Interviews

“If we want to really create confidence in the students we have got to first upgrade ourselves,” says Dr. C. Manohar, Senior Director, Association of Indian Management Schools, Bangalore in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan We welcome you at today’s forum Dr. C. Manohar. I must compliment you congratulate you and admire the way you have taken this initiative forward the New Normal Leadership Summit. New Normal has remained just a concept and is changing every day what is normal today is old tomorrow so I think it’s a continuous journey in the flow it’s like river is always flowing we need to integrate ourselves with the changes that are happening, the mindsets of the youngsters. As learners and as teachers we need to adapt, adopt and also change, so there’s a learning curve we have to keep ourselves on the high side so this kind of events what you are organizing I must appreciate is helping the teaching community, the owners of businesses, the educational institutions and all that to update ourselves the EdTech companies that are there. In fact, I have participated, have attended couple of such events in the last two years, I find if the same company comes again, so in the next event they are coming with something new. I mean that is the kind of development and progress that we would like to witness. This gives us a confidence that India is on the right path of growth when it comes to education we can be among the top leaders in education, in the world, definitely in Asia. I think these events are very meaningful for us. How do you think the hybrid learning or a blended learning will take the shape now? There is no escape, it has to be that way, there is nothing like only classroom sessions and face to face are only the online kind of a thing, it has to be integrated, blended and in the concept of blending also it keeps on changing because everything should be learner-centric. Today we find learners are much more dynamic and more educated when it comes to operational efficiency of learning even as compared to teachers, of course many teachers are upgrading themselves and they are good. If we want to really create confidence in the students we have got to first upgrade ourselves so that is very important. So, hybrid learning is going to be the order of the day so because we don’t have now the frontier, there are no borders, no classroom the whole world is your classroom today obviously hybrid has to be there and we have to adapt ourselves. What has been the outcome of this event or what are your takeaways from this event? My take away is, what is coming up again today I’m sure if I come to the next event I will see from now on to next event there will be a lot more changes. So, my takeaway is an update of what is happening in the EdTech space and also the experimentation, the new case studies which are good to replicate in other institutions. So, one good practice in one institution can be replicated and we can bring back with a new context from the same institution again. So, my takeaway is a good networking, and I could meet some new friends in the education field plus I could participate in the sessions, some new knowledge also acquired and that way it’s good, that gives me the energy and I would say that gives me confidence that yes at this phase of life we are also learners and we have to be continuous learners, lifelong learners I would say. Any message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media Group? You’re doing a good job, keep going, maybe you have to reach out to, like today you had a session on digital divide and urban and rural, I think these events should go to rural areas they are no more called the rural area they are the emerging new cities and the new knowledge hubs in fact in one of the recent events that happened in Bangalore, over 40,000 students participated and who emerged on the top 10 or 70 percent were the rural students. Imagine now if that is a kind of a reach, if it’s there we should not miss recognizing the fact that today even in rural area there is the talent, that is available we need to nurture it. It’s very important that we do that, so my message to ArdorComm Media is keep doing, keep going, outreach has to be much more, I would say even go to international level, regional levels, you can go to South Asia, Asia Pacific.

“If we talk about the homeopathy science, that is purely based on the mental symptoms,” says Dr. Ashok Narain Mathur, President, Homeopathy University, Jaipur, Rajasthan in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan What are your takeaways from the event? Firstly, I would like to congratulate you for organizing the event and bringing us all together here. The deliberations that take place in these events definitely helps the education sector and the private universities. Like there were discussions on digitalization, its very much needed not only in the urban areas but also in the rural areas. Though in case of medical education or homeopathy it is not possible because until we see the patients physically, treatment can’t be done, but we can give some tips so that they can be cured. What is the importance of physical, mental and social wellbeing in an education system? All these are important, if the mental level of a person is not good he can’t be cured. If we talk about the homeopathy science, that is purely based on the mental symptoms. So, I would say both physical and mental wellbeing are equally important. What is an outcome of such events where we see the presence of educators, academicians, EdTech and even the representation of the government? The outcome is good, like there’s so much about digitalization and as our prime minister also emphasizes that digitalization should take place, so it is very good. And the organizations should work fast on it so that the universities develop better. What does new normal for you stands? New normal is, as I came to know that you organize such events in many places and this is the first time in Rajasthan, so when we all meet together we’ll naturally speak about ourselves and learn from others, how to address our lacunas and developments. Any message for the students, teachers and faculties? I would like to say that we are making it research based for our teachers, because in medical science research is very important and in homeopathy under Ayush there is an immense need for research. We are trying to focus on this in our university and the more we focus on research the more would be the development in Ayush. During covid time, homeopathic science has developed a lot and not only in India but also across the world there has been a demand for homeopathy. Any message for ArdorComm Media? You have organised the event very well. Like I was listening that you are going to organize it next in West Bengal, so like this keep organizing more such events, it will benefit everyone and motivate every university.

