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“Because of not having the basic knowledge they are sometimes not getting employment,” says Dr. H.N. Shah, Director (GIT), Gandhinagar University, Ahmedabad in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad Would you like to throw some light on the initiatives which Gandhinagar university has recently taken? Gandhinagar University campus actually it was established in 2006 as a standalone institutive like Gandhinagar Institute of Technology but in 2022 with the Private University Act 2009 Amendment 2022 we got the status of a State private university as a Gandhinagar university. So, it is spread across 11 acres land and we have a six institutions right now we are offering a program in Engineering, Management, Commerce, Science and latest trending BSc courses like BSc in data science, BSc in IT, Bsc in computer science and apart from that we are more focusing on the skill development programs so we have another vertical, skilled development so under this institute we are offering a skill programs which is industry required. So, ultimately our aim is to just provide the industry ready workforce so ultimately this industry gets the benefit. How is industry ready curriculum important and how skills are important to be a part of the main course curriculum? See up till now what we observed that these students are running behind just A4 size paper, after graduation they are just entering in their professional life. Because of not having the basic knowledge they are sometimes not getting employment. So, here this skill development plays important role in fact in the previous days it was there but because of now in the modern technology, modern technology tools it is available, they are adopting by all the fraternity maybe MSME or industry or teaching faculty so these today’s youth are very creative. So, just we have to give them platform and we have to direct them so we are just identifying their skill their inclination on which they are, we can give them the direction for the other future. So, skilled program based on that we are just offering them as skill programs and we are just preparing them for the industry. As we have gathered together at a New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards according to you how would you define new normal? Yes, new normal word came after covid, new word it was just normal initially so new normal means what after covid, after pandemic because of this pandemic it was worsely affected in all sectors not only in industry education even in particular health also even thought process is also mentally change. Now we are coming up slowly we are coming up in a normal position so that is why we are just saying that it is a new normal. So, now how we can survive for the longer period of time and for that we have to think for the different society of ourselves our development also right so new normal is nothing it’s just new thinking, and for our survival how we can accommodate all the things which is adversely affecting in our life. I’m happy to share with you that we have successfully completed our one year of existence this last one and a half years since covid till now has been very exciting thrilling and learning opportunities, any message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media Group? Yes, first of all I’m very much thankful and happy that you are organizing such kind of things in Gujarat. So, again I’m wishing you all the best, I just came across one poster even you are going to organize in Rajasthan also so yes you have a tremendous scope right now and because of your team is very dedicated what I observed throughout the day right, so wish you all the best for your future.  

“We have to work out and bring the changes in our curriculum system because what we are teaching, there is a huge mismatch between what industry is required,” says Dr. Gangadhar G. Hugar, Director, Laxmi Vidyapeeth Institute of Management, Valsad in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad Would you like to highlight some initiatives about your institutions which you have done pre-pandemic and post-pandemic now? I have recently changed the institution, I have shifted to Laxmi Vidyapeeth Institute of Management Studies. I can focus much about pre-pandemic situation where we had used ICT tools for educating the students those who are from the remote areas, giving them and getting a more clarification about their courses, how best we can ensure and educate and transform their knowledge and upgrade their knowledge during the pandemic. With the help of the technology, with the help of the different platforms through which we used to conduct the classes online classes and that has worked out very well for us but the thing is you know the other way around the students at the receiving end are having or faced a lot of difficulties in terms of receiving the sessions. So, sometimes it was very indiscipline one, time management was a challenge for the students and technology was a challenge and network was a challenge. These are all the issues which were faced but you know gradually we worked and we worked together, students and the management and then it was resolved. Would you like to highlight how the industry ready curriculum should be there and what skill sets would be required so that the employability outcomes increase? It is like a very interesting subject for me and I’m the panel speaker for that, like when we talk about the industry related curriculum design my heartfelt feeling is industrialist has to come one step ahead and then associate with all the educational institutions irrespective of only focusing towards the tier one city or tier two cities. They should also, approach come down to the tier three cities and below level also because you know now the student’s fraternity which are having spread across the country in India they are facing a lack of employability skills and what do we teach in the institution and what do they learn and then when they are dumped into their job market they are unable to match their knowledge with the skills which are expected in the industry. So, henceforth what I request is some of the local small level or large level industrial associations has to have tie up and we also as an educationalist and the leaders in education segment we also would like to go ahead and then tie up with them so that in what level we can provide the employment opportunity for the students for which we have to work out and bring the changes in our curriculum system because what we are teaching is absolutely there is a huge mismatch between what industry is required. So, if for example if I take up an example of