs to be audited, but also delivery. Thomas Angelo, the co-author of Classroom Assessment Techniques, said, “Teaching in the absence of learning is just talking.” The effectiveness of teaching and pedagogy is something that needs to be audited from time to time, given the deluge of new tools for improving curriculum delivery. In our universities, however, the pedagogical processes have remained tethered to age-old practices. The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) in its recommendation document to the ministry, says, “The university syllabi remain unchanged for decades. It needs to be upgraded constantly and revised frequently. Universities should revise or restructure at least once in three years. Revisions should be subjected to peer review before implementation. The process should be streamlined and de-centralised, with teachers’ autonomy and statute changes. There should be a mode of censure for departments or universities that do not upgrade.” Evaluating the teaching-learning process needs a three-pronged approach— evaluation by management, peer evaluation and student-led evaluation. Eliminating even one will result in a skewed process. Secondly, standards need to be set for disciplines. In terms of methodology, there are a number of ways that can be used independently, or in combination. There is the questionnaire approach. How it is designed is critical. Then, there is the focus-group approach, where a group of peers, superiors and students are asked to discuss the effectiveness of a class, course, programme or department. There is peer evaluation methodology in which an auditor or a group attend classes and evaluate it. Auditing teacher performance is also a way for a university to exercise control over the education quality. Professor Lingamurthy says, “In a way, it serves as a monitor. When a university gives affiliation, it sets certain

ADMINISTRATION

‘Strong Performance In Audit Clears Path To Accreditation’ Beela Satyanarayana, VC, Andhra University, explains... What prompted you to adopt academic audits? Academic audit is an assessment held to evaluate performance of an institute, department or course. Since all institutes under the umbrella of Andhra University (AU) are expected to maintain high standards and to verify the prescribed standards and to impart quality education, we decided to go for an academic audit, which evaluates performance of an institute, department or course. It is interesting to note that in the US, audit is an educational term, often used for completion of the course of study and no assessment is done and no grade awarded.

When did AU first decide to go for an academic audit?

BEELA SATYANARAYAN Vice Chancellor, Andhra University

We started during the 2009-2010 academic session. In the past decade, a number of professional institutions, particularly dealing with engineering, computer application, business administration and pharmacy schools, were started. But, with this proliferation, there was a general sense of degeneration. The public, particularly, felt that quality (of teaching) was deteriorating. To check this, we felt it was necessary to go for an audit.

Is academic audit an end in itself? For the university, it is an end in itself. But institutes that perform well in the audit are automatically expected to qualify for higher grades in all national and international accreditation systems.

What is included under AU’s academic audit system? Our system is planned to include assessment of infrastructure, faculty-student ratio, admission process, curriculum, syllabus, pedagogy, as well as student evaluation.

conditions. Whether these conditions are being followed is periodically checked by an academic audit cell. A team goes and checks teachers’ qualifications, numbers and recruitment.” Evaluation may be developed at a government-level as well. Professor Gulhati tells us that the Ministry of Human Resources Development had created a Quality Improvement Programme, specifically focused on engineering. Teachers from smaller engineering colleges can come to the IIT for their PhD and then start research at their respective institutions. IIT teams will sometimes arrive to assess their programmes.

Evaluating evaluation: Quality of learning is often tested by student performance. However, the NKC states, “Learning and creativity are at a discount in a system of assessment that places a premium on memory rather than understanding.” Therefore, evaluation needs to audited to bring out a correct picture of student performance. Before the institution adopts any way, it needs to audit (check) its process of evaluation and see if there is a gap between student evaluation according to university and industry’s expectations. Students, too, should receive the opportunity to give their feedback. April 2010 EDU TECH

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VIEWPOINT

Rahul Choudaha

Advantage Foreign Universities?

he recent approval granted to Foreign Universities’ Bill by the Union cabinet has led to a division of opinion. On one side there are the pro-Bill people riding a wave of optimism. On the other, there are those who believe that the Bill will open the floodgates for poor-quality institutions, which will take unfair advantage of hapless Indian students seeking a foreign tag. Both the views are a trifle exaggerated. In this time of budget cuts and minimised endowments, there are few overseas universities that are either willing or capable of establishing campuses here. Public universities, both in the US and the UK, are facing a financial meltdown of sorts. Private, notfor-profit universities that rely heavily on tuition and endowments are facing terrible times. Apart from financial constraints, building offshore campuses requires time, and resources. The establishment of such campuses in the Gulf gained traction because of the substantial financial incentives that were provided by the host country. In India, the Centre is in no position to offer the same. Sometimes, even being a part of a global brand or receiving financial support is not adequate to keep campuses afloat. In the Gulf, some education providers were forced to down shutters, despite having the brand backing and the finance buffer. Take the University of New South Wales, Australia, for example. It not only closed its Singapore campus, but received the label

of being “one of Australia’s worst business failures”. All because it did not have enough students to fill its classes. Such a shortfall is unlikely in India. But such incidents are shaping the strategy of international universities harbouring expansion plans. Reputed universities are treading cautiously as far as potential payoffs are concerned. And, these factors are further weakening the case for India. The only sector that has been prospering despite the troubled times is the “forprofit” segment. Apollo Group (owner of University of Phoenix) saw a revenue jump of 26 percent (from $3.14 billion to $3.97 billion) at the end of August 31, 2009. While prospering for-profit overseas universities are not being allowed to enter into the Indian higher education sector, reputed not-forprofit universities are struggling to start campuses here. So, will the state of higher education remain in limbo? No. The Bill will fuel the already existing interest of overseas universities. However, the form and nature of the presence of these universities needs to be understood. There are three segments of universities with different needs and objectives that are interested in India: Prestige-enhancing (top-50 research universities): These public or private universities, belonging to not-for-profit sector, are not interested in India as a source of revenue. Instead, they wish to

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Rahul Choudaha

add to the existing brand name by offering their faculty and students access to an increasingly important market called India. These universities are unlikely to establish full-fledged offshore campuses here at least for the next five years. However, they will be keen to establish partnerships in form of student and faculty exchanges, and collaborative research projects. Both Yale and Oxford have clarified that they are interested in expanding their partnerships with India. Harvard Business School established the India Research Center in 2006. While, Columbia is mulling the establishment of a new centre in Mumbai. Prestige-seeking (next-tier of 100 universities): These pursue internationalisation to build the brand name and seek revenue enhancement. In addition to the collaboration path, these universities also seek to develop extensive partnerships, including joint degree and twinning programmes. They are interested in establishing offshore campuses. National Management School recently partnered with Georgia State University to offer a joint MBA programme, while Lancaster University partnered with GD Goenka to establish GD

VIEWPOINT

Revenue and profit maximising: Universities in this segment are primarily looking for additional sources of revenue and profit by expanding their market and scaling enrollments. This category will include lesser-known public universities engaged in joint-degrees and twinning programmes. What sets them apart from prestigeseeking universities is that they do not have the resources to start their offshore campuses. There are also the private for-profit universities that are interested, and financially capable, of establishing a full-fledged presence in India. But they are not welcomed. Especially since HRD minister Kapil Sibal has clarified that education will remain a notfor-profit sector in this country. So for now, most of these universities have kept themselves content through partnerships, and by offering unconventional courses. (Raffles Education of Singapore partnered with Educomp to start Raffles Millennium International specialising in design.) It is important to note that this is the segment which is susceptible to fly-by-night operations,

stablishment of such campuses in the Gulf gained traction because of substantial financial incentives provided by the host country

Goenka World Institute. Indian universities and potential partners need to understand that even though this segment does not include Harvard or Oxford, it still comprises high-quality schools. For example, Lancaster, with a revenue of nearly $250 million, is ranked among the Top-20 in the UK. Bob McKinlay, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Lancaster University, said, “Finding a partner in such markets [India] is not so easy. Lancaster made three trips to India and spoke to more than 50 institutions before it alighted on Goenka—and that, too, happened because Goenka approached Lancaster.” This segment presents excellent opportunities for the Indian corporate houses, or even highachieving alumni, to bring international education providers to India by contributing towards investment requirements. Overseas universities can bring in academic and research expertise, while their Indian partner could contribute financial investments.

financial engineering and unethical practices— and hence requires close monitoring. The real test is to differentiate wheat from chaff. Thus, government should focus on creating a robust regulatory mechanism which ensures that malpractices do not take place, irrespective of the orientation of the institution. At the same time, the system should not stifle innovation, diversity and growth. This, is obviously not an easy task. As we see, there is a wide spectrum of institutions that serve different needs of student segments. India needs both the high-quality teaching and research provided by the research institutions and the massification which could be catalysed by next tier of institutions. Likewise, Indian universities and their potential partners should recognise the diversity and needs of foreign universities to establish effective and sustainable partnerships here.