“In regular conventional courses, the main focus should be on training and practical,” says Dr. Ajay Singh Rathore, President (Vice Chancellor), Shyam University, Rajasthan in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan Would like to know and understand more about your University? Shyam University is located in Dausa District of Rajasthan and at present we have ten thousand five hundred students learning in education and 250 is research scholar and we have many various courses especially programs like D. Pharmacy, B. Pharmacy, B. Ed., LLM, BALLB and many other courses. How do you address the digital divide in rural and urban areas? There is a very big problem especially the rural area background students are admitted in my University, mainly they focus on their job they do not attend the regular classes. So, they did not know what is the digital, they focus on blackboard study. What is the effort which your University is taking in having the industry collaborations? My university is established in 2018 it is new University, after 2024, then we’ve a plan for a NAAC inspection, UGC inspection, then we’ll focus on the placements in our University. How is skill important in the regular conventional courses? In regular conventional courses, the main focus should be on training and practical. In our university we focus on practical training and especially project reports and many other things related to practical work. In this forum what has been your experience till now where we are meeting so many people, there are education technology players also what is the learning from being a participant at this event? This platform is very valuable platform and I want to thank this platform for attempting to bring all the eminent educationists of Rajasthan in one platform and the deliberations that took place will be very beneficial for the education sector. Any message for ArdorComm Media Group? I would like to say that please try to organize such summits at least once a year over here.  

“As a society the output of an education will be outcome based and the students will be really skilled, which the industries are today looking to,” says Amit Shah, Founder, Offee in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan Would like to know more about Offee? So, typically what we do is we enable any colleges to conduct their academics exam digitally but without internet or lab setup at all. So, student can just sit in the classroom open up his mobile, switch his phone to airplane mode connect to our patented technology that is our IOT device and start taking the exams. So, as an Institute you don’t need to invest into lab setup, you don’t need to invest into internet etc at all, tens and thousands of students can sit inside the university and then give their exams. So, this is something that we have recently innovated, the reason to do this is that once this colleges start taking their exams digitally, college will start sitting on data points with the help of this data point and student behaviour they can help students to say that hey you got 60 percent that is okay but you have this skills which are lacking and this is skill in which you’re brilliant, why don’t you improve that. So, colleges can reduce a lot of time in say conducting an exam digitally, teachers can reduce a lot of time in making the entire work reducing the admin work and overall. As a society the output of an education will be outcome based and the students will be really skilled which the industries are today looking to, so that is something that we do. Is it like conducting the examination, assessment and the results through Offee in offline mode? Yes, so we help colleges to build their paper for program outcomes, course outcome everything then we help colleges to conduct these exams which are academic exams, unit tests and semester exams including overall everything then we process the result, we give them a report card and we also give them a skill scorecard which speaks about every student and their behaviour around it. When we see that so many players are there into different LMS, ERP and so much of EdTech things coming in, how did this idea come to your mind what inspired you to do is something different from the league? We see that majority of the EdTech start-ups in India are into B2C space which we feel is that in my personal opinion, classroom teaching can never go out it can be a blended model yes but classroom as a solution or university as an institute can never go out but what if we enable these teachers inside the classroom and build technologies for them. So, that is what we are different we are building technologies for teachers inside the classroom so they can increase their engagement, they can reduce their admin work and they can really deliver quality and outcome-based education. You have been working in which segments in the education? So, in education we work with higher education, in schools both. Similarly, we work with government departments to do competitive recruitment exams where today to do any competitive exams you require a computer-based system, so CBD is not available everywhere so our solutions enable any government departments to take their recruitment or entrance test at remote level. So, the setup goes to the people and not the people come to the setup. What has been a take away from these two