The First Annual EDU VCs’ Retreat

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F O R L e a d e R s i n h i g h e R e d u c a t i O n

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Leaders in higher education got together

at ISB Hyderabad, to deliberate on the issue

of prestige Pg 18

EDU VCs’ Retreat

EDU VCs’ Retreat

The First Annual

The First Annual

FOREWORD

1October 2011 EduTEch

Dr Pramath Raj [email protected]

Your Retreat

“The higher education community in India, is passionate, in love with its chosen calling in life and committed to excellence”

Two years ago, when we were working on the mission and vision of Edu as a magazine for higher education leaders, we wrote: EDU aims to provide a neu-tral, objective and reliable platform that can bring visionaries, policy makers, educa-tionists and leaders of institutes together to address the challenges of Indian higher

education sector. The magazine also aims at empowering key decision-makers of higher education institutes with ideas and knowledge that will help them create and lead institutions of high quality.

We were told that this community was too niche, too opinionated and too caught up with their own ideas. That there were many forums where higher education leaders got together, so what would we do to be different and make a difference? For starters, we ensured that our heart was in the right place, that we were genuinely interested in the community, and that we believed in the power of this community to make a difference to society. We then decided to do three things: 1) Be neutral; 2) Make EDU a platform for the community to celebrate and share new ideas and new projects rather than just talk about what’s going wrong; and 3) Focus on the individual and not just the institution.

When we decided to organise a Vice Chancellors’ Retreat, we were working towards the goals that we had set for EDU, hoping that we were going in the right direction. What we did not expect was a reaction that said “Hey this is exactly what we were looking for: A platform where private and public, state and central, new and old institutions, everyone had a say.” One could learn from each other’s experiences, differ with each other and yet agree on the greater goals. It was a platform that looked at constructive criticism, where it was not always necessary to agree. It was also a platform to let your hair down and interact with the com-munity in a relaxed atmosphere. By the end of it we realised that the VCs’ Retreat was not EDU’s property any more, it had become that of the community. We got suggestions on how to make this retreat an even bigger success next year; volunteers to help with designing our next survey; and even write a book on the best practices that came up at the retreat. The excitement, commitment and positivity that we saw at this retreat has left us floored. The turnout was impressive and people were already asking us, “So when is the next retreat?”

Thank you for proving the sceptics wrong. The higher education community in India is passionate, in love with its chosen calling in life and committed to excellence. We are proud of what EDU has become today — not just a 9.9 Media publication but a magazine close to the interest and hearts of the educationists and leaders. The VCs’ Retreat has proved once again that we are on the right track — that of being a neutral, objective and reliable platform for the community of educationist and leaders.

2 EduTEch October 2011

ContentsOCTOBER 2011EDU

update 04 AssociAtion05 hike FinDinG06 rAnkinG reGULAtion08 PoLicY eXAMinAtion

Viewpoints10 DheerAj sAnGhiMerit is not a Number Game

14 rishikeshA t krishnAnBuilding an ‘Institution’

technology46 inFinite PossibiLitiesIf you haven’t set up a website yet, it’s time you flung open the portals of your institution to reap endless opportunities47 tech sniPPets50 tech tUtes strategy52 schULich coMes cALLinG Hyderabad will soon add another feather to its cap. After ISB, it is ready to host the internationally-renowned Schulich SchoolBy Kavitha Srinivasa

global perspectiVe Find out what’s currently happening in institutions around the world. The Chronicle of Higher Education shares its perspectives with EDU

56 cAnADA PrePAres YoUnG reseArchers For non-AcADeMic cAreersBy Jennifer Lewington

58 coLLeGes bULLish on onLine coUrses, bUt PUbLic stiLL scePticALBy Jeffrey R Young

timeout62 books• Reshaping Higher Education for Excellence• Professor Mommy: Finding Work-Family Balance in Academia• Facilitating a Collegial Department in Higher Education

46

“A disciplinary synthesis is required for management education to achieve its fullest potential”— Dr Vivek BhandariNoted historian and former director, IRMA

40

63

THEANNUALVICE CHANCELLORS’RETREAT 2011


63 tech insiDer• Good to Touch?

63 GizMos & GADGets• Sony’s Personal 3D Viewer• MapMyIndia CarPad

perspectiVe64 MoDeL oF eXceLLenceBy Andre Beteille

This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume

any liabilities for errors or omissions.