our present BO course introduced by GTU you know we have started giving the training to the students in each semester minimum one month they have to take a offline physical training. So, this is a beautiful thing what I have planned and you know like they will be observed by the end of the course itself and they are getting trained practically on the real platform it is not a dummy, it is not a duplication. They are given an opportunity to work on the real platform and really, we have worked out within a small span of time that is hardly three months it is really working out for me and I’m with which you know I have encouraged myself and my team of faculty members to do more so that because we are getting a positive response from the industry as well. So, see always when we talk about the industry it is not only the big players in the industries we should also focus on the small concerns small entrepreneurs you know individual, entrepreneurs, public company, private company whatever it is. We should have some kind of an association locally as well because our institutions when we talk about tier two cities or the tier three cities our students as well are requirement of a job opportunities so how to make employable to them at that level regionally tire two, tire three level so it helps a lot for us to have a local partners local associations so with whom we can make it possible and for that we have to design the curriculum which matches to ensure our student should start working from the day one itself. The name of the event is New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards, what is the word New Normal stands for you? New normal for me is you know doing something which is totally different and that different word has to have a catchy, meaning that for the present generation how we can enlighten, empower and transform the knowledge so that they could do something different things it is not one among the ten it has to be at the 11th one. By living one to ten he should or she should do the 11th one which is totally different, see doing the similar things anybody can do it any institution students can do it but every institution has to aspire the development of the students to come out with the kind of a creativity which is really acceptable in the industry segment. I’m happy to share that we recently celebrated our one year of existence and anniversary has been celebrated any message would you like to give for ArdorComm Media? It’s really a proud moment for me personally and professionally and I’m representing Lakshmi Vidyapeeth

“We have to have the proper content prepared in order to establish this research-based learning for the future,” says Dr. D. J. Shah, Provost, Sankalchand Patel University, Mehsana in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad Dr Shah would you like to throw some light on the subjects or the streams which your university is into? Ours is basically an only university in the north Gujarat region where we offer Engineering, Medical, Paramedical, Dental Sciences, Ayurvedic everything in a single campus. We are basically based in Visnagar in Mehsana district and because of this multi-disciplinary education available in the campus our students get benefit on the topic that you already have taken into consideration. There is multi-disciplinary education so we have an engineering student an engineering faculty supporting dental faculty and students in building up their projects in their denture related issues so that indirectly helps even during the covid time our team helped Medical College and hospital to set up oxygen set units so that they help the society from the floor whereas we are outside managing all oxygen requirements. So, technically both are helping each other and probably in the future no single degree is going to be used there is going to be a multi-discipline education and knowledge which is going to be the key. How important is research-based learning and where does skill play a role in the regular curriculum of academia? Research based education in today’s context is important but at the same time we have to have the proper content prepared in order to establish this research-based learning for the future. Once we prepare a content then the next important thing is to train the faculty members because see faculties are the key. If my faculties are not good enough to take care of that content forward then all this idea has gone. I gave an example during my panel discussion that one of my faculty when he was teaching me like constant acceleration motion he explained me by saying that can you write down a mechanical equation for a cover, a blank cover which I am falling it freely from the top and second time he put a pencil inside a cover and said now you write an equation see both the motions are different then he gave me certain examples and then based on that example I went to the library studied on something and so these kind of faculty members are also required otherwise this whole concept will fail. Skilling today is important but again when it comes to the skill people always talk about the soft skills but it’s not a soft skill but at the same time a technology related skills today are key along with the value based education because if I have the skill I have the knowledge but I don’t have the value or ethical practices in fact right then also I’m not going to be useful to the society so all this all in all needs to be a single package. We are here together to be a part of New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Award, according to you what is New Normal? See before covid I think we were all reluctant that how online education is going to be, nobody was ready to accept but post covid probably we have seen the advantages of online learning also. So, probably New Normal is going to be the hybrid mode of learning along with the required skills and technology utility for the future generation. If that happens things are going to be different. I’m happy to share that we recently celebrated our first anniversary and this exciting journey was full of excitement, learning and experience since covid till now, any message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media Group? Yeah let me first congratulate ArdorComm for completing one year and I’m sure that kind of activities that right now we are doing with this kind of gathering also first time in Gujarat you’ve been able to pick up good officials as well as leaders from higher education as well as schools. So, I’m sure that ArdorComm Media will be able to deliver better things for the society by combination of higher education, societal needs as well as industry need you can do a lot of things.

