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“We have started a program also like related to multi-disciplinary programs for an example Sports Sciences where we involve Physiotherapy, Engineering and Allied Health Sciences,” says Prof. (Dr.) B. Sendilkumar, VinayakaMissions Research Foundation, Salem in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad Welcome Dr B. Sendilkumar in today’s event. Yeah, thank you Chandan, I’m Prof. (Dr.) B. Sendilkumar, Dean & Director, Health Sciences, VinayakaMissions Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu. We have 23 institutions across Puducherry and Tamil Nadu where we can call it as a multi-disciplinary institution starts from Engineering, Arts and Science, Architecture, Management and four Medical schools and two Dental schools and Pharmacy. We have all 23 institutions of 40 000 students studying in our campuses. As your institute is diversified into mostly the healthcare how research and skill play a role into this regular basis of education? Since we are a multi-disciplinary institution so like for an example we have health sciences stream as well as engineering stream and arts and science so we are able to collaborate among the institutions and we are able to do the lot of research related to technology as well like we have started a program also like related to multi-disciplinary programs for an example Sports Sciences where we involve Physiotherapy, Engineering and Allied Health Sciences. So, we can offer the courses also since we are NAAC accredited A+. So, as we have gathered together at New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards, what does according to you New Normal is? I think New Normal, I should say like ArdorComm Media because last year first of October New Normal started with ArdorComm so same like no this time I’m able to have a new normal here in Ahmedabad so new normal is Chandan Anand. So, we can witness in this forum where we have the edtech companies the corporates, academicians like you and the representation from government, how does this forum help in development and learning from overall education industry? Actually, I must congratulate you, conducting this kind of events in a new way back from last October so I would like to say like there’s a new education policy also started next last year so the new education policy says dual program, exit program and Industry Academia collaboration and there are so many things are coming up in new education policy where a lot of brainstorming sessions happen from throughout the morning today. So, maybe we can take it forward to the government, maybe we can ask the government to implement this kind of deliberations to the government so this is a really wonderful forum to take it forward. I’m happy to share that we have recently celebrated our first anniversary and this entire one, one and a half year since covid till now has been very exciting thrilling and learning any message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media? Sure, I’m following in all social media pages of ArdorComm Media and you. It’s a really fantastic job what you’re doing it. So, keep doing it and keep the higher education way forward. I look forward to be a part of your events always, thank you so much.

“Very recently we have decided on one student one skill kind of an initiative so which is equally important that every year they get some skill and they are more industry ready,” says Prof. Sandeep Sancheti, Provost, (Vice-Chancellor), Marwadi University, Rajkot in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad As we witnessed to listen to you in the first panels which talked about the National Education Policy, any initiatives which under your leadership the university has already taken or in plans to take to actually Implement that? Yeah, so NEP is a very important direction for all of us, very open also so I’m sure most of the institutions have done something or else in this direction. So, is the case with the Marwadi University that we have done many of them for example we are now offering programs under ABC Academic Bank of Credit and to offer that we have created committees which will be doing the credit equivalences, credit transfers and other things which will take care of all related activities. We also made sure that we offer three year and four-year programs which are again the order of the NEP in the sense that it should be flexible. So, recently coined programs on BSc have been done three and four years particularly we have converted some of the honours program into four years our student can make an exit after three years and will get non-honours program. We have also rephrased the programs in such a manner that after first year one can make an exit and, in that case, they will have to do a small module which will be of skilling so with that skilling they can also get certification or maybe diploma and things like that so these are all in line. With that very recently we have decided on one student one skill kind of an initiative so which is equally important that every year they get some skill and they are more industry ready and there’s a whole lot of things which we are trying to do when we talk of multi-disciplinary. When we talk of research, when we talk of internationalization Marwadi University anyway is ahead though it’s very young but it’s doing very very well. So, the buzzword of now a times in many of the forums is about the newest technologies so if I ask about the ICT or the edtech implementation in your university? Edtech implementation is most essential for everyone including my university, fortunately we are young so more adoptable more dynamic and we also owe our origin to a finance company called Marwadi shares and finance limited which was purely electronic since inception so we know that in our roots all these things are there. So, as an example we have a system called URP, University Resource Planning which is end to end from admission to alumni everything is taken care nothing is done on paper including every examination result or maybe copy showing or any approval any, event