days of the symposium and the event? For me this is the first event I visited after pandemic, I mean event specifically into EdTech. This is much needed, I really appreciate the entire ArdorComm team, making people and Vice Chancellors come together it’s a huge task, I can relate with it we are in this segment. So, the efforts that you guys have put in to make people come together and it was very much needed after pandemic because last two years got them confused a lot like what to do, what not to do, what tech to bring in, what tech not to bring in, how will teachers cope up. In this seminar I feel the energy that these guys have come up together, they are so happy about inculcating EdTech into their domains and this is only possible with this medium. I will personally thank you and even Ashish ji to organize this and I will say keep rocking and keep doing this again and again. At last any message or any advice for ArdorComm Media Group? What you are doing is really great, keep doing it so that we can together be a part of this for a long time.  

“Our platform name is Möbius and it is helping faculties and reducing their efforts and changing the learning experience of a student,” says Ujjwal Joshi, AVP Sales, DigitalEd India in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan Would like to understand more about your organization? We are a Canada based EdTech company who is transforming digital education in India. So, in India digital education has been perceived as an online education or live classes but that’s not exact what does it mean, it actually means you are engaging student and student can have day-to-day lectures with them till the end day of the semester and it can enhance student performance. So, that’s what we’re bringing in, we are changing the entire ecosystem of Indian academic culture which is very popular outside India, so this is a new technology in India and that’s what we are doing with our platform. Our platform name is Möbius and it is helping faculties and reducing their efforts and changing the learning experience of a student. So, this is a sort of shift we are bringing in India. What’s the application of this learning, is it an AI based or a video-based learning? If we go little ahead of AI and video based it has everything, it is concentrating on student learning regardless of what student expect from an institution. I give you an example, an engineering student when he goes to an engineering institute he thinks he’ll change the world, but he ends up memorizing everything that’s not the point, his learning should be very high. So, AI is of course helping but we are focusing on student perspective and helping him to learn more and of course our platform has a math engine working behind so this math engine has AI inbuilt and it also helps students to know where he is heading wrong to understand a concept, so we are targeting a small point and taking it to a bigger wherein he can actually contribute with it through his branch to the country, so that’s what we are doing. Which kind of educational institutions are your target customers, whom are you looking to tie up with? We are targeting K7 to K12 so we want to strengthen the concepts of a student and Science and Engineering from that level and Higher ed of course engineering colleges, science-based courses and research-based courses so all technology-based courses we have our strong hand. Any plans going ahead may be three years down the line? Our plan is to approach and enhance the distance education program down the line in three years because in India distance education program are perceived as less effective than regular programs, their importance is little lower. So, what we are planning is to increase the effectiveness with our digital notes, dynamic testing assessment. So, this is our long run plan also coaching institutes so coaching institutes are playing vital role what they’re doing is they are preparing student for this higher education but a student has a very less material online available. So, we are giving all power to the student on their mobile so that they can practice more, they can learn higher and they can contribute more to the country. What are your takeaways in these last two days event? This is a beautiful event I will surely give a thumbs up to you guys because I have had a great chance to listen to the most prominent people from the industry and speak to them and I would like to contribute more in such events wherein the sort of people we are targeting, they’re coming here and getting engaged to each other. Also, we got a chance to interact with other EdTech companies how they are contributing and how we can collaborate with each other and create a win-win situation in the market and create a value for the customer also because creating value for the customer is more important for us. Any message for ArdorComm Media Group? You guys are doing great job, first of all you are creating an ecospace wherein people like us can directly meet to our customer in a lesser value. I mean if I hire a team there so it will get me a higher cost, but I get to meet more than 100 people in two days, get a bigger funnel and get a collaboration around also, so in a two days’ time we have achieved a lot. So, I really appreciate the effort you guys are putting and I would like to contribute more in such events.

