medical education

We are delighted to welcome Prof. (Dr.) Himanshu Aeran, Vice Chancellor of Ras Bihari Bose Subharti University, Dehradun, thank you for joining us today. Thank you. It’s my pleasure to be here. Could you please tell us more about your university? Yes, certainly. We have two campuses—one in Meerut, named Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, and another in Dehradun, called Ras Bihari Bose Subharti University. We offer a wide range of programs. While we are primarily focused on medical faculties, we also offer courses in fashion designing, fine arts, hotel management, MBBS, nursing, pharmacy, and naturopathy. On the non-medical side, we are launching courses in mass communication, computer applications, business management, arts, liberal sciences, and more. In today’s context, where do smart skills and smarter workplaces come in? Do you see a gap between academia and industry? And how is your university addressing it? Yes, there is definitely a gap between academia and industry. To address this, we’ve been working on multiple fronts. I recently attended the VIKAS 2025 event organised by UGC, where the focus was on integrating industry with academia through apprenticeships and skill-based programs. UGC is now allowing universities to award academic credits for industry training, and we are actively implementing that. Being a medical university, our students are trained in our own hospitals and pharmacy companies. We are emphasizing industrial training in all domains to ensure our students are workforce-ready. Are there any digital initiatives or use of technologies like AI that your university has implemented? Also, how are you training your faculty? Yes, we’ve developed our own indigenous ERP system and digitized our records and administrative processes. Students are being trained on digital platforms, and we conduct regular faculty development programs to make them digitally competent. In the age of AI and tech advancement, we believe both students and faculty must be equipped to meet new challenges. At ArdorComm, we’re trying to create a unified platform from KG to PG, including representation from school education, higher education, skilling, government, and corporate sectors. How do you see this helping society? This is a wonderful initiative. I’m seeing such a platform for the first time in Dehradun, bringing together technical experts, reputed universities, and government stakeholders. It’s a great opportunity for collaboration. I’ve already interacted with several people here and we’re exploring partnerships. This is a step forward for improving education in Uttarakhand, especially given the unique challenges of our hilly regions. I congratulate you for this effort—it’s meaningful and much needed. We’ve recently completed four years of ArdorComm Media. As a growing media organization, do you have any words of encouragement for us? You’ve achieved so much in just four years—what a remarkable journey. If this is what you’ve done as a four-year-old, I can only imagine how you’ll shine as you grow. My best wishes to ArdorComm. I hope we can collaborate to create stronger bridges between academia and industry. Together, we can contribute to building a Viksit Bharat, as envisioned by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. And I want to say “Ham Jagat Guru the aur Jagat Guru rahenge”, that translates to “We were the world’s guru, and we will remain the world’s guru.”