Rahul Choudaha A higher education specialist based out of New York, Dr Choudaha specialises in strategic management of higher education, institution building, academic leadership, collaborations and market development. He has a PhD in higher education from the University of Denver, MBA from NITIE, Mumbai, and BE from Jabalpur University

April 2010 EDU TECH

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ACADEMICS

Teaching Methods

Can India transform its archaic classroom teaching methods to a more interesting, liberal, global system? BY NAVNEET ANAND

he Karnataka government finally gave a nod to the Azim Premji University Bill-2010 in March, paving the way for the first private university in the state. What worked in favour of the Bill was the fact that the promoter (Azim Premji Foundation) is planning a university for teaching, training, and research in education, education management and education policy. While Premjiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s institution targeted at training elementary and secondary teachers, may improve teaching at the school level, unfortunately higher education does not have too many institutes to train the trainers. Often, professors, who may be really knowledgable in their field are at a loss when it comes to capturing attention of the students. 40

EYE STOPPER AMONG THE 371 recognized state universities, private universities, central universities and deemed to be universities in India, Maharashtra has 41, Tamil Nadu has 35, Uttar Pradesh has 35, Karnataka has 25, Andhra Pradesh has 24, Rajasthan has 22 and Gujarat has 21

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Teaching Methods

ACADEMICS

While most students look at education as a route to better jobs, inside the classroom it is not just a download of information that they seek. They look for inspiration, and for teachers who can hold their attention. This is where the teacher gets a chance to transform lives by inspiring students to develop “a firmness of will”. How this is accomplished could vary, but the fact is that teachers, who take that extra step and change the class dynamics, can influence change. In ancient times, when the guru-shishya parampara flourished, the Indian classroom put students at the centre. Today, institutions often have a nonchalant engagement with students. Birendra N. Dubey, professor of sociology at Ambedkar University in Lucknow, says, “Teaching remains a monologue...Nothing more than an anathema for students.” Echoing a similar thought, Asha Kaul, an associate professor of communication at IIM Ahmedabad says, “Somewhere down the line we lost sight of that tradition in which learning, learners and teachers were imbued with a unique sanctity,” Dubey and Kaul come from two ends of the formal education spectrum. The IIMs and IITs, which Kaul represents, have surged ahead while government-run institutions have collapsed under the pressure of mediocrity. “The IIMs have experimented with curriculum design and methodology, giving it a contemporary twist. A lot of planning and work goes into making our classrooms engaging,” reveals Jabir Ali, assistant professor at the Centre for Food and Agribusiness Management of IIM Lucknow. Besides improving the curriculum, teachers in higher education need to adopt new methods of teaching to make their classes interesting.

The Harvard Guide to Effective Class Preparation

Sages on Stage or More?

Discussion Leadership:

he practice of “spoon feeding” is the essence of the Deficit Model of Teaching and Learning—focusing on the individual learner. The model chooses to label students as “good” or “bad”. It attributes failures to poor motivation, low interest and ability, and absorption—and several Indian higher education centres seem to subscribe to it. The model translates teaching into a unilateral process: lectures are “delivered” , while dialogues are minimised. Covering the curriculum is key, rather than promoting comprehension. “This is an irony,” feels Avijit Pathak, professor of sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He attributes such ideas (of teaching) to a general lack of creativity, low sense

Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard Business School provides some tips: LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. What are the two or three principal learning objectives for this class? 2. What role does this class play within the course module? 3. What impact do you expect the class to have on students’ depth of knowledge, development of judgment and analytical skills, and leadership capabilities?

TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES 1. What topics or counter intuitive insights stand out in the case? How will you leverage these to engage your students in discussion? 2. What in the case might this audience find difficult or confusing? How will you manage these discussions? 3. At what points in the discussion is the class at greatest risk of going off-track? How will you manage such contingencies should they arise? 4. How might you draw upon relevant connections between this class session and your own research or business experience?

CLASS DESIGN Structure: hat issues or pieces of analysis should be covered during the W discussion? How will you sequence the discussion pastures and how much time should be devoted to each? What is the logic underlying each transition from one pasture to another? How will your board plan support the class design and facilitate student learning?

Opening: hat comments, if any, will you make to introduce the discussion? Why? W What is the rationale behind your opening question? Which student will you select as the opener? Why? How do you expect the discussion to emerge following the opener’s initial response? What follow-up questions within each pasture will motivate students to think beyond their initial contributions? How will you phrase the transition between each pasture? What question will you use to introduce each pasture following the opening discussion? How will you incorporate student backgrounds into the discussion? Are there specific students who should/should not be encouraged to contribute during particular pastures? How might you stimulate students to think beyond this class and develop insights through linkages across classes, modules, and courses?

Closing: ow do you plan to close the class discussion? Why? H What are the risks of providing too much closure at the end of this class? Too little? Source: Harvard Business School website

April 2010 EDU TECH

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ACADEMICS

Teaching Methods

of self, mediocre people joining the vocation and systemic flaws. Pathak admits that his constant desire is to liven up the classroom. “In social sciences, it is imperative that teachers and students have a sense of society and self.” To cultivate this attitude, Pathak recently encouraged his students to do a little social sleuthing. For their mid-term assignments, students were encouraged to understand the concept of education by reminiscing and writing about their school days. Then, armed with cameras, they doubled up as detectives and “captured the silent anxiety of parents and children” during the board examinations. The results will be shown through a photo exhibition followed by a panel discussion on the “pathology of examination”. This is the mid-term assignment. All this effort is being taken to make the pedantic paper involving intricate theories and lengthy monographs more interesting. His alternative model of teaching and learning addresses yawning gaps in the deficit model. It does not assume learning to be a fixed concept, but a constantly changing and interactive one. British educationist J. Biggs explains. The new model encourages the

ences makes it more engrossing.

Knowledge Dichotomy

A “Concerns regarding the relation between knowledge gained from experience and knowledge gained from scholarship are being raised worldwide” —ANWAR ALI Director, Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad idea that “as students acquire new information, they change the way they think; ownership of new concepts and ideas arise through the process of acquisition and changes that we undergo.” Kaul, too, feels teaching by enabling life experi-

Dialogue-Based Learning n Sociology professor Avijit Pathak of JNU asks students to write biographical accounts of their school days. He also conducts workshops and photo exhibitions around topics n Director of IMT Ghaziabad Anwar Ali banks on classroom games, engagements with industry leaders and motivational films for better understanding n Pro Vice Chancellor of Amity University Gurinder Singh encourages students to keep an economic diary and a dossier on dream companies. He engages them in simulation games n Associate professor at IIMC’s School of Journalism Sunetra Narayan Sen asks students to identify strong newspaper stories and its features n Associate professor of communication at IIM Ahemedabad, Asha Kaul, takes a case-based approach to curricula n Assistant professor of agribusiness at IIM Lucknow Firoz Ali organizes farm visits to experience logistics and warehousing first-hand n Associate professor and head of journalism at the Dubai campus of Manipal University Mohammed Firoz asks students to create blogs, seek online inputs and engage in self-evaluation n Course director of Chinese at University of Bath, Yukteshwar Kumar, takes customised tutorials. He believes in being the Liangshi Yiyou (Good teacher, helpful friend)

nwar Ali, professor of operations management and director of Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad, believes, “Concerns regarding the relation between knowledge gained from experience and knowledge gained from scholarship are being raised worldwide. The prevalent idea is to balance the two.” Institutes such as Harvard Business School (HBS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Oxford University have tried to strike a balance. In 2004, HBS established C Roland Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning to support innovation in teaching. The centre specialises in case-method teaching and participant-centered learning. Named after late C. Roland Christensen, a faculty member and a legendary case-method teacher, the centre’s focus is to help faculty develop. It augments HBS’s traditional system of faculty-to-faculty mentoring by providing additional resources and programmes to strengthen pedagogy. MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory, established in 1997, collaborates with faculty, teaching assistants and students to “contribute to MIT’s commitment to educational innovation and its standing as a leader in science and engineering education.” Yukteshwar Kumar, the course director of Chinese at University of Bath (UK), believes that Indian classrooms are evolving. The sooner the better. “All this while the government has been obsessed with ideas such as equity, expansion and enrolment,” admits Dr Mohammed Firoz, the associate professor and head of journalism at the Dubai campus of Manipal University. He is cautiously hopeful for the future. Professor Gurinder Singh, the Pro Vice Chancellor of Amity University and director general of Amity International Business School, feels that the “Indian system is plagued by systemic and operational faults”. According to him, unchecked proliferation of neighbourhood institutions, lack of quality curricu-