“It is playing a very vital role and it is in fact transforming the education scenario and giving a great learning experience as well for the students,” says Prof Dr. Ankit Gandhi, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Technology, Jaipur in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan We welcome you at today’s forum Dr Ankit. Thank you so much, I am Dr Ankit Gandhi and I am working as a pro Vice Chancellor with University of Technology, it is a new University I would rather say we started functioning in 2017, though the group which is supporting our University that is into education domain for the last 46 years but the university is the latest venture and it started functioning in 2017 with the name of University of Technology. Would you like to highlight a bit more about your University, how many students are there and what special initiatives in technology which your University is doing? Currently we are running in the University, we call different schools, so we currently have eight different schools in our University, alphabetically I’ll come to, number one is School of Agriculture this is the first and we are a university wherein students who are admitted in agriculture courses that we are running is BSC in agriculture MSC and PhD courses and they are all admitted through JET this is joint entrance examination which is conducted by a state university for agriculture admissions. The second is we have School of Commerce and Management wherein we are running BCom and MBA programs so we have commerce and management at both undergraduate, postgraduate and at PhD level. Third we have School of Engineering and Technology wherein we are running a BTech, MTech and PhD program, fourth we have School of Law in which we are running BALLB, LLB and another program. Next, we have we call it Department because we have got two faculties or two different schools for the pharmacy so we have Department of Pharmacy with an intake of 60 student and another we have started with this academic year with the name of Faculty of Pharmacy with department of Pharmacy we are offering BPharm courses and with faculty of Pharmacy we are offering Pharmacy courses. We have School of Humanities and Social Sciences wherein we are offering BA, MA and Library Sciences courses. We have very recently added School of Education and we have started courses in special education so we are offering special education courses mainly into HI and last but not the least we have Department of Vocational Studies wherein we are offering BVoc and MVoc courses. So, these are the eight different schools wherein we are offering a right from undergraduate to PHD programs. How does the EdTech collaboration helps in making a digital infrastructure of your University? When we talk about EdTech collaboration so this education technology plays a very crucial role both into academics and into administration. For academics in our University as well we have got a collaboration with certain EdTech companies that helps in delivering us a wonderful content and that is delivered in a way which is very student friendly, they learn the things in a way which is like we generally say it for KG students in the fun loving activity, so in a mode of animation and some sort of a dynamics that they play, students are able to learn more and more things in their classroom at the same time as I mentioned we use this EdTech collaboration into administration as well so for ERP implementation, for admissions and even we are in a conversation with EdTech company for digitalizing our degrees and diploma as well using the blockchain technology. So, that is into administration part, so whether it is education or it is administration in both part we are taking help from the EdTech collaboration and it is playing a very vital role and it is in fact transforming the education scenario and giving a great learning experience as well for the students. What are the takeaways of this forum for you? Great, it has been a wonderful opportunity and thank you so much to the organizers for giving this platform to all the conglomerate of education industry to this platform. Rajasthan and especially Jaipur is a hub of Education institutions but still maybe for certain conventional reasons professors they generally do not move out of this place. So, I think this platform is going to give a great opportunity for the professors and the leaders of the universities as well so that they can collaborate with these companies and pass on the benefit of this collaboration to the one who is at the bottom of this pyramid, that is students so they can all be benefited by this collaboration. Any message for ArdorComm Media Group? I would like to say thank you so much Chandan ji for this wonderful platform that you have provided and the simple message is please keep organizing these sorts of events in future and we look forward to meeting you once again.  

