JAIN (Deemed to be University)

“Through normal traditional teaching and learning methods, we cannot attain higher-order learning outcomes, and that doesn’t serve the purpose of the industry,” says Prof. (Dr.) Raj Singh, Vice Chancellor, JAIN (Deemed to be University), in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, Content Writer, ArdorComm Media at the ‘New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2023’ #ELSABengaluru #ELSAKarnataka How are you feeling to witness the New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards in Bengaluru? It’s a great initiative, one that not only brings the industry and academia on the same platform but also enables interaction of multiple institutions, exchange of ideas, and benefits from the best practices which every other institution is following. The topic of today’s discussion was very relevant, particularly in the post-National Education Policy scenario, which is also coinciding with the post-COVID scenario, as we call it. To my mind, there’s nothing like the “new normal” because the new normal keeps on changing every day. This new normal is very dynamic. I think it is safe to guess that, to my mind, the environment which is evolving would say that one-third of the education will be delivered through online content, which could be synchronous or asynchronous. One-third of it will be through face-to-face education on campuses, where certain projects and certain lab sessions need to be conducted on the campus to interact with professors. The remaining one-third will be shifted outside the campus, where students have to be in touch with the industry, community, and society. They will meet and talk to them, identify the issues they’re facing, come back to the campus, undertake research projects, and try to find solutions to those problems. All the panel discussions were relevant, emphasizing research-based teaching and learning and a multi-disciplinary environment. These are ways to expand learning opportunities and enable students to attain higher-order learning outcomes, which is the need of the hour. Through normal traditional teaching and learning methods, we cannot attain higher-order learning outcomes, and that doesn’t serve the purpose of the industry. It is because of this reason we have been labelled to a large extent unfairly, that we don’t produce employable graduates. But yes, there are some issues which I think these kinds of platforms enable us to learn and tell others through the exchange of ideas. I’m sure we collectively will benefit and be able to transform our education system, where we not only serve the industry but also serve the community and society at large. I thank ArdorComm Media for having me here. Any message for ArdorComm Media Group for completing two years of its existence? Heartiest congratulations on completing two years. You have been doing great work. I’ve attended many events organized by you. Keep on doing this good work, and maybe we can interact on bringing new formats of this kind of conference and discussions where we can involve more people, not only speakers but more people who can contribute. Sometimes the best ideas come from youngsters, not only from senior people like us. If you can have a discussion format where multiple sub-topics could be distributed and they could talk on each of them after having intense discussions.