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Teaching Methods

ACADEMICS

“I recall how Professor J.S. Nichols, the associate dean, would ask questions, and then encourage us to think of solutions with a gentle nod”

“Somewhere down the line we lost sight of that tradition in which learning, learners and teachers were imbued with a unique sanctity”

“The IIMs have experimented with curriculum design and methodology, giving it a contemporary twist”

—SUNETRA NARAYAN SEN Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi

—ASHA KAUL Associate Professor, Communications IIM, Ahmedabad

—JABIR ALI Professor, Centre for Food and Agribusiness, IIM, Lucknow

lum and weak industry interface are the key reasons for the predicament.

Shifting Paradigms

owever, the shortcomings do not deter Singh from seeking innovation. “I encourage students to think through,” says Sunetra Narayan Sen, associate professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) New Delhi. Sen completed her masters and PhD in communication from University of Pennsylvania (Penn). “I recall how Professor J.S. Nichols, the associate dean, would ask questions and then encourage us to think of solutions with a gentle nod,” she said. Ali at IMT, a fellow of management from IIM Calcutta, feels that teachers should not be perceived as the authority. “We guide and support learners. Learning should be a studentcentric instructional model in a collaborative learning environment.” “I taught honors multivariate calculus when I was at Dartmouth…I would spend two-thirds of a class lecturing.

Then, I would pair students up to work on a specific problem. Those who did not understand the problem at the first go ended up getting it, thanks to their partners. While those who did, solidified their understanding by having to explain it,” said Geoff Davis in a blog post on his website PhDs.org. Davis currently works as a senior researcher. Speaking at a seminar on “Innovation in Engineering Education-2006” at The Royal Academy of Engineering in UK, Daniel Hastings, the professor of aeronautics, astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, listed the attributes of the engineer of 2020. “First, strong analytical skills. Secondly, practical ingenuity. Thirdly, and just as important as the first two, leadership and ethical standards. Emphasis should be on the candidate being dynamic, agile, resilient and flexible. More than half of these people are going to end up doing something other than engineering—being lifelong learners, an ability to understand what they are doing in a socio-technical and operational context. If all we do is educate people who fit

into the classic definition of ‘nerds’, it will be a strategy for failure.”

Clarion Call

ll over the world education is getting re-defined and India seems to be at the cusp of a similar change. The approach note to the XII Five Year Plan is chock-a-block with ideas, such as universalisation of the semester system, internal evaluation and assessment to replace annual tests. It also includes the introduction of credit system with the possibility of spatial and temporal flexibility or mobility, and curriculum revision at least once in three years. The plan will also emphasise on mandatory accreditation system and creation of multiple-rating agencies with a body to rate these agencies. It also advocates the need for greater autonomy and accountability in higher education. However, the ideas will remain at the conceptual stage if teachers do not come forward and adopt new teaching practices that put students back at the centre. April 2010 EDU TECH

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I N D I A H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N CON CL AVE MARCH 2010, NEW DELHI

Advancing The Enterprise Of Education I N D I A H I G H E R E DUCA T I O N CONCL AVEIn

India’s liberalised market-driven economy, the delivery of knowledge is becoming increasingly competitive. The challenge for private higher education institutions, that aspire to be recognised as the best, is to create and sustain an environment that enables both students and faculty excel. This requires innovation, creativity, use of technology to maximum strategic and operational advantage, and an ability to run institutions with same rigour as a successful enterprise. The EDU 2010 conclave was held on March 15 and 16 to address this concern and help leaders in higher education stay ahead of the curve.

KEY NOTES

Taking The Steps Together KAUSHIK BASU Education is the impetus behind a country’s development. Since 2003, India has been growing at a rapid annual rate of nine percent, putting the country in the second spot, behind China. This rapid growth happened due to reforms and investments made between 1991 and 1993. Initial investment meant that India was well-represented at international seminars and the Gross Enrollment Ratio in Indian higher education was ahead of many other countries. Unfortunately, investments dipped. Now, the current GER stands at 12 percent. If India wishes to turn the tide, it needs to be flexible, and formulate ideas

EDU TECH April 2010

that can usher in change. Thus, we need universities of excellence and front-line research. That will not be possible with government money alone. Therefore, for now, the government should allow privatisation, or to allow universities to raise funds from the market. Instead of seeing it as a bad word, a profit-making university allowing shares should be given the nod. Though we realise that a profit-making university cannot be top notch, it will go a long way to help the research and development of the country. It’s not too late for India to become a hub of higher education. A robust economy, and the population’s grasp of the English language would propel this growth further. See this keynote address on the accompanying DVD

EDU 2010

Collaboration Is The Key

TALKS ON TRACK

HELLMUT SCHÜTTE

Talking about globalisation of management education, professor Schütte says that it is much less an investment game, and more about a change of mind. That’s where education comes in. A change in education is needed. Because most business schools are “stuck”, rather geographically anchored therefore they are charged with local or

national objectives, are dependent on government funding and have mostly local and a few foreign participants (students). Such institutes also face a lack of resources (funds, people, knowledge and vision). Professor Schütte spoke of schools that offered management, undergraduate and MBA (full and part-time) courses, along with EMBA (part-time) courses, executive education and some doctoral (PhD) programmes. But the diversity of offerings makes the revenue models of each institute very different. A way out of these limitations is through internationalisation of management education by roping in more international participants (such as faculty either full-time or visiting), more international content and delivery mechanisms (such as books, internet and introduce languages) and introduce international administration. See this keynote address on the accompanying DVD

Delegates at EDU 2010 listen to the speakers with rapt attention

Pritam Singh, Pramath Raj Sinha and Kaushik Basu in animated discussion

Open All Doors RAJENDRA S. PAWAR The opportunity (for education) is huge. Looking at the present state we are in—it will take us decades to reach our goal of being a force to reckon with, require tens of millions of more skilled students to be added to the system, and tens of thousands more institutions to reach the 30 percent goal stated in the 11th Plan. Education is yet to become a serious movement, and we have taken too many steps back. But now, the Centre is showing an openness and is asking the right questions and entering into dialogues and discussions. Three basic areas in which reforms are needed: Structural, government and funding. The 11th Plan has created an outlay for (government) funding that allocates a sum

that is roughly nine-times of what was previously kept aside for education. It is however tenth of what was demanded for the development of the education sector. It is clear that the funding cannot come from the Centre alone. If it is to do the job alone, then it would have to devote one-fourth of the budget to the task. Philanthropic sources could be one way to getting funding. But, it cannot be the only source, given the distinct lack of surplus of profit. But government funding will continue to shrink as the Centre continues to support both primary and high school education along with higher education. In such a scenario, philanthropy and the quasi-legal sector will have to play an important part. All in all, we may plant the seeds for great institutions, but it will take us decades to

make these institutions into world-class centres of learning. Especially, in the scenario where the government is spending less and less in it. See this keynote address on the accompanying DVD April 2010 EDU TECH

EDU 2010

Research Linked With Real World

MUSINGS AT THE MARGINS

DINESH SINGH

Let’s look at a fellow called Manindra Agrawal—he’s a young man who has produced this stunning piece of research on prime numbers that makes Indians really proud. Are there more people like Manindra? I am afraid not. Why is this lacuna in the Indian system between excellent work and no-work-atall? Because, none of us can really imag-

ine out-of-the-box. There was a time when we could. Nalanda University was an example of liberated thought, of research for the sake of research. But it was not an isolated research. The university worked in tandem with the society—each fed off the other. Now, we have compartmentalised the real world and research, because, Indian higher education has moved from a liberated zone, to a restrictive one. Allow liberalisation in Indian education and open doors. Because great ideas will not happen in isolation—the problem that is plaguing the Indian education system is that we tend to think that we need centres, for excellence for ideas. But, Newton’s breakthrough happened at home, when he had left the university during the plague. Watson’s idea of the DNA was developed outside the confines of a university. Yes they all needed the help of the technology that a large university provided.