“Ultimately education has to lead to enlightenment and that enlightenment comes only when you are socially acceptable all across the world,” says Dr. CA Achyut Dani, Director, General & Provost, J.G. University, Gandhinagar in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad As you have been moderating the NEP session today what is the initiative under your leadership, how is your University going to implement it? So, the NEP is basically about enabling people or enabling students and basically University’s job is to see that whosoever comes to the university is either able to self-employ himself or is able to get into the industry seamlessly. So, as JG University what I would like to say is we have a benchmark program called M. Com honours program which is in US accounting and taxation, which is absolutely based on the NEP guidelines and which says that you study for first six months and the second semester onwards you are really on the job. You are on the job at a salary of 25,000 rupees a month for the second, third and fourth semester so just imagine the beauty of the new education policy that it brings what to the student at the end of two years, at the end of the two years student will have a full-time job, 4,50 000 rupees in his bank account and M. Com honours degree so that’s the best thing which we can achieve from NEP. This is just a single program which I’m talking about there are lot many things which we can do using the benefits which are given by the NEP for the educational arena. How important is the industry ready curriculum and skills important apart from the regular education which is going in the system? Industry has to be the focus if you do not focus the industry no education would mean anything to anybody because we have seen that there’s a lot of gap, there’s a big gap between what industry demands and what kind of skill set is available with the students who are studying in the traditional education system. So, there is a gap and we need to bridge that gap until and unless the industries involved, industry orientation is brought in, Industry oriented curriculum has come into the practice we will not be able to solve the problem of unemployment which we are currently facing. So, industry adoption is the basic thing which every University, every higher education institution must look for. Would you like to highlight something about the alliances internationally and it could be led to a student exchange program or a faculty exchange program? So, that has become an integral part of the new education policy now because any good university would need to give an amazing exposure to the students who have come to the university to develop skill. Now it is not about the hard skill, it is about hard skill, soft skill, formal education, informal education too and the kind of exposure a student will get when he travels to other countries, meets other people, comes in the conjunction with other cultural backgrounds and people from different arenas would definitely help him evolve as a better human being. Ultimately education has to lead to enlightenment and that enlightenment comes only when you are socially acceptable all across the world. So, the new education policy has made its way and we are also there to see that this is achieved. So, you are aware that the event name is New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards, what does the word new normal stands for you? New Normal is that anything which comes our way has to find its destination, new education policy or anything coming to the education arena now is not new so we have to forget the world new and we have to talk about normal. It is a normal thing that we behave in a way where education is available to all, education is more affordable, it is more open-ended and it is more student-centric. It is more faculty-centric and it is more employment centric. So, that’s the normal thing, that is the part and parcel of education which everyone must understand and implement. You have been witnessing that we have the representation from the government, the private players from the universities, institutions and the edtech players and startup, how does certain forums and symposiums help overall the industries? I’ll be very honest with you, first of all let me congratulate you for arranging this amazing symposium this amazing conclave wherein there was a platform for people like us who wants to talk to people and you know give the message of what is required to be done. It is an opportunity to all of us to express our views, to get it validated from the people. So, let it be the startup ecosystem, let it be the investment, venture capital ecosystem, let it be education ecosystem, let it be administrative ecosystem at all these places we need to come together and these kind of activities, symposium and these kind of panel discussions will definitely prove to be the most fatal in actual and effective implementation of the new education policy as also achieving the educational targets which we have. As you are also a qualified and a senior CA how is a financial planning especially for the academicians like chancellors, vice chancellors should be in implementing or how should they educate themselves to have a good financial planner for a better infrastructure? Not as a chartered accountant but otherwise as a normal human being when I think about this particular question I have to mend my finances before I do anything. So, budgeting is a very important part which every institution, every university everyone should look into before starting or venturing into anything. Finances now as we are most of the