ADVERTISER INDEX BEnq IFC

EnTaB 11

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F O R L E A D E R S I N H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N

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VOLUME 02 ISSUE 10 150A 9.9 MEDIA PUBLICATION

OCTOBER 2011WWW.EDU-LEADERS.COM

Leaders in higher education got together

at ISB Hyderabad, to deliberate on the issue

of prestige Pg 18

EDU VCs’ Retreat

EDU VCs’ Retreat

The First Annual

The First Annual

CoVER ART: RAJ veRmA

coVer story

18 edu’s First Vcs’ retreat25 opening session27 best-in-class29 pillar of higher education31 towards independence33 the new necessity

35 institution’s prestige

mAnAging DiRectoR: Pramath Raj SinhaPUBLiSHing DiRectoR: Anuradha Das mathurgRoUP eDitoR: R giridhareDitoRiAL DiRectoR: mala BhargavamAnAging eDitoR: Sangita thakur varmaconSULting eDitoR: inga Butefisch ASSiStAnt eDitoR: Smita PolitecontRiBUting eDitoR: Aniha BrarSUB eDitoRS: Ruhi Ahuja, Radhika Haswani, mitia nath

designSR. cReAtive DiRectoR: Jayan K narayananARt DiRectoR: Anil vKASSociAte ARt DiRectoR: Pc Anoopvisualisers: Prasanth tR, Anil t & Shokeen Saifi SR DeSigneRS: Joffy Jose, nv Baiju chander Dange & Sristi maurya DeSigneRS: Suneesh K, Shigil n, charu DwivediRaj verma, Prince Antony & Binu mP cHief PHotogRAPHeR: Subhojit PaulPHotogRAPHeR: Jiten gandhi

sales & marketingBRAnD mAnAgeR: Ankur AgarwalnAtionAL mAnAgeR-eventS & SPeciAL PRoJectS: mahantesh godinoRtH: vipin Yadav ( 09911888276)SoUtH: Daphisha Khapiah ( 09986084742)ASSiStAnt BRAnD mAnAgeR: maulshree tewariAD co-oRDinAtion/ScHeDULing: Kishan Singh

production & logisticsSR gm oPeRAtionS: Shivshankar m. HiremathmAnAgeR oPeRAtionS: Rakesh upadhyay ASSt. mAnAgeR - LogiSticS: vijay menon execUtive LogiSticS: nilesh ShiravadekarPRoDUction execUtive: vilas mhatreLogiSticS: m.P. Singh and mohamed Ansari

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from the world of higher education


05 hike 05 finding 06 slipping 06 regulation 08

policy 08 examination & more

association: Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Develop-ment, suggested connecting universities and institutions in the region through an optic fibre network. “The SAARC will get through by creating strong networks,” Sibal said while delivering the valedictory address at the two-day South Asia Forum that concluded in Delhi recently.

“By 2030, the Indian government plans to connect all gram panchayats through a fibre optic network. It will cost around Rs 30,000 crore, but that’s not a lot of money for the country’s future,” said Sibal. “We can use this model to connect universities, hospitals and research institutions,” he said.

Touted as a Track 1.5 initiative, the South Asia Forum brings together gov-ernment functionaries businessmen, media and academics to generate out-of -the-box ideas for facilitating greater regional economic integration and peo-ple-to-people contact in the region. The forum will present its recommenda-tions to the SAARC standing committee in Maldives on November 10.

Network Varsities, Hospitals: SibalAt the two-day South Asia Forum, Sibal suggested connecting the region’s universities and institutions through an optic fibre network

netconnect: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal advocates strong networks for all institutions including universities, hospitals and research bodies

IIMs Ink Mou wITh us B-schoolThe Indian Institutes of Manage-

ment at Lucknow and Rohtak

have signed an agreement with

the Kelley School of Business

(KSB) at Indiana University, US,

to promote research in global

business education. Michael

McRobbie, President, Indiana Uni-

versity and Professor P Prame-

shan, Director, IIM-R, signed the memoran-

dum on behalf of their respective institutions.

IIM-L Director Devi Singh said: “We’re joining

hands with one of US’s leading B-schools to

innovate measures of teaching and learning.”