The delegates in discussion with Dinesh Singh

The exhibition showcased some latest technological device offerings in the market

PEDAGOGY PARADIGM

Left to right—Vijay Gupta, L.K. Maheshwari and Furqan Qamar and at the session on knowledge design

EDU TECH April 2010

Left to right—H. Rajeshwari, Vinay Hebbar and Vinod Khurana delve into issues around conversion of knowledge to wealth

EDU 2010

Left to rightâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Namit Kapoor, Lalit Johri and R.K. Suri examine new directions in executive education

Left to rightâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ranjit Singh, Alok Sinha and K.S. Viswanathan look at trends in campus infrastructure and technology

4 Sessions were also held on 1. spotting growth opportunities (with Saurav Adhikari, P.K. Gupta, Ramya Venkataraman and Tarun Malik), 2. aligning with international quality standards (Ashok Ranchhod, R.K. Suri and S.A.A. Alvi), 3. building green and sustainable campuses(C.N. Raghavendran, Aaron Schwartz and H.P. Garg) and 4. fund-raising techniques and practices (Nikhil Vora and Narayanan Ramaswamy)

April 2010 EDU TECH

EDU 2010

1. Ashish Gupta, COO eValueserve 2. Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB, Hyderabad, 3. K.L. Chopra, ex-Director, IIT, Kharagpur 4. Prakash Kumar, Director, IBSG Cisco 5. Nandita Abraham, HOD Business & Technology, Pearl Academy of Fashion 6. Dheeraj Sanghi, Director, LNMIIT 7. J.K. Goyal, Director, JIMS, 8. Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head, SMB TCS, 9.Nasir Ahmed Head QA, Mazoon College Muscat

Left to right â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Rajeev Shorey and Abhijeet Mukherjee at the session on retaining quality students and researchers

EDU TECH April 2010

A.K. Koul speaking on navigating regulatory uncertainties

EDU 2010

Left to right —Sachin Jain, G.B. Singh and Deepak Wadhawan at the session on security issues for academic institutions

Left to right— Arvind Singhal, Dheeraj Mathur and Lalit Johri on coping with global competition

Left to right— Kamlesh Misra, C. Rajkumar and Pankaj Jalote at the session on promoting international collaborations

Left to right—Pramath Sinha, Rajendra Pawar, Abhijeet Mukherjee and Jagdeep Chhokar at the big debate

Left to right —Ramesh Mittal, Suresh Raghavendra and Balwant Rawat at the session on entrepreneurship development

Left to right—Savita Mahajan and Shraman Jha speak on going beyond brick and mortar institutions, and into a virtual world April 2010 EDU TECH

EDU 2010

Besides several sessions on the enterprise of education, an exhibition showcased the latest technology products for higher education . A lucky draw and awards were part of the event.

Kamlesh Misra, Director, GD Goenka World Institute, describes his experiences with international tie-ups and its advantages

EDU TECH April 2010

C. Rajkumar, Vice Chancellor, OP JIndal University, speaks on leveraging international support for promoting research

EDU 2010

Pritam Singh, Former Dean MDI speaks on his views on the Yashpal Committee report and other regulatory issues

Indira Parikh, founder of FLAME talks about fostering industryinstitute collaborations

Vijay Gupta, Vice Chancellor Lovely Professional University gives his view on how to restructure courses to prepare for the future

L.K. Maheshwari, Vice Chancellor BITS Pilani put forward his ideas on designing programmes to meet future needs

Furqan Qamar, Vice Chancellor Himachal Pradesh Central University explaining how to work on curriculums

Pankaj Jalote, Director IIIT Delhi speaks about promoting international collaborations April 2010 EDU TECH

EDU 2010

Aaron Schwartz, Principal, Perkins Eastman, speakes on building sustainable campuses with intelligent design

Dr Helmut Schutte, Dean, INSEAD, takes a breather and a brief cuppa break after his address

Shashi K. Gulhati, ex-CEO, EdCIL, talks about developing and managing faculty

Abhijeet Mukherjee interacting with delegates

I N D I A H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N C O N C L AV E

Watch the Leaders Speak 130 educationists converged in Delhi, on March 15-16 2010 to deliberate on the issues concerning I N D I A H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N CON CL AVE private higher education in India. Watch Dr.Kaushik Basu ,Chief Economic Advisor, Govt of India, Helmut Schutte, ex-Dean INSEAD and Dr. Dinesh Singh, Director, UDSC share their thoughts in the CD inserted with the magazine

EDU TECH April 2010

Printing Solutions

PRINT, IMAGE AND

TECHNOLOGY

The market has many options if you are looking for printing solutions. But, there is no one size-fits all. EDU examines the issues that you should consider before picking the right device

DIGITISE BY DEVANGSHU DATTA ILLUSTRATION: PRASANTH TR

ver the past three years, there have been significant changes in the imaging and printing solutions space. Users looking to manage tasks like printing, scanning, copying, and sending-receiving faxes, have also become more sophisticated. Networking has become the norm, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;greenâ&#x20AC;? is the new buzzword. With technology trending towards convergence, more and more image-print devices now have multiple features and functions.

EYE STOPPER THERE ARE FIVE TYPES OF PRINTERS Toner-based, liquid ink-jet, solid ink, dye sublimation and inkless printers. Inkless printers include thermal and UV printers

Institutional Needs However, before you get bedazzled by the plethora of products in the market, take a close look at your needs. Educational institutes tend to have more specialised requirements than the average office. These run the entire gamut of speed, size and resolution. Printing often tends to be extremely intensive and varied, including application forms, degrees, exam papers, quizzes, notes, diagrams and IDcards. The quality may span from draft to extreme high-end, and sizes range April 2010 EDU TECH

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TECHNOLOGY

Printing Solutions

SELECTING RIGHT SOLUTIONS Analyse and audit requirements carefully, department by department. For some departments, DMPs may be indispensable. For many departments, MFDs will be more cost-effective than SFD. Where possible, replace several SFDs with a few, more heavily-utilised MFDs. The required feature-sets for MFDs may differ in different depts. If the primary task is fax management, with printing playing a secondary role, the most suitable MFD will be different compared to where the primary task is document management and archival/retrieval coupled to printing. For special requirements like architecture plans, engineering diagrams, etc., high-end dedicated prints and scanners may be most suitable. When researching solutions, consider total cost of ownership, not just price. For example, laser power consumption per page printed is less than inkjet and laser printer maintenance is lower. But lasers are more expensive in terms of initial costs. Smart power management is a must. Lifecycle is also a factor. Negotiate on price and configuration, and on additional features for security and manageability, support and after-sales services. Often, inkjet cartridge and toner costs can be reduced sharply through negotiation of bulk discounts. Third party sourcing of cartridges can also reduce these costs Audit paper usage and digitise as far as possible. Implement centralised printing to utilise devices most efficiently. Good document management with smart power management can reduce paper needs, energy consumption and improve efficiency. Many tasks such as backup application forms and academic journals can be completely digitised.

from ID-cards and letter size, to wide-format engineering and architecture plans. Often high-volume photocopying and scanning is required to facilitate research. Institutes also need to print academic papers, which can include complex diagrams. Many may also need to produce glossy brochures and publicity material. Institutional needs also vary, depending on the discipline. A technical institution will have different requirements when compared to an architecture school or a media studies centre. Puneet Datta, assistant director for marketing business imaging solutions at Canon India says, “Educational institutions are adopting new technology to enhance productivity, speed up processes, and increase ease of operation while reducing costs. There are a wide range of devices available, featuring compact design, ability to print mixed colours at

high speed, with network abilities and advanced printing features. Document scanners help in digitising and automating examination systems and libraries, as well. Card printers help create ID cards and access cards for libraries.” Libraries usually require the deployment of high-end scanners-copiers, which will be in near-continuous use during certain periods, especially before examinations. Digitising and archiving periodicals and journals is also an increasing trend in library management. Hence, institutions are also looking for bundled document management and retrieval software solutions in addition to scanning and printing. Dedicated wideformat printers and copiers that can handle large colour documents such as architectural plans, degrees, engineering diagrams and anatomical drawings are needed in technical institutes.

