Nirma University started its journey of academic contribution on April 17, 2003. The university will be successfully completing two decades of Academic Excellence on April 17, 2023. To kick-start, the yearlong celebrations, Dr Avinash Chandra Pandey, Director, Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi addressed the Nirma University community members on April 18, 2022.
Talking on ?Creating a Strong Nation with Robust Education Policy?, Dr Pandey urged the faculty members to create research facilities for others through project funding and other means. He emphasised that doing research and getting papers published is not enough. Stating further, he says that for a strong nation, we need a mix of soft and hard power and technology is a great asset to increase the hard power.
To overcome the problems faced he suggested a plan of action that emphasises that there should be integration in terms of knowledge and faculty needs. Industry-connect is equally important. A collaborative approach is required with the small institutes. Private institutes/universities play an important role in the New Education Policy.
He suggested ways to improve quality we need to re-calibrate in the development of Science. We have to think about the implications of Science on society. We need to differentiate between Right Vs Wrong. We should position ourselves where we are going. We need an education system that is robust and makes the nation strong. We mainly focus on lower-level competencies like remembering/rote learning. It needs to be discouraged. A robust assessment process is required. We are at the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Are our students industry 4.0 ready? We need to tailor our curriculum to suit the changing requirements. For faculty members, life-long learning is necessary. One needs to Unlearn-Relearn. There needs to be a Student Centric Learning approach. Bring innovation, and rigour to classroom teaching.