IITs, IIsc To usE cAT scorEs for AdMIssIonThe Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and

the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have

decided to use CAT 2011 as part of the selec-

tion process of their MBA and management

programmes from the academic year 2012-

13. The Joint Management Entrance Test

(JMET) previously used for admission by the

IITs and the IISc stands discontinued, accord-

ing to an IIM press release. “The decision to

use CAT for admission into the IITs and IISc

will minimise the test preparation and finan-

cial burden on candidates,” said LS Ganesh,

former head of the IIT-Madras management

department. CAT 2011 will be conducted over

a 20-day window from October 22-Novem-

ber 18, 2011, across 36 cities.

AssAM To hAvE 23 BIoTEchnology huBsAssam’s educational institutions will soon

have 23 new biotechnology hubs including six

for teaching and research. The new hubs will

be supported by the department of biotech-

nology under the Ministry of Science and

Technology as part of a special programme.

Rs 27 lakh has been sanctioned for each of

the six hubs selected for the programme.

update


globalupdate

finding: According to a study by Cornell University economist, Michael Lovenheim,

published in the October issue of the Journal of Labor Economics, there is a relationship

between increased college attendance and the soared home values of the late 1990s and early

2000s in the US. This means that a lot of families borrowed against the new equity to send

their children to college. Now that the boom is over and people have less equity in their homes,

it could mean fewer families’ sending their kids to college. “Eighty five per cent

of college attendees come from families that own a home,” said

Lovehein in his study. A $10,000 increase in home equity increases

the likelihood a child goes to college by 0.71 of a percentage

point, which translates into a 1.37 per cent marginal effect.

For families earning less than $70,000, every $10,000 rise

in equity increases the chances of college enrolment by

13.8 per cent. But because the housing boom turned

into a bust, college enrolments will drop.

Housing Bust to Impact College Attendance

hike: The Indian Institutes of Technol-ogy (IIT) Council has proposed a new fee structure, a common entrance test giv-ing weightage to class 12 exam marks and a higher focus on research.

The council has decided to indirectly hike the annual fee of a general category student from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh from 2013. “The expenditure on one stu-dent in IIT is Rs 7-8 lakh, whereas the fee is Rs 50,000,” Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after the council’s meeting. “The student will pay the same fee at the time of admission. The rest of their fee will be paid in installments from their salaries,”

Four-fold Fee Hike, Common Entrance Test ProposedIIT Council decides to hike annual fee of general category students to Rs 2 lakh and hold common entrance test for all engineering colleges

per cent of college attendees come from families that own a home

85rise in home equity raises chances of college enrolment by 13.8%$10,000

the minister said. The student will, however,

be exempted if he or she goes for higher education, Masters or PhD, or takes up academics and teaching. “The immediate difference of fee will be borne by the government. If a student has any gainful employ-ment, he will have to pay back the differ-ence in installments,” Sibal said. Stu-dents from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and from the non-creamy layer of other backward category will be exempted from the fee hike.

“Only 25 per cent of the students will be affected,” Sibal said, adding, a final deci-sion will be taken after consultation with states. The council also agreed in princi-ple to hold a common entrance test for engineering colleges.

payback: Students will have to pay back the raised fee in installments from their salary


update

slipping: Indian universities have slipped in the prestigious Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) global rankings with not even a single varsity making it to the top 200.

The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) marks the first entry for India at the 218th rank in the list. It is followed by IIT-Bombay at 225th position. IIT-Madras follows at 281st position. Last year, IIT-Bom-bay was at 187, IIT-Delhi at 202 and IIT-Madras at 262. The list has been topped by Britain’s Cambridge Uni-versity, followed by Harvard University of the US.

In separate subject-wise

No Indian Varsity in Top 200 Rankings Britain’s Cambridge University tops the QS World University Rankings, followed by Harvard University of the US; IIT-D trails at 218

category, the Engl ish Department of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Univer-s i t y has secured the 51st rank in the category o f E n g l i s h l a n g u a g e and literature.

The survey ranks univer-sities on different catego-ries including academic reputation, employer repu-tation, citations per faculty

member, international faculty and inter-national students.