Understanding The Technology Printers can be differentiated on the basis of output technology with options ranging from lasers, to inkjets, to thermal, to the humble dot-matrix. Many printers offer several functions, though dedicated single-function printers continue to be widely used. Dot-matrix printing (DMP) is a variant of typewriter technology. A ribbon is hammered by tiny pins to create images. One advantage of DMP is that it is cheap. But DMPs are noisy. As pins wear out, print quality suffers. Colour and graphic reproduction is very poor. Almost all DMPs are monochrome and singlefunction. DMPs are widely used for lowresolution, high-volume tasks such as printing question papers or payroll processing. They use continuous stationery efficiently and can be employed in wideformats as well. Hence, DMPs are very useful in labs or data centres, where data is being continuously logged and printed. For high-volume, continuous transaction, low-res jobs, such as data sheets, question papers, and payrolls, DMPs (usually SFP) are the best option. Thermal technology was pioneered by fax machines. It requires specially treated paper, which is heated in patterns to create images. Colour reproduction is poor. Pure thermal technology with special paper is now being replaced by thermal transfer. In transfers, ribbons are heated to partially melt and leave images on plain paper. Thermal paper is relatively expensive but plain-paper plus ribbon costs also add up. More recently, inkjets have become very common. They work by ejecting ink in patterns. Wide-format inkjets are particularly popular in architecture and design departments. Inkjets cartridges are expensive and can be troublesome to maintain, because the ink can dry. Inkjet prints also fade over time. Laser printers offer the highest quality reproductions. These printers employ an adoption of photocopying technology. A laser beam scans and projects images in patterns of electrostatically-charged ink (“toner”) particles. The toner is impressed onto paper by direct contact,

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Printing Solutions

dried and fused by heat and pressure. Some lasers can do duplex printing on both sides of paper, (without manual aid), resulting in paper savings. While they can print rapidly once started, they need to load an entire image into memory before printing starts. Apart from the toner expenses and the need to operate in dust-free environments (to protect the laser), lasers are also slow to start up. Many lasers cannot easily handle large sheets or continuous feeds, due to memory restrictions. However, laser print have very high resolution (though colour printing is expensive). Inkjets and lasers tend to be faster and quieter than DMPs, and usually produce better graphics and colour. However, many educational institutions may not need high-end resolution. Most modern networked printers allow administrators to monitor usage, maintain security, allocate costs and balance workloads across multiple devices.

SFPs, MFDs and AIOs The academic market is a very small proportion of the peripherals market at present. According to Pankaj Chawla, Lead Analyst, Peripherals Research, IDC India, “By its very nature, the education sector represents a minuscule proportion of the overall India market for Multi-Function Devices (MFDs) as well as Single Function Printers (SFPs). During CY 2009, the India Education sector contributed about 1% of the MFD market and 3% of the SFP market in terms of unit shipments, including both lasers and inkjets.” SFPs may be indispensable for certain tasks. Earlier, different types of SFPs were employed to perform each image-print task. The devices were attached to a specific computer, rather than networked. By default, most modern printers are network-capable. Multi-functionality started with printers adding copier-scanner functions, faxes doubling as copiers and printers, copiers adding printing, etc. All-inones (AIO) or MFDs are now common. MFDs can handle larger sheets, with extra trays, and are aimed for institutional users. Most have fax capabilities, in addition to print-copy, optical character recognition (OCR) functions. All MFDs are network-capable (though they can be connected via USB/ parallel). They have compatible digital document retrieval and sorting software bundled with the hardware. Higher print speeds are possible. A single networked MFD can perform most image-print tasks and thus, replace several SFDs. Using MFDs saves headaches in configuration and tends to be more efficient in power usage. Coupled with smart power management and good document management, efficient MFD solutions can also save paper. Rising MFD adoption has also spurred the adoption of digital document solutions. All major industry players offer bundled software for document management. Scans can be stored digitally and retrieved when needed. Good document management solutions reduce image-print costs and enhance productivity. Where the needs are relatively less about printing and more about copying and scanning, using MFDs makes a lot of sense. But the ideal MFD/ AIO feature set may also differ from department to department. In a library for instance, the focus is more about scanning, photocopying, and other forms of digital document management. In the office, the focus may be more on making mopies (multiple original printed copies of mark-sheets, degrees, etc).

MFD Advantage The term AIO is used to differentiate smaller desktop units from larger, standalone MFDs. AIOs are targeted primarily at the SOHO segment. They always have print-copy functions and often have OCR software bundled as well.

TECHNOLOGY

WHAT’S NEW Google TV Coming At You Google, Intel, Sony and Logitech have teamed with Sony to develop a platform called Google TV to bring the web into the living room through a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes. The partners envision a form of technology that will make it as easy for TV users to navigate web applications, like Twitter social network and the Picasa, as it is to change the channel. Google intends to open the platform, based on its Android operating system for cellphones, to software developers in the hopes of spurring the same creativity that the consumers have seen in phone apps. The idea is not new. Several others have tried to bring the web to the living room. YouTube already has a version for large screens, Google already sells TV advertising and there are many Google apps that could improve the TV experience. It is rumoured that Google’s software will include a new interface for YouTube, a browser and other Android apps that will extend the functionality. Google has built a prototype set-top box, but the technology may be incorporated directly into TVs. A person with knowledge of the Google TV project said that the set-top box technology was sufficiently advanced that Google had begun testing it with Dish Network, one of its long-standing partners in the TV Ads programme.

Digital Professor Prof Learning Solutions, India, has launched iProf, the country’s first personal education tablet, and iStudy Zones, the first chain of e-learning centres to be spread across 30 cities. The iProf has a seven-inch touchscreen tablet, bundled with content from several pan-India premier institutes. iStudy Zones will be enablers of the e-learning delivery mechanism. The zones will have highperformance servers with high-speed broadband and Wi Fi that allows a content to be downloaded on the iProf in a secure environment. In addition, the zones would enable video conferencing between faculty and students. At the beginning, iProf will cater to the test-preparation education segment, a market worth Rs 1,000 billion.

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TECHNOLOGY

Printing Solutions

However, many AIOs don’t have fax functionality. Some are not networked, being attached via USB or parallel port. Some AIOs also have slots for direct digicam-input and smart card readers, etc. AIOs are designed to handle letter and A4 size sheets. When choosing between an MFD and an AIO, consider the primary function. An MFD used as a fax machine needs a different feature-set from a printer that is used most often in a secondary role as a scanner or copier. MFDs are replacing not only SFPs but standalone fax machines and scanners as well. Datta reckons “MFD is becoming the choice of customers and commands 60 percent of market share. With new technologies and features, that share will head ever upwards.” IDC estimates of India’s MFD market and Single Function Printer (SFP) market shows a trend of increasing MFD adoption. In 2009, the MFD market (laser + inkjet) saw 903,484 units shipped while the SFP market (laser + inkjet) saw 1,153,498 units shipped. The MFD market grew by around 10 percent during recession while the SFP market shrank by 13 percent. In terms of value for money, MFDs are superior. Going by IDC estimates, the average MFD unit costs around Rs 4,400 with a total MFD market size of about Rs 3,914 million (CY 2009). The average SFP costs around Rs 6,600 with a total market size of about Rs 7,593 million.

exploit the new features that became available in the last two or three years.

