Dhaval Gaud, Director Marketing, Operations and Business Development, Parul University, Ahemdabad on the benefit of hybrid model of education

We are moving towards a hybrid model but in months to come I think gradually the online model will fade away and we’ll switch back to our physical education says Dhaval Gaud, Director Marketing, Operations and Business Development, Parul University, Ahemdabad in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, ArdorComm Media Group.

What is your take on the concept of new normal in education and how you are implementing that in your University?

According to me this new normal concept has brought us lot of concepts, online teaching concept is there, online meeting concept is there and now we are doing physical events like this with limited numbers so actually we are moving towards a hybrid model. But as we are anticipating a third wave in the country we are very cautious but if it goes without any third wave then I feel that gradually the schools will open, the markets will open and eventually people will shed off from appearing online, because online doesn’t have that kind of effect, if I have to explain anything we can just wrap it up in 2 minutes but if I’m online I’ll have to speak 20 minutes for the same. So according to me online or virtual mode has a limitation so we should explore the opportunities with the limitations only. But eventually these things are going to unfold and I’m very sure that we’ll see these kinds of events happening more and more and people would love to come back to the way we used to work earlier.

What are the benefits of this online or hybrid model of education?

This online model is very much successful in remote areas if you exclude the tier 2 and tier 3 cities. If you want to take education to the remote areas, this is one of the fantastic medium. If you want to take education to the working people like work integrated programs or just like many popular platforms like upgrade are coming up so if you want it for working professionals or for people who cannot move, people who want to upgrade their education but are unable to do it because of their one or other responsibilities, this medium is going to be really helpful for them and obviously it has opened another dimension, another horizon which is going to grow in these coming years but with limitations as I mentioned earlier.

How did your university adapt to the online mode of education when Covid 19 just hit the world?

Our honorable President Dr. Devanshu Patel of Parul University is a very dynamic leader, I still remember last year when this Covid 19 situation came, he drove himself to my home to discuss the matter. We went with the other stakeholders and he arranged a meeting and he implemented to conduct the online exams using a WSE platform and the amount that was being quoted to us he just spent in five minutes and the decision what he took really helped the university. So as a leader Dr. Devanshu sir has done a great job and because of his vision I think Parul University is doing a commendable or an exemplary work and in years to come I feel as a university stakeholder we are taking right decisions and we want all our students to adhere to the hybrid model. We should not forget that practicals require physical presence so the university first started with online approach but currently the university as per the Government norms are conducting both the modes. We are having physical education also and we are having online mode also, so we are moving towards a hybrid model but in months to come I think gradually the online model will fade away and we’ll switch back to our physical education.