anything is done online only so we have made many IT based or IT support systems to make sure that students in our activities are supported. As an example, if I have to issue a book I have to carry the book go in front of the system it will recognize me with face recognition I have to put the book which I want to get issued, book will be issued to me there is no human interaction or intervention in the process so that much of automation we have done when it comes to teaching learning. Obviously, we are doing things from MOOC so we are partners of Coursera we are doing everything possibly online through a lot of blended mode teaching learning. So, we have trained hundred percent of teachers for that and we also made compulsory in certain cases in engineering and other disciplines that some of the labs and courses will be virtual mode done virtually and some of the courses will be delivered in an online mode so that the students become familiar with that. So, all that whatever can be done to make them more IT savvy and more IT ready in terms of use as well as delivery has been done. So, one very typical and a very old question I will ask is alumni meet important and why? Alumni meet would always be important for the simple reason that alumni are always a growing base every year in that base number of alumni will get added it may be thousands or two thousand or whatever it may be whereas rest of the numbers will grow slowly. So, in a given institution if the strength is five thousand, ten thousand the alumnus may be twenty thousand, thirty thousand and if you are not able to connect with your own people in a right manner then obviously you are not going to grow you are not taking care of them. Alumni is important also because they also give a lot of feedback they also give lot of inputs, they also give you a lot of teaching learning support they also give you a lot of connect with the industry and so on so forth so that you get the projects and all that so that’s the second reason alumni are important. The third thing I would say is alumni themselves continue to remain a student for future today’s education goes for matured students also so every alumni who has graduated from Marwadi will have to learn something new and why shouldn’t we help our own alumni. So, our alumni connect is important we do it in a very formal way in a certain way we award them, reward them we call them and so on so forth but there is no limit what more can be done. Fortunately for us in all formal

“Until and unless the industries come forward in framing the curriculum with the universities then this will not be helpful,” says Prof. Ravikumar K., Director, Bapu Gujarat Knowledge Village, Gandhinagar in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad Would like to understand and please give key highlights about your institution? Yeah, my institution is 13 years old institution, we started with engineering and pharmacy now we’ve grown up to we have law, nursing, science and commerce colleges separately and we are affiliated to different universities like the core branches like professional branches are affiliated to Gujarat Technological University and other branches are affiliated to Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. According to you how does the industry-based curriculum helps in a better employability and how skill plays an important role in the current based of curriculums? Until and unless the skill is there nobody can be employed actually. So, only going with the curriculum that has been designed by the university will not be helping the industries to go about. That’s why whenever they appoint anybody they will be having some training of kind of thing what I suggest is the training what they want to give at the industry level if they start at the curriculum level itself, at the University level itself, at the college level itself it will be too good that’s what when the discussion is industry institute the relationship or the gap should be bridged totally. Until and unless the industries come forward in framing the curriculum with the universities then this will not be helpful. So, I am very much about that at least the last year of the curriculum of the universities, industry should take it up and it should train the students whatever maybe it is professional or non-professional whether it is science or commerce. For example, whenever you talk about commerce, a commerce graduate should know tally 100% but there is no tally in the curriculum. I request the industry so that let them come let them come to the college as to the Institute to the universities and tell them this is what we need so that they will have ready-made employees for their institutions. So, as the event name shows that it’s a New Normal Education Leadership Summit what does the word New Normal stands for you? See when we talk about pre-covid and post-covid, New Normal is very much essential because earlier when 10 years back when we talk about the colleges or finishing school they were thinking only about the personal development of the student they were not thinking about the technical. The new normal is whenever an industry is there industry needs a specific information or the specific knowledge of that particular student until and unless the specific knowledge is there the industry cannot employ that particular student or a fresh graduate. So, new normal stands that the specifications, earlier only the soft skills were the requirement of the industry, the technical knowledge was given by the universities but now in the technical or non-technical knowledge they need specificity in this. So, for example when we talk about the computer, some industries need python some industries near artificial intelligence now when we are giving in the curriculum of the university we are talking only about entire thing they will be master of none, that should not be the case. The New Normal is specific knowledge on that particular platform as I was telling you about the commerce thing, until and unless tally is taught to the student he will not be employed he will not be employed by the industries.