“We are running 11 schools right now starting from the manufacturing, electrical, renewable energy and automobile,” says Dr. Sandeep Tomar, Registrar, Bhartiya Skill Development University, Jaipur, Rajasthan in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan Would like to understand and know more about Bhartiya Skill Development University? Bhartiya Skill Development University is a totally different type of University you can say this is not a conventional one, it is based on skill education and it is a great platform for the youth of India just to understand how we can have a real education system because every time we are talking about a gap that the industries are saying the youth from the conventional industry after the graduation or the post-graduation they are not employable. So, there is a big gap every time we are talking there is a big gap in the industry and the academia, so several things happen but still the industries are in the same sake that there is a big gap and what this big gap can be filled by is through the skill education I think, because if you’re asking that in the foreign countries like Germany, Japan and everywhere they have a more than 60 to 70 percent of the Skill education, but in India it is hardly five to ten percent. Even Prime Minister Modi also emphasizes that we have some skill education as India is going to be the next youth country for that we need skilled manpower everywhere. So, that’s why this University is totally a different setup and we can say in the starting of 2017 only with the vision of Swiss industrialist who was associated with Rajasthan, Rajendra and Ursula Joshi Foundation. This is the foundation and we have a Swiss dual system of the education, so we are running the B. Voc. and M. Voc. courses in our University and B. Voc. is a three-year degree course and M. Voc. is of two-year degree course. So, the uniqueness of this course is that in B. Voc. alternate semester students are sent for the industrial training. So, in the first semester if they are on a campus the second semester they will spend in the industry then again third semester they will be here at the campus fourth semester like this alternate. So, you can see in a three-year degree course they will have a one and a half year of industrial experience and the course is designed in such a way, that it focuses on the industry need. So, this is one of the kinds of education, within a three year the student is ready directly as a skilled Manpower for the industries. So, we are running 11 schools right now starting from the manufacturing, electrical, renewable energy and automobile. It is now the time to change the mindset of students and parents because in conventional if you are asking me that most of the universities are talking about the computer science only rest of the core branches are going down. But the need of the hour or the future of the universities are lying in somehow with the skill education. So, even the government is doing every state government is trying to start something for this skill, National Skill Development Council. Many efforts are taken by every state government but the university is a role model for all the new universities those are coming in the states and most of the people are visiting the BSDU first and they are just trying to set up their University in their state and the second most important thing is how to connect with the industry even we are running the courses for the training of the trainers which we call the TOT programs. So, in the TOT programs most of the universities are saying or even you can say that most of the industries want that their employees should be upscaled on that one. So, for the upskilling or you can say that an education system most of the ITs they are running right now the employees also need to be upskilled on that one. So, this program is uniquely designed for as per the requirement of the industry and as per the requirement of the educational institution. So, right now if we are talking that BSDU have a good connection of all the type of the industries and we are running the courses for the JCB and for Hilti and for Mazak they are the big companies, so their employees are coming to the university and they have a one month to three-month courses for them. So, first they will be trained here and they are just going back to the plant after that one so Mazak is a Japanese company which is going to have the plant here in India and they are they are recruiting the employee first one and a half month they spent here in BSDU and the one half month in the Japan and then they will go to the plant like that in the same way the Hilti is doing that well so Hilti is coming with a big plant in Gujarat and they are going to recruit the people so the people first they recruited they will send to the BSDU for one and a half month and later on they will just join the plant so like that this good industry connect is required. How does certain forums help as overall education community where we see the technology partners, startup companies, academicians, educators, even some of the representations from the government? As the execution system is going to completely change now, we have seen the two years was too bad for everybody but somehow this is just a new learning for that one. This covid time every time we are thinking how the education system will survive but these

“This industry advisory board meets every six months to review our curriculum, to review our pedagogy, to give us feedback on the types of program we should introduce,” says Prof Amit Jain, President (Vice Chancellor), Amity University, Jaipur in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan I would like to understand more about your University, what they are doing in Jaipur, Rajasthan? In Amit University, Rajasthan we have a beautiful 150-acre campus and we are offering more than 65 programs so anything that you can think of in terms of management, architecture, design, law, fashion we have everything under our umbrella, we have 200 plus faculty members. How has the traditional education got transformed into digital education, until what level it is implemented in your universities? We believe in technology adoption and in terms of our curriculum and programs also we were the first one to introduce a cyber security program, we were the first one to introduce MBA with a full specialization in digital marketing. We have our specializations in AI, machine learning, clouds in our Btech programs. So, we always believe in remaining at the forefront of the technology and utilize the best advantage. What are the initiatives which is been taken in your University for industry engagements? For every school or every program, we have our industry