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We have a very senior academician and a defence personnel, Major General B. D. Wadhwa, AVSM, Pro-Chancellor (Emeritus), IILM University, Greater Noida. We welcome you to today’s event. Thank you so much. I’m happy to be here for two reasons. Firstly, because I have served here for long, long years, so I was looking forward to coming here. Secondly, from the academic point of view, Assam means a lot to us. And of course, your platforms have always been a source of learning. That’s why I thought I must attend this platform. A person of your stature — from defence to academia — what was the thought process behind this transition, and how has the journey been so far? You see, I was always bent more towards academics. I left home at the age of 15 years and 10 months when I had just passed Class 11. After four years of training, somehow I did well. Thanks to the Government of India and the people of India — I’ll put it that way — I did my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, my M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, another M.Tech in Instrumentation Technology, and my Master’s in Management. I was also a faculty member for a good 11 years while serving in the Army. Therefore, I always wanted to come into the academic sector. If you ask me what the difference is — well, there is a lot of difference. The way we teach and the way we impart knowledge to our students differs. Outside, at least in the private sector of higher education in India, there is, in my thinking, some laxity. In my university, therefore, I have tried to remove that laxity. Everybody is talking about digitalisation and skilling. What initiatives is your institute taking under your leadership? That is moving towards Artificial Intelligence. You spoke about robotics. The days have come when, in my College of Engineering, we have removed the traditional streams of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Automobile Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. There are hardly any students in those streams. If you have 1,000 admissions, out of those, 920 want to go into Computer Science alone. So that is the thought process in the environment, and we are tuning ourselves and changing ourselves by inducting more and more technology into our curriculum. Now, you asked me about skilling. Today, there is no other way. The way the Indian corporate sector has changed — until you are perfect in your soft skills, your hard skills, and your personality is above standard and above average — you are nowhere. Gone are those days when a CGPA of 9 or 90% marks could help you get a job. No. I may have 70%, but if my personality is better than yours, I could get a job and even a higher salary than you. I have seen these changes over the last 20 years. Accordingly, we have brought in a lot of training infrastructure focused on skills and personality building for our students. That is important. How is the participation in terms of admissions happening, sir? Is it from Central India, South India, or the Northeast? As far as Greater Noida is concerned, there are about six universities and around two dozen standalone institutions. Nobody comes from New Delhi to Greater Noida. Nobody comes from Mumbai, the South, or Ahmedabad. Why would they come to Greater Noida? So where are the crowds coming from? There are about 60,000 students in Greater Noida. The bulk — 90% to 95% — come from West Bengal, distant places of Uttar Pradesh, distant places of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Assam. I have tried to go beyond Odisha and Assam. The efforts I have put in have brought some results, but we are still lacking a little. It will take time to bring about that kind of awakening — more so among the parents and faculty. The Northeast is going to take time to come up to the level of the corporate sector that we have elsewhere. So these are the places that are feeding students to Greater Noida. In forums like the ArdorComm Education Leadership Summit and Awards, where we see academicians, corporate leaders, and government representation — how does this help the larger community? It is very important for corporate people to tell the students and academicians what exactly they are looking for. This hasn’t yet been fully brought out. I’m sure in the subsequent panels it will be. It is equally important for academicians to understand what corporates are looking for, go back, and train their students accordingly. Like I said, those days of relying only on high percentages are over. What are your takeaways from today’s event since morning? So far, a lot has come out. I’m glad many people spoke to me during the tea break. They spoke to the other panellists and to you as well. I’m happy that some awakening has already begun. Now, they have to carry this awakening and the lessons from here back to their tribes, villages, and locations. Only then will there be real benefit from such hard work and from the kind of dedicated platforms you are providing.  

We would like to know more about your organisation. What are the different streams in your university, and how are students engaging with them? We are a university that is part of a larger group of institutions. The group has 11 universities across India, and The ICFAI University Meghalaya is one of them. Of course, we are based in Tura, with a constituent unit here in Shillong as well. At this point in time, as you know, ICFAI is well known for management. So, we offer management programmes in business as well as tourism. We also offer Computer Science and Humanities. These are mainly the streams we are offering as of now. From which parts of the country do you see admissions and traction for your institution? Mostly, we have students from our own state. However, in our Shillong unit, we do have students from outside the state — not only from other Northeastern sister states but also from other parts of the country. We also have some international students. For example, we have had quite a number from Myanmar. We have had graduating students from Thailand and Bangladesh as well. However, this year, students from Bangladesh who had shown interest could not join due to a hiccup in the paperwork. So yes, that is mainly the demographic of our students. We would like to know your key highlights or pointers on reimagining higher education in the digital era. If you talk about reimagining higher education in the digital era, it is a transformation — a transformation from the traditional model to a digital model. This transformation had already started even before we formally acknowledged it. It took place during the COVID period, when it was thrust upon us and everybody rushed to digitise course content. Some used WhatsApp, some used other platforms, because not everyone — particularly students in rural areas — was familiar with emails and other digital tools. Yes, economically we went through a very bad patch, but if you look at it educationally, we did make a leap. That was the time when we jumped from a purely offline mode of teaching to a blended mode of teaching. And we are now moving towards that digital era. When we imagine the digital era, what do we see? It may look as though the four walls of our classrooms will disappear. But I do not think they should. Today, we hear about robots as teachers. Yes, they will deliver what you feed them. But what about the academic connectivity between the teacher and the thought process? A robot may deliver content, but what about the human aspect — the analysis that a teacher brings? A teacher knows students inside and out, as we say. A teacher can understand the student. But will a robot or a humanoid be able to do that? It will only deliver what it is fed. So, what I feel is that AI tools and data should be used as tools — not as masters. I do not agree that they should become masters. They should remain tools. Otherwise, where do we go as human beings? If we move into a digital era in higher education, we must also talk about ethics. Robots cannot teach ethics — only human beings can. AI is important, but it should remain a tool. Higher education must not become merely a place for the consumption of knowledge. Universities now have to become places for the creation of knowledge. What are your takeaways from today’s event? We have been witnessing this event since morning. Please share your experience. The takeaway is that we learn from each other. Everyone has a different approach. We came to know what one university is doing and what another is not doing. Collaborations can happen — among universities as well as with other organisations present here. I had discussions with several of them. The takeaway is that we are moving into an era — in the near future — of collaboration and working together. This brings us together as human beings, irrespective of religion, caste, location, or place of stay. We come together as one united human mankind. That is my takeaway today.