In the QS Asian Rankings, while the likes of IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Mum-bai, IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Roorkee climbed rankings, IIT-Bombay dropped two places. The Asia ranking has been topped by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. At 36th place, IIT-Kanpur — which was ranked 37th last year — became the top Indian uni-versity in this category.

lagging Indian institutes have failed yet again to make their mark on top global rankings; IIT-D stands way low on the rung at 218

51stThe rank of Dept

of English,

Jawaharlal Nehru

University, Delhi in

the QS

subject-wise

global rankings

regulation: The Madras High Court has ruled that the UGC has the right to continuously impose conditions to make deemed universities maintain their quality as institu-tions of higher learning. Justice K Chandru, dismissing peti-tions filed by 14 deemed-to-be universities and Tamil Nadu Deemed Universities Association challenging the UGC (institutions to be deemed universities) Regulations 2010, said the institutions had willingly executed a memorandum agreeing to abide by the UGC guidelines and could not now go back on it. The court said the concept of the trust founder or founder having power to bring his family members does not arise after having established the trust or society. “Once a trust is established, the role of founder is not of a propri-

etor but to maintain the objectives and ide-als for which the trust is formed. The found-er is only a trustee and not the proprietor.” Justice Chandru reject-ed the argument that family members of the

founder, who has invested a huge amount in building the institution, could not be prevented from holding the post of chancellors and pro-chancellors. He said the objective of the trust was to run educational institutions of higher learning and not to have direct or remote control over them. The number of deemed universities had increased from seven in 1970 to 130 in 2010. Out of these, 87 had got the status of a university.

UGC can Regulate Deemed Universities

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update

voices“Foreign University Bill is a serious challenge for India’s higher

education sector. We are inviting foreigners to invade our

country intellectually. Before allowing them to open their shops here, we must improve the quality of our institutes.” —PT Chande,President, association of Indian Universities, India

“Educators and institutions of higher education must

change because the nation cannot afford

universities that are irrelevant.”— dr e Gordon Gee, President, ohio State University, ohio

“The university used to be run by the faculty. If they’re run by admin-

istrators, they become General Motors —

top-heavy entities that are saved from bankruptcy only by government money.” — ProfeSSor BenjamIn GInSBerG,Chair of Governmental Studies and the Centre for advanced Governmental Studies of advanced academic Programmes, john hopkins University, USa

policy: The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has start-ed working on the Education Commis-sion, suggested by Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh. The commission will formulate a new education policy, encompassing education and learning, by next year. It will seek inputs from the National Knowledge Commission, the Yashpal Committee and the Valiathan Committee for this.

According to reports, the ministry offi-cials said that they are plan-ning to set up an education commission on the lines of the DS Kothari Commission of 1964-66 that will help them formulate the new policy. They have already started working on it and consultations with stake-holders and the civil society will take about a year, after which the new policy will be

examination: The Central Board of Secondary

Education (CBSE) has decided to conduct the All India

Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE) online in 22 cities

from next year from May 7 to 25, 2011, said a Human

Resource Development Ministry statement. This was

after the success of the pilot project for online exam of

the AIEEE. The regular pen and paper exams will be held

at the remaining centres, said the statement.

A concession of Rs 150 to 300 in examination fees will

also be given to the students who choose the online

examination. A mock test software will also be uploaded

on the CBSE website in December this year for the

purpose of practice by the examinees.

New Education Policy by 2011The New Education Policy will have directions for all sectors of education

The online exam will be held at 22 centres from May 7-25 next year

ready. The Kothari Commission has 16 members. It set up 12 task forces and seven working groups for higher, techni-cal and agricultural education. It recom-mended a common school system and a 10+2 stage of schooling and research in universities.

The present policy, National Policy on Education, that was conceived in 1986, focusses on free and compulsory educa-tion, development of languages and also stresses the need for education for

industry and agriculture. It also suggests periodic reviews of the policy and a revision in the long-term. Even though this policy was against the commer-cialisation of education, the rise in the number of private engineering and medical institutions has only added to the problem of capitation fee.

2012:T h e Ed u c a t i o n

Commission will

seek to formulate a

new education

policy encompass-

ing education and

learning

Online AIEEE at 22 City Centres from 2011

Viewpoint Dheeraj Sanghi


Merit is not a Number Game

“What should be the criteria for admission in a university?” I asked several colleagues. “Merit, of course. What else can be the criteria,” they asked me back, puzzled that an academician could even raise such a question. But I persisted. “What is merit? Is it a number in AIEEE or some other exam? Are you sure you are getting the best students using that number?” Now, a few of them started having some doubts. But they soon recovered, and dealt the ace up their sleeves: “Maybe we miss a few good students who happen to perform badly on that given day. But we must follow a transparent system that can be defended in a court of law.”