advisory board and the composition is very interesting the board is chaired by a senior industry person not the academic director the director happens to be the co-chair. There is an alumni as member of that board who is already in the industry and there are a couple of members from the industry and this industry advisory board meets every six months to review our curriculum, to review our pedagogy, to give us feedback on the types of program we should introduce and the kind of programs that I talked about in terms of cyber security, data science, AI-ML, digital marketing, most of these programs were result of feedback from the industry. We have gathered at the event New Normal Education Leadership Summit what does the word new normal for you stands? I must congratulate ArdorComm for organizing this because you are redefining lot of things and you are redefining this new normal in education. As I can see many edutech companies are here because these companies are the backbone of modern education now, because the new normal definitely will be a blended approach towards learning which is independent of time, location, space constraints and more a demand driven education rather than a supply driven education. I’m a professor of marketing and we believe in sense and respond philosophy and I believe new normal talks about sensing what the market needs and then responding to it through your programs, through your courses and curriculum. What should be an outcome of forums like this where we have the technology partners, academia, industry leaders and even the government representation, how does certain program help the community? Definitely these kinds of deliberations are very important to chart out a way to visualize the future and to create a roadmap for all of us who are the stakeholders in the education system be it the media companies, be it the education service providers, be it technology platforms we all have to come together in this new normal and then only we will be able to deliver full satisfaction to the students. ArdorComm Media Group is a media startup and it has been one and a half years of successful existence, any message or advice would you like to give to ArdorComm Media Group? Good wishes to you Chandan ji and Ashish ji for this wonderful initiative and I’m sure your company will grow by leaps and bounds and you’ve done a good job by bringing all these stakeholders together in form of this particular ELSA Summit, congratulations and best wishes to you.  

“New normal is a challenge and we have to devise ways to improve further and further and to perfect it because this is just beginning,” says Prof Dr. Arvind Kumar Agrawal, President (Vice Chancellor), Nirwan University, Rajasthan in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan What are the takeaways of this event for you? Well before I talk about it I would like to introduce my colleague Dr. N.D. Jasuja, he’s our Dean, Professor and Joint Register. Yes, I would say that the takeaway from this whole event is first of all I came to know a lot many companies, edtech companies which I was not aware of and also, I could explore opportunities where I could help my students my faculty and my universities curriculum development using these company’s software’s and their expertise. Secondly, I could also communicate with my fellow participants who are from other academic assignments in different universities either as Vice Chancellor or as Pro Vice Chancellor or as a senior officials or academicians of other universities and we could exchange notes on what new experiments they are doing and what we are doing and that was a very fruitful interaction I enjoyed a lot and I think it would help us developing a synergy to move forward. Dr. Jasuja, would also like to hear from you what was your take away from this forum? First, I must congratulate to you for organizing such an important event and in fact a few days back UGC has issued one notification to have credit based revised framework in which they have also encouraged to have industrial linkage and this whole program is based on the linkage of Industry 4.0 futuristic education. So, I must appreciate your initiative and you should go ahead for this and interact with more universities to have collaboration and motivate students to place them in good industry. What weightage would you give to skills when it comes to in comparison to the conventional courses? See, when I attended today’s panel prominent dignitaries clearly indicated that earlier education was transferring the information only it was to provide the information to the students. Nowadays, it is not like education we can provide information along with skilling, if we upskill our students they will definitely get independent and placed in a good industry. Dr. Arvind, any initiative which under your leadership has been taking care to include more of the industry visits or the industry exposure for your students? We are collaborating for example with banks with other Industries, we have already made a move. Since this University is very new it’s a nascent University so it will take some time but I’m sure and now we have come to know about your initiatives so I am quite hopeful that very soon we would join hands together and we would find you in our campus and we would do something together to contribute to the cause of higher education and also to help students and faculty. As we have all gathered for New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards what does the word new normal for you stands? Well this is a challenge it’s not just a new normal it’s a challenge, it’s a challenge in the world which has taken a shape after COVID 19. So, it’s basically fusion of ICT that is internet-based communication technology, information technology and education because these two years have been very tough for our students for parents and for teachers. So, this new technology how it can blend and help students’ institutions and parents because after all our nation will stop if education stops and it will it will be really disastrous. So, new normal is a challenge and we have to devise ways to improve further and further and to perfect it because this is just beginning. As a media start-up we have seen many leaps and bounds from pandemic till now any message or any advice would you like to give to other ArdorComm Media Group? I would simply say that be focused and move ahead, you are doing wonderful work the only thing I would say just please try to add some humane touch which is very much needed between teacher and taught relationship to inculcate in the cultural values of academics among our students through your media company and wherever and in whatever form you can contribute. I wish you good luck.  