Key Concerns Both SFDs and MFDs are available across a very wide range of prices, features and functionalities. There are also specific products that address cost concerns, especially for educational institutions, like the copy printer. “A copy printer is a digital version of the duplicator, ideal for educational institutes where a high-quantity of copies or prints are required from a single original such as question papers and circulars. The copy or print charges could be as low as 15 paise,” says A.T. Rajan, the associate vice president (marketing) for Ricoh India. However, cost should not be the only concern. Buyers should also consider other variables like legacy issues, ease of maintenance, security, ease of device integration and network management. The task of integrating devices into networks can often become a complex task in large, multi-disciplinary institutes with assorted legacy issues. Here, centralised print management can help. A networked device can service several geographically dispersed departments to

Digital Divide There is apparently a divide in attitudes between older government-funded institutions with legacy issues and new private institutions in terms of the purchase decisions. But even in older institutions, new departments are opting for MFDbased networks and smarter document management solutions. Prithwis Mukherjee, Professor of Management Information Systems at IIT Kharagpur’s Vinod Gupta School of Management says that the B-School network is much more state of the art than other older departments. MFD-use is more pronounced at VGSM because the network architecture was designed to

“During 2009, the education sector contributed about 1 percent of MFD market, 3 percent of the SFP market in terms of shipments...” —PANKAJ CHAWLA Lead Analyst, Peripherals and Digital Products Research Practice, IDC India

manage their needs. Again, these solutions need to be tailored to the institution and its physical layout and needs. Secure authentication, data encryption and assured data security and becomes critical if devices are shared across departments. Broadly, printing and photocopy functions are used more often than scanning and other digital document management solutions. According to a HP study, printing occurs about seven times as often as scanning. But needs may be different for a given institution or a department. The print to scan ratio may also change as digital document management software becomes more sophisticated. All the major players claim to cover the entire spectrum of solutions, and that they will work (either directly or through dealers) with an institution to devise the best architecture. When choosing manufacturers and vendors, maintenance should be given due consideration particularly for institutions located outside major cities. Educational institutions are advised to negotiate a complete image-printing solution, including after-sales service and maintenance contracts. “The key concerns are that of quality and reliability. The total cost of ownership is also a concern. That does not mean only the price of a product price per se—but includes maintenance and service costs, operating expenses on paper, toners, cartridges, and spare parts availability. The company’s reputation, whether the product consume low levels of energy should also be considered. Finally , the administrator should also see how environment-friendly the company is, “ believes Ram Prasad, senior business manager, Epson India. Imaging and printing accounts for significant energy consumption across networks. According to a study by Bradford University (UK), Sustainable ICT in Further and Higher Education, by Peter James and Lisa Hopkinson, about 10–16% of ICT-related electricity consumption is due to print-copy activities. The study suggests three key measures for sustainable eco-friendly printing. One

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Printing Solutions

TECHNOLOGY

TYPICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE NEEDS 1) Office -administrative requirements. Tasks will include fax management, mopiers to handle degrees, mark sheets, brochures and admission forms, plus general correspondence. These tasks can be covered by colour-laser MFDs that offer fax features plus good document management software. Payroll tasks, etc, may be better managed with a DMP that can handle multi-part stationery. 2) Data centres & labs: Continuous output via DMP may be required in many cases. While wide-formats may be necessary in certain circumstances. 3) Libraries: MFDs are likely to be most suitable. Scanner and document copier functions including high-resolution functions in the case of technical documents with diagrams and graphics may be required. Good digital document management can reduce paper usage. 4) Specific departments such as design, architecture, engineering, etc, requiring high-end graphics and wide-formats. They need to look at inkjets and lasers. Inkjets offer less resolution and need more maintenance. But they handle wide-formats better. Lasers offer better resolutions, especially colour, but they are more expensive and less capable of handling wide-formats. Also lasers are not really suitable.

is replacing several single function devices with a single MFD; the second is setting duplex printing as a default and the third is the use of 100 percent recycled paper. Smart network design using document management solutions can dramatically raise efficiency and reduce costs. A review of current practice shows actual printing is often unnecessary. Many documents can be digitised and handled online, within the intra-net and over the Internet. Often instead of a pho-

tocopy or a paper fax, a digital document will be more efficient and cheaper. Whenever an imaging or printing solution is required, a good centralised network can also allocate it most efficiently to the best-available device. Of course, technological solutions need to be backed by a review of institutional cultural practices. Users often prove resistant to the need to change habits. However, there is every indication that the climate is changing. As

more institutes review imaging and printing practices, the move from a paper-driven environment to a digital one is gaining momentum.

What’s Online To read more stories on Technology go to the EDU website www.edu-leaders.com Write in your views and opinions about the stories in this magazine or on any other issues relating to higher education. Send them to the Editor, EDU at editor@edu-leaders.com

IN MEMORIAM MARCH 20, 1950 to APRIL 16 2010

“IF ONE IS INSECURE HE WILL NOT ONLY NOT GROW BUT WILL ALSO NOT LET OTHERS GROW” Dr CS Venkata Ratnam, the director of the International Management Institute (IMI), Delhi, passed away on April 16, 2010, after a prolonged illness. He had joined IMI as a professor in 1986 and became its director in January 2005. He was an educationist of iconic stature and an eminent scholar in the area of industrial relations and human resource. A strong believer in the power of higher professional education, he was also an exceptional writer, speaker and a thinker. Under Dr Ratnam’s able leadership IMI Delhi grew significantly in terms of faculty size, academic programmes and intellectual capital.

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CASE STUDY

Data Management

Record FOR THE

Lovely Professional University has developed a customised, IT-based solution to store data and records pertaining to students and staff

ovely Professional University (LPU), Phagwara, is a technology-driven campus spread over 600 acres with 24,000 students studying in its 150 programmes. It provides a range of integrated undergraduate and postgraduate courses. LPU is a progressive education provider that focuses on professional training, to help students fit into the modern industrial market.

Problem Identification As a rapidly-growing university in Punjab, LPU was adding approximately 8,000 students annually, capitalising on its programmes and quality infrastructure. The growing numbers posed a serious challenge to the institution as far as recording and maintaining data pertaining to students was concerned. In addition maintaing records of the alumni, besides those of the faculty and staff members, further complicated the process. The combined data was enormous, and traditional ways to manage it were failing. The management was worried, as some of this data (calculation of

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ORGANISATION Lovely Professional University TYPE Offers science, commerce and arts degrees BUSINESS CHALLENGE Establishing efficient record-keeping system. Available solutions available were designed for the US education system SOLUTION Customised IT-based solution using HCL biometric machines, IBM servers and HP storage devices BENEFITS Easier access to data, cost savings

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Data Management

attendance and results) play an important role in a student’s life, and could have serious repercussions.

Record Challenges To increase the efficiency of record management processes, LPU started to look at options that would allow it to shift its information base to an IT-driven platform. During a preliminary search, the university discovered that while there were big players like SAP and Oracle that had ready packages for the education sector, the solutions did not match LPU requirements, since all these software had been customised and aligned to the US education system. This proved to be a big challenge for the management, which led the team to opt for a customised solution.