Without realising, my colleagues had already admitted that the primary focus of the admission process is to avoid litigation. In truth, admission based on a single number, has hardly been followed in our country. Reserva-

tions of all sorts ensure that we look at the caste of candidates too. But mostly we trust that single magic number.

Unfortunately, random de-selection is not the only problem with admissions based on a rank in a single exam. There is actually a systematic de-selection of large groups of people in these tests. In any admission process, chance will play a small role, and we will miss out on some good students as a result. But if the admission process discour-ages or discriminates against a large set of poten-tial students, that must be a cause for concern.

problems of Ranks Consider the result of AIEEE or JEE, you will find very few girl students in the top 10,000. However, if you look at the Class XII results of any board exam in the country, you will find an equal num-ber of girls and boys in the top positions. There could be many reasons for this stark difference in the performance in the two exams. One is the fact that parents feel uncomfortable at the thought of their school-going girl going to Kota (or any other centre) for coaching. Even within their home-town, parents don’t want her to reach back home

T he criteria for admission to a university must be merit. But let us not reduce ‘merit’ to a rank in some competitive exam. To be more just and inclusive, we need to develop wider criteria for

admission. The admission process must account for ‘handicaps’ faced by genuine groups of applicants and give them weightage against it.

Viewpoint Dheeraj Sanghi


“What is merit? Is it a number in AIEEE or some other exam? Are you sure you are getting the best students using that number?”

late in the night. Also, many parents may not want to invest in the girl child’s education, espe-cially in coaching. Given the fact that almost all admission tests today are pattern-based, a student coached in pattern matching is likely to do much better than another who has studied the subjects well, but does not know the tricks of the trade. Girls, naturally, fare worse at such exams.

The competitive exams create a bias against girls. Though this bias is not deliberate or inten-tional, institutes ought not to walk away from the problem by calling this a social issue beyond their purview. Rather, private universities should worry about this, because this gives them an opportuni-ty to improve the quality of their intake; and gov-ernment universities should bother, because if they don’t, one day the government will force them to, and in ways that they may not like.

Deal with itThere can be two ways of handling biases. One, to come up with a process that doesn’t make rank the only criteria for admission. Second, to look at the results of major exams and compensate each applicant for all the handicaps that they may have faced. It may be worthwhile to consider a policy which adds bonus marks to those obtained by girls in such an exam, and then create the so-called merit list. In fact, such a process can be expanded to find meritorious students in all such groups which do not find sufficient representa-tion in your classroom. A private university, not required to have reservations, may try compensat-ing on other grounds. For example, studying in a village school is certainly a handicap when com-peting in admission tests. The achievement of a village lad in getting 85 per cent marks is more praiseworthy (and reflective of merit) than the achievement of a city lad in getting 90 per cent marks. Hence providing compensation of a few percentage points for having done schooling in a village makes sense.

Such a methodology allows universities to fine tune admission policy (something that fixed res-ervations don’t allow). The case for giving prefer-ence to those groups which have an obvious hand-icap or face discrimination is clear. You are actually trying to find the real meritorious stu-dents. (And this reason can even be explained in a court of law.) But there is also a case for giving preference to some other groups where there is no such handicap or discrimination. Such a pref-erence would be very small in terms of overall number of students admitted under such prefer-ences. But this would have healthy consequences

for the university and the quality of education that it provides.

The universities must attempt to have a diverse class. Having students from different regions, cultures, and backgrounds has a huge educational value for everyone. Diversity is difficult to justify on the basis of merit, but its effect on the educa-tion of those who have been admitted are positive and such admissions can be justified.

On the other hand, a case can also be made that a university must help build local capabilities, and support innovation in its neighbourhood. Typi-cally, students from local areas are more likely, to make a local impact in terms of economy and politics. If someone is a good sportsperson (say, has played for the country), then some credit could be given for that. Universities may want to offer some credit to wards of their faculty and other staff. Attracting quality faculty is a challenge for any university. Preferred admission to the wards will allow a university to compete with other universities for the same faculty pool and enhance its size.