“Our University is mobile free, mobiles are not allowed to the students so the students are more human interactive,” says Prof Dr. Pramod K Raghav, President, Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan We welcome you at today’s event, would like to know more about your university? I am Prof Dr. Pramod K Raghav currently I am President in charge of Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur. It is nations first private State Women’s University with full-fledged status of a Private State Women’s University. The university is especially established for empowering the woman through education and the mission of the university is Community Development, currently University is having more than 130 programs specifically for the girls for the women’s and it is in medical field as well as in non-medical field. The idea is here to bring up the deprived sector of the country, the women’s through the education. Except this the university has several other specialties also, the safety is at the top priority and second the most important which we call the USP is a mobile-free, our University is mobile free, mobiles are not allowed to the students so the students are more human interactive, they have the time to spare and focus on the studies but they are not lagging behind, they are still well connected with the world through the internet and we have the internet surveillance also. So, it’s a university and it is scattering the need of entire nation it not only for the Rajasthan so that’s how this University is imparting and enhancing the quality of education and serving this special sector. I would also like to add that our PhD programs and distance education are open for both male as well as female. The University was founded by nations first youngest founder of the University late Dr Panckaj Garg sir and currently the university is headed by Mr Vedant Garg who is the advisor and CEO of the University along with a team of very experienced professionals. When it comes to add an edtech player in your organization what are the top two three factors when you select an organization the edtech player or a startup for enrolling any services or any product in your university? One thing is sure that without EdTech without the addition of technology we are not going to go anywhere. So, it is an important part and when we are selecting an organization we are looking that the campus must be paper free most of the facilities must be digital for example we are in service sector actually, if we talk about the private universities so a student must be facilitated and the students are nowadays digital friendly. So, it is very important that all the aspects right from getting leads up to the distribution of the degrees it all must be the digital. Lot of options are there, universities are changing themselves and they have to change because we are competing with the global universities the countries are now open for the foreign players for the foreign universities so we have to enhance our level and digitization is the top most choice for those global universities and only then they can align with us or we can partner with them. So, that’s how I look it for it is a must. What is the outcome of certain forum, what is the takeaway from this event for you? Actually, we had two covid waves and such type of forums as ArdorComm is bringing the academic leaders at forefront and these academic leaders, these academicians are the one who are in a driving phase of these universities who are putting their implementation of the vision of their founders, their sponsoring bodies. It’s very good and to bring them up front to give them an opportunity to share their views to disseminate whatever they have learned in the past and in today’s scenario if you see it is very important that these private universities they must use each other’s qualities, each other’s expertise and there is no harm in doing that will enhance the level of education and the group like ArdorComm Media, I really congratulate you and will definitely add that it is a good event and such type of events should be organized in future also bring these academic leaders let them share their views, let them disseminate what they have learned and that’s the way these private universities they’ll be collaborating one day with each other. Any message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media Group? My message is that keep on doing such types of events and keep on bringing these academic leaders because mainly academic leaders they gather in the academic conferences or in the seminars or in the symposia but this is the first type of event I am seeing where you have focused on the academicians those who are leaders in their field so keep it up and keep doing it, thank you.