Customised Solution As the first step, biometric machines were procured from HCL and a software was developed with inputs from the university’s technical staff to collect information pertaining to employees and students. The process was initiated at the beginning of a new academic session. The first module in the software collected data pertaining to the students during the admission process. Subsequently, other information was entered into the system on a day-to-day basis. Features, including automated SMSes to students regarding admissions and inquiry, were added later. Over the next three to four months, more modules were added to the system, and all records were slowly shifted to the IT-based system. Data, such as student’s attendance records and examination marks, were input into the system and made accessible on a realtime basis. The final challenge was training the staff to use the software. Once the new system was accepted, the process became swift and transparent. With the student problem now solved, the next issue to be addressed was how to manage the human resource, especially since the university had a staff strength of almost 1,500. The university wished to provide timely access to atten-

CASE STUDY

dance and leave records, salary, appraisals, joining dates and emergency contact details to staff. To solve this problem, LPU introduced a biometric system for staff and students, despite the system being expensive. In the long run, utility justified the cost, as the recording process was streamlined completely. Biometric and smart cards were procured from HCL Biometric to receive and store information regarding the daily entry and exit of staff. The programme also made the details available online, eliminating the need for a dedicated team needed for record-keeping. LPU also streamlined its recruitment process by putting interview dates, names of candidates, comments and appraisals available online— to make the process more transparent. High-end blade servers, procured from IBM, and HP storage devices, were installed to ensure continuous data security and manage larger volumes of information.

Business Value The programme has met with approval from Ashok Mittal, the Chancellor of LPU. “Retrieving information has become easy. Now, we depute a less number of administrative staff to provide information, as students have easy access to recent and updated information. They can check their attendance records, assignment schedules, important notifications, and syllabi from anywhere. They can also submit their assignments online. Our system has become transparent and accessible,” he says. “This problem of managing data first surfaced in 2005. Fortunately, the problem changed our attitude towards the university’s administration and our idea of management. It is a positive technology that has made the whole process simple.”

I N D I A H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N CON CL AV E

I N D I A H I G H E R E DUCA T I O N CONCL AVE

Watch the Leaders Speak 130 educationists converged in Delhi, on March 15-16 2010 to deliberate on the issues concerning private higher education in India. Watch Dr.Kaushik Basu ,Chief Economic Advisor, Govt of India, Helmut Schutte, ex-Dean INSEAD and Dr. Dinesh Singh, Director, UDSC share their thoughts in the CD inserted with the magazine

What’s Online To read more case studies and whitepapers go to the EDU website www.edu-leaders.com Write in your views and opinions about the stories in this magazine or on any other issues relating to higher education. Send them to the Editor, EDU at editor@edu-leaders.com

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EXPERTISE DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE

AARON B. SCHWARZ

asktheexpert@edu-leaders.com

Campus Communities

n India, there are more students than seats available in institutions. This skewed ratio (of demand and supply) is leading to a state in which choices are diminishing for students. Fortunately, central government and private education providers are addressing this gap. Both parties are e s t a b l i s h i n g i n s t i t u t i o n s o ff e r i n g “d i ff e r e n t” experiences—at a price. However, if there are more choices, there are also defined preferences. The current breed of students are more aware than their predecessors of what they want—the best that their money can buy. While making a choice, factors such as cost, academic reputation and career placement are often the primary considerations for a student. However, the youth also place a lot of value on the quality of campus life and experiences it has to offer to them. After all, a campus promises to be their home for more than three years. Keeping this in mind, in the past decade, US institutions have been investing enormous sums of capital into residences and residential buildings to win an edge over the competition. Most university and colleges in India continue to adhere to the age-old, plain hostel or dormitory living idea—few have graduated to residences. Hostel rooms or dormitories are generally placed in institutional blocks. Students sleep in smallish rooms with more than a single roommate. They share lavatories with several others, and consume meals in the large space designated as the canteen or cafeteria—which is often in the same block as the “hostel”. This routine lifestyle proves to be cost-effective for an institution, but is often an uninspiring way of living for a student.

Aaron is the Principal and Executive Director at Perkins Eastman. He has more than 25 years of experience in architecture. His award winning portfolio includes numerous projects for colleges and universities in United States and other countries. He is currently involved in designing some university projects in India

Move To A Private World However, the trend is reversing from the large to the small, from the impersonal to a more personal space in residential campuses the world over. Colleges and universities are carefully designing not only the area they are providing, but also the experience that students are likely to get in such spaces. Some US colleges are concentrating on suite, or apartment-like residences. These new-age suite-like hostel facility includes a minimum number of bedrooms (comprising shared and single rooms), bathrooms, a living room and, in some cases, cooking facilities. These smaller facilities, universities and colleges believe, foster a greater bond among students. Residences (not your average hostel rooms) provide adequate space for both studying and informal interactions. Smaller private places provide a sense of ownership that results in students taking better care of the facility. Apart from these single more private

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rooms, new-age residences are also offering double rooms with bathroom facilities. This layout works well for campuses that rent out facilities for other functions when a school is not in session. If an institution is in a high-tourist area, or offers corporate training, these hotel-like rooms can be rented. In addition to the apartment suites, nowadays the residential buildings also include additional lounges that double up as study areas, cafés, recreational rooms and seminar rooms. Wi Fi connectivity is a must-have in these spaces. Though critics point out that these virtual interactions decrease one-to-one and face-to-face interaction—leading to social withdrawal—smart designs in these spaces may also encourage interaction. Large cafeterias and canteens with food-service lines and trays are being transformed into smaller dining spaces with more intimate settings. Private dining areas are increasingly including seminar areas where the faculty can hold an impromptu meet, while having their afternoon tea or a meal along with the students. Food service lines are disappearing. Food courts are being built in their places. There, young people are being offered different fare in different food stations. Depending on their market focus, college or university canteens nowadays resemble food courts (like those found in shopping malls), or buffet dining rooms (found in five-star hotels). Along with the physical space, the quality of food, too, is seeing a change.

EXPERTISE

PHOTOS.COM

Aaron B. Schwarz

CRAFTY DESIGNS: Administration have recognised that a large proportion of learning happens outside the confines of the formal classroom.

De-compartmentalisg Spaces Colleges and universities are encouraging eccentric norms to enliven residential life. In the US, specific colleges use residential buildings, or areas within these buildings, to pursue specific academic interest or pursuit. Say a floor “designated” to a specific language will have students speaking only that language during certain periods—creating their out-of-classroom immersion programme. Based on regionalism, culture and traditions—residential campuses may be further enlivened. Typically, campuses are planned in such a manner that the residential areas are separated from the academic areas. But, the current trend is reversing this idea of compartmentalised spaces. Increasingly residential buildings are being placed closer to academic buildings. Universities are thus becoming a mix of residential and academic villages, providing a boost to interdisciplinary activities—taking people far from their typical silos.

With time, this trend will become more prominent, especially in dense urban areas where space is a luxury.

24/7 Community Living Mixing the uses for a college or university residential building transforms it into a more vibrant community. And, it ensures a better use of space. Building a better residential environment for a student may not be the only way of attracting a student, but it is one of the more cardinal ones. Administrations have recognised that a large proportion of learning happens outside the confines of the formal classroom. Therefore, designing that “outside”, the non-classroom environment, is cardinal. Designs should be such that they foster and encourage learning. This means creating engaging study spaces, and informal interaction areas. In many cases, a college experience is the first out-of-home experience for a student. There are institutions that require all first-year students to live on campus and in specific buildings together to facilitate important bonding experience. After all, the relationships and bonds that are formed during this period, often keep an individual going for the rest of his, or her, life.