To summarise, an admission process based on a single number – a rank in a test – is not a good system. It may not be an indicator of merit in some cases, and may even be biased. A system based on giving credit to compensate certain defi-nite handicaps is likely to get better students. Fur-ther, the system can be expanded to give prefer-ence to certain groups to meet the goals of the university in terms of diversity, inclusion, encour-agement to students with certain skills, and attract faculty.

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Author’s BIoDr Sanghi is the former director of Laxmi Narayan Mittal Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur. He is a professor of computer science at IIT, Kanpur. Dr Sanghi has a BTech in Computer Science from IIT Kanpur and an MS and a PhD from University of Maryland, USA . He can be reached at [email protected]


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Viewpoint Rishikesha T Krishnan


Building an ‘Institution’

While every college or university offers courses and provides means for students to get degrees, where are the real institutions. What do we need to do to build institutions rather than just colleges and universities? To build an IIM Ahmedabad (IIMA) rather than the dozens of nondescript MBA colleges?

the indian tragedyWhether an organisation earns the respect and reputation to be called an institution depends on its leadership, particularly in its formative years. In his classic work Leadership in Administration, Philip Selznick saw the lead-er’s primary role as providing values and integrity, and shaping how the organisation distinguishes itself.

In India, we face a strange irony today. In the 1950s, we had a severe short-age of physical and financial resources. Yet we had a set of idealistic men and women who built what Jawaharlal Nehru called the temples of modern India. Today, money is available in abundance for education; almost every college has an impressive building; but where are the people with the broader vision and a sense of social purpose?

to Build an institution in indiaProfessor TT Ram Mohan’s new book Brick by Red Brick: Ravi Matthai and the Making of IIM Ahmedabad provides a useful platform to think about what it takes to build an institution. Ram Mohan identifies four key elements of IIMA’s governance model: (1) a clear sense of mission as a management rather than a business school; (2) freedom for faculty so that their cre-ativity and innovation could flourish; (3) gover-nance by faculty to facilitate a sense of ownership; and (4) the Director as only ‘First among Equals.’

How did these principles work at IIMA when they are quite contrary to what prevails at Indian universities? Here, Ram Mohan gives the credit to Vikram Sarabhai, the Founding Director of IIMA, and Ravi Matthai, its first full-time Director.

Sarabhai and later Matthai, directed IIMA’s attention to multiple sectors that were important to the Indian economy – industry, agriculture, banking, government and trade unions. To ensure impact, they advocated involvement in three related activities – teaching, research, and consulting/extension work.

By involving the sectors themselves in the work of the institute, IIMA created a demand-pull that put pressure on the institute to deliver. Collabora-tion with a variety of other organisations within each sector created a multiplier effect.

We are today well into the most active phase of expansion of higher education we have seen since independence. But, only a few universities

have earned the right to be considered as ‘institutions’, i.e., stand for something distinctive and be known for a broader social purpose.

TRS solutions

simplify valuation of

subjective exams'

-N Subramanian, CEO and

Managing Director, TRS Forms and

Services

How is TRS helping the educational institutions address the challenges related to

subjective exams?

All educational institutions face multiple problems right from the admission to result preparation

to final convocation. Having understood the problems that institutions face, TRS has come out

with automated solutions that cater to educational ''needs mainly connected to the subjective

examinations. TRS solutions streamlines the examination process helping the universities and

institutions to reduce time. There are many universities that are using our system successfully.

In any subjective examination, the key issue is valuation. To have a free and fare valuation process,

most of the Indian universities adopt the traditional and a lengthy system of dummy codes for every

answer booklet. The process consumes time and leaves space for manipulation. Our automatic

dummy numbering system has made dummy coding simple. It captures data simultaneously freeing

the staff from spending time on data entry. In addition, TRS has come out with another solution

called the online valuation. This calls for digitization of the answer booklet and uploading the images

on to the net. The software takes care of sorting and organizing the images and brings them out for

evaluation one by one to ,, the evaluators. The evaluators can sit at their home or any place where

internet connectivity is available.

How does your solution make the processes simple and transparent?

The system of automatic dummy numbering is useful for universities only. For schools, we do have

the online assessment online question bank maintenance, online valuation of subjective exams, etc.

Such solutions can be deployed in all kinds of institutions.