I N D I A H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N C O N C L AV E

Watch the Leaders Speak 130 educationists converged in Delhi, on March 15-16 2010 to deliberate on the issues concerning private higher education in India. Watch Dr.Kaushik Basu ,Chief Economic Advisor, Govt of India, Helmut Schutte, ex-Dean I N D I A H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N CON CL AVE INSEAD and Dr. Dinesh Singh, Director, UDSC share their thoughts in the CD inserted with the magazine

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“The ascent of money has not been, and can never be, a smooth one” Niall Ferguson

Book Review

Dough won’t Disappear The Ascent of Money is as entertaining as it is informative BY ULLEKH N.P. NIALL FERGUSON HAD the guts to hammer out at Nobel laureate Paul Krugman in a public debate last year on macro-economics. Whether the rising bond yields were good for the US economy or not, that was the question. Krugman said yes, and Ferguson, no. And like in most arguments, there was no clear winner. Not losing was victory, said his supporters. Ferguson shouldn’t have got into a technical argument with a person of Krugman’s repute, some others said. Well, that argument may go on, but nobody disputes that Ferguson is one of the finest living financial historians in the world. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World proves just that, yet again. His stellar work traces the rise of money and credit from ancient Mesopotamia to modern times. He writes about the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, which was moneyless, the emergence of metal as money, Italy’s loan sharks, evolution of banking and so on. The book, which has been adapted into a TV documentary, also delves into the growth of bond markets from the 13th century, role of some of the biggest market manipulators such as Nathan Rothschild who used wars to make unbounded wealth. The rest of the book focuses on the emergence of stock markets from the 17th century, growth

sectors such as insurance, real estate and international finance over the next couple of centuries. He draws extensively from his own previous works such as The House of Rothschild and Empire to offer a comprehensive read of the evolution of money, which, he says “has been one of the driving forces behind human progress”. As money keeps reinventing itself over time, old empires topple and give way to new centres of power, he argues, citing the rise and fall of the Spaniards in Latin America to the latest power centre, what he calls the “dual country of Chimerica—China plus America”. He writes that today’s financial world is the result of four millennia of economic evolution, and economies that have combined institutional innovations—banks, bond markets, stocks markets, insurance and property-owning democracy—have performed better than those that did not. “Yet the ascent of money has not been, and can never be, a smooth one… it is a roller-coaster ride of ups and down, manias and panics, shocks and crashes,” he says. The book, which starts off by taking a dig at the Marxian forecast that “money will disappear”, concludes by saying that if financial markets are the mirror of mankind, “it is not the fault of the mirror if it reflects our blemishes as clearly as our beauty”. It is timely, and as readable as it is informative because in writing history as entertainment, Ferguson is a master.

Author: Niall Ferguson Publisher: Penguin India Price: Rs 399

RECENT RELEASES Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education Is everything in a university for sale, if the price is right? This book written by one of the leading US educators cautions that the answer is often a “yes”. Derek Bok writes a candid saga. AUTHOR: Derek Bok PUBLISHER: Princeton University Press PRICE: $22.95 / £15.95

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Financing Higher Education in India A paper that was compiled into a book examines the task of financing higher education in India by looking at sources of funds, highlighting changes in terms of fee hikes, introduction of students’ loans and increasing role of private sector. AUTHOR: R.K. Tiwari PUBLISHER: Neeraj Publication House PRICE: Rs 945

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TIMEOUT

GIZMOS

Window Delight Though its thicker than the average smartphones, Sony Ericsson’s windows based X10 is definitely making waves LIKE ITS sibling—Windows Mobile-based Xperia X1— Sony Ericsson’s X10’s has an eye-catching sleek profile, an elegant curved body and a minimalist black and chrome scheme. It’s design unmistakably marks a smartphone. Measuring 4.7 by 2.5 by 0.5 inches, the X10 is slightly larger than most smartphones and feels slightly awkward. It weighs a manageable 4.8 ounces. Three hardware buttons for menu, home or multi-task manager and back, reside beneath the display. Though the skinny chrome buttons are easy to press, they aren’t touch sensitive. It’s gorgeous all right, however, the display is not that responsive all the time. And the omission of the multi-touch application from such a large-screened phone is disappointing and sometimes, a pain.

GADGETS Solid Class THE MINI 10 is a solid little thing, with a glossy finish and top-class build quality. Its hinge mechanism is sturdy and the keypad is one of the best we’ve come across on a netbook. The display is decent enough, though colour and contrast take a proverbial toss. The Mini 10 performs at par with other netbooks based on similar configurations and comes pre-loaded with Windows XP. Then there’s the six-cell battery that stretches battery life to over four hours — not bad. It’s 3G ready, with a SIM slot.

Price: Rs 17,400

Adult Games NINTENDO’S NEW DSi XL is aimed squarely at the older generation of casual gamers. People who appreciate something that’s a little easier to read. A larger screen and a full-size stylus, it comes preloaded with Brain Age Express: Math and Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters. But, its size reduces Dsi XL’s portability and is uncomfortable for people with small hands.

Price: $529

Price: $169.99

Corby For Youths

Sirius SPB1 Sporster Boombox

PRO SCREAMS out youth and vibrant chic. The phone comes with a whole bunch of widgets and apps for connecting to social networks and web services such as Flickr and Facebook. It has a 2.8-inch display that performs decently for a resistive touchscreen. However be prepared to encounter several mistaps and unintended application launches in normal usage. The highlight of the phone is the slide out QWERTY keypad. We found it to be quite good, with adequately bevelled keys that provide just the right amount of tactile feedback. The 3.15 megapixel camera produces sharp pictures in normal lighting conditions and that’s it.

SATELLITE RADIO can be a beautiful thing, especially in those long trips—if only it can be carried around everywhere. Well, now it can be! The device automatically records up to six hours of commercial-free music from Sirius Satellite Radio channels and allows users to save up to 10 hours of individual songs from live Sirius Satellite Radio broadcasts

Price: Rs 10,000 (approximately)

Price: $ 29.95 April 2010 EDU TECH

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LEGACY “Each man can do best in only that thing of which he is passionately fond of...”

Homi Jehangir

Bhabha Passionate and determined

It was in 1928 that a nineteen-year-old Homi Jehangir Bhabha made a passionate plea to his father. “I seriously say to you that business or job as an engineer is not the thing for me... Physics is my line. I shall do great things here. For, each man can do best in only that thing of which he is passionately fond of...My success will not depend on what A or B thinks of me. My success will be what I make of my work. I have no desire to be a ‘successful’ man or the head of a big firm. I hear you saying ‘But you are not Socrates or Einstein’. No. Berlioz’s father called him a useless musician—today Hector Berlioz is accepted as one of the greatest geniuses. It is no use saying ‘you must be a scientist for it is great thing’ when one does not care two hoots for science; or ask Socrates to be ‘an engineer; it is the work of an intelligent man’. I implore you to let me do physics...” It was this dedication and determination of Bhabha, that set him apart from his peers. Bhabha’s foray into science, especially physics, was no accident. He pursued the subject with a faith and love that was rare. As we talk of research and researchers in India, it would be silly to ignore a visionary like Bhabha. The man known as the Father of India’s Atomic Energy Programme was born in 1909 into a wealthy Parsi family. In 1927, he travelled to England to study engineering at Cambridge. Bhabha realised early in his career that he “was destined” for physics, specifically nuclear physics—a field that was growing across the world, and Cambridge was one of its centers. Bhabha received his doctoral degree in 1935 studying cosmic rays. During this time, he met some of the greatest physicists of the day—Niels Bohr, James Franck and Enrico Fermi—who would play major roles in the US-UK wartime atomic weapon programmes. Bhabha learned of the discovery of fission while abroad. He returned to India in 1939 and was employed as a Reader in theoretical physics at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore under Nobel laureate CV Raman. He visualised the potential of nuclear energy and its use in power generation at a time when most of his countrymen barely knew about the subject. Not only did he recognise a potential, he wanted his country to have a slice of the pie. “When nuclear energy has been applied for power production in, say a couple of decades from now, India will not have to look abroad for its experts but will find them ready at hand,” he had hoped. Bhabha was an astute scientist and a committed engineer. He was a dedicated architect, a meticulous planner and a perfect executive. An ardent follower of fine arts and music, he was a philanthropist, too. At the end of the day, he was what India needed desperately then, and perhaps what India needs now. If you would like to share similar stories with readers of this publication please write to the Editor, EDU at editor@edu-leaders.com

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~: 1909 - 1966 :~ FIELD Physics ASSOCIATIONS Indian Finance Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Indian Institute of Science KNOWN FOR He was called the Father of Atomic Research. He also specialised in radio astronomy, space sciences & microbiology AWARDS AND HONOURS Padma Bhushan (1954) THE JOURNEY 1932 First paper published in Zeitschrift für Physik 1935 PhD at Cambridge 1937 Proposed the theory of electron cascade showers; received Adams Prize 1941 Elected Fellow of Royal Society of London (FRS, age 32) 1942 Full professor (age 33) 1944 Proposed center for pure research

EDU TECH April 2010

4/26/2010 6:37:16 PM