You've implemented these solutions mainly in universities. Can these solutions be deployed

in all kind of institutions such as schools, etc?

The cost is well comparable with the current cost of manual method. However in most of the cases

it would be one-time investment and then the recurring running cost.

What is the cost of deployment for these solutions? Give an overview.


Viewpoint Rishikesha T Krishnan

“Today, money is available in abundance for education; but where are the people with a broader vision and social purpose?”

internal GovernanceBoth Sarabhai and Matthai believed in the west-ern notion of academic freedom. They thought that the faculty would be able to deliver their best only if they enjoyed the opportunity to express their opinions, start academic activities of their choice, plan their own work, move and travel free-ly and be free of hierarchical authority. But they also believed that freedom had to be earned, and did not come by right. Ram Mohan quotes Mat-thai: “To my mind, freedom is won every day, every month, every year. It is won by our accom-plishments…” To build the faculty’s confidence and motivate them to take on more challenging tasks, Matthai was openly appreciative of their accomplishments.

Faculty governance complemented the freedom given to faculty. Decision-making was delegated to faculty committees and academic areas. Appointments to committee and area chair posi-tions were by rotation and had strict term limits. Chairs did not have absolute authority and had to persuade their committees/areas and build con-sensus around decisions. This prevented the growth of fiefdoms and ensured that all faculty members felt involved in the governance process. The only ‘benefits’ of chairing an activity or area were the challenges of institution-building, and the opportunity to undertake new initiatives.

Formal authority, however, always remained with the director. Matthai did not hesitate to step in when he felt this was warranted, though his preference was for faculty committees to take essential decisions.

the Binding GlueWhat was the glue that held all of this together? Matthai obviously believed that building of IIMA was an important national task and managed to convey this sense of purpose with the faculty. How and why was Matthai able to let go? Probably because he had a high sense of self-worth, was not an academic himself, and was therefore not per-sonally threatened by faculty accomplishments.

Why was Matthai accepted and loved, even though at times he had to take hard decisions against individuals? Because it was clear that he did not have high personal ambition, IIMA was not just a stepping stone to his next job. In fact, Matthai waited to pursue his own interests in rural development till after he stepped down.

Lessons from iiMA What can we take away from the IIMA experi-ence? Ram Mohan seems to suggest that IIMA’s

evolution was an idiosyncratic event, the result of the distinctiveness of a small set of individuals. He is therefore reluctant to draw any lessons from the IIMA institution-building experience.

But I think otherwise. There are a couple of broad principles of institution-building that we can draw from the IIMA experience.

First is the importance of both the selection of directors and a commonality of purpose among key stakeholders. Sarabhai and Matthai comple-mented each other well and were on the same wavelength as other key individuals like Kasturb-hai Lalbhai and Kamla Chowdhary. To create insti-tutions, it’s important to build such teams, and foster a common vision if it does not evolve natu-rally. Our model in the public sector today depends instead on a model of heroic leadership displayed by one individual (the director) and even s/he is chosen in a mechanical way. It is not clear that we have any mechanism to avoid select-ing, as directors, self-promoting individuals who would never be able to create the foundation to build an institution.

Second is the importance of building the confi-dence and aspiration of the faculty and staff. One of the important barriers to innovation in India is the lack of creative confidence. Creative confi-dence and increased aspiration has to be built, to use Ram Mohan’s phrase, brick-by-brick, and that is again a challenging task for Indian ‘leaders’, who are accustomed to a very directive leadership style. Today, we have a new generation free of the cobwebs of the past, but the moot question is whether we have the leaders who can help this generation flower and bloom.

Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

Rishikesha T kRishnanDr Krishnan is a professor of Corporate Strategy at IIM Bangalore. He has an MSc in Physics from IIT Kanpur, MS in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University, and a PhD from IIM Ahmedabad. He can be reached at [email protected]


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“There is a lot of value in getting so many people together and talking about the

issues in higher education. It is good to know how some people have succeeded in certain areas”

—Vijay Gupta Director, GD Goenka World Institute

—Pankaj JaloteDirector, IIIT-Delhi

“Some of the presentations have brought up certain ideas and some

have triggered thoughts, where I am thinking on my own”

“I really looked forward to this event, and it has been immensely rewarding for me” —Surabhi Banerjee Vice Chancellor, Central University of Orissa

“The leaders in education normally don’t get such quality time to

interact with each other as we are busy with day-to-day administration”

—Rajneesh AroraVice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University

“Very rarely do we have a gathering of so many leaders of such high calibre. It really adds value as they have the experience which can help them learn from each other” — R.S.Grewal Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University

19October 2011 EduTEch 19October 2011 EduTEch

The VCs’ Retreat coVeR StoRy

Retreat Edu Vcs’ the First Annual

Around 50 higher education leaders came together at ISB Hyderabad from September 2 to 4 to deliberate on the issue of prestige and the various aspects of administration and the role of the leader

coVeR StoRy The VC’s Retreat


14 States were represented at

the conference. Participants at the VCs’ retreat came from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi,

Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Orissa,

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and

Punjab

50 Higher education

leaders got together at ISB Hyderabad to

discuss issues related to the administration

of universities


50% of the participants were from private

universities around India

Only

7 out of 50 higher

education leaders at the conference were

women

Higher education leaders spent

49 hours together at the

ISB campus over a period of 3 days I

n a unique initiative, EDU magazine organised a three-day Vice Chancellors’ Retreat in Hyderabad. Around 50 leaders from the field of higher education including vice chancellors, directors and deans of leading universities, manage-ment institutes and engineering colleges, participated in this conclave, held from September 2-4, 2011, at Indian School of Business (ISB).

The event focussed on how higher education institutes can achieve excellence through able leadership. The theme of the conclave was ‘The Pursuit of Prestige’, which has been inspired by the book, co-authored by Dr Charles Goldman of the Rand Corporation, USA. Dr Goldman is an expert on higher education and was also a key-note speaker at the conclave. Dr Goldman delivered his keynote address to the audi-ence at the conclave via videoconference. Dr Andre Beteille, one of the foremost think-ers of our times, renowned sociologist, Padma Bhushan awardee and author of the book Universities at Crossroads, kicked off the discussions at the Retreat. Other prom-inent speakers and participants included Dr BN Jain, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani, Dr R Venkata Rao Vice Chancellor, National Law School of India University, Veer Singh, Vice Chancellor, NALSAR.

Discussing the central idea behind the event, Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, Founding Dean ISB, Editor and Publisher EDU said: “The higher education sector is witnessing dra-matic shifts in terms of pace, scale, nature, role and impact. This is leading to unprec-edented challenges and opportunities. All institutions, whether government or private, are now in ‘pursuit of prestige’, i.e., excellence in the field of education. This calls for substantive changes in the role and influence of the heads of the institutions. The Vice Chancellors’ Retreat aims to provide them with a platform to discuss their evolving roles and responsibilities.”

The participants at the Retreat discussed how the various pillars of higher education — students, faculty, infrastructure, and research — contribute to enhancing prestige. What makes Harvard or MIT institutions to reckon with? Do schools make their alumni, or do students make an institution? These and many more topics were delib-erated by the delegates.

Higher education Leaders converge at Hyderabad


coVeR StoRy The VCs’ Retreat

The role of today’s universities is rapidly changing, and most of us are engaged so much in the day-to-day governance that it’s rare for us to step back and

observe where we are going. To go this way or that, is a call that the heads of higher education have to take, and that is what will decide the future course.

Sometimes a lot and sometimes naught, as we discovered in the heated discussion on the workability and other issues related with this survey. The session set the right

tone for the conference with a lot of questioning and soul searching. Many institute heads also volunteered to help with designing the next EDU survey.

India’s higher education sector is witnessing rapid and unprecedented change. The situation is enhanced by equally

Andre Beteille Delivering the keynote: Professor Emeritus of Sociology, at University of Delhi, Padma Bhushan Awardee, National Professor, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research. Prof Beteille has taught at Oxford University, Cambridge University, the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics and is also the author of Universities at Crossroads (Turn to the last page for an abstract of his session)

big challenges in the international environment for universities and institutions of higher learning. This survey covered the key opportunities and challenges that we must face, and plan for, to ensure the emergence of prestigious and best-in-class institu-tions and those who run them. Pramath Raj Sinha, Founding Dean ISB, Editor and Publisher EDU, shared survey findings of a study carried out with more than 500 higher education leaders on what constitutes prestige, followed by a panel discussion.

At the Crossroads

What’s in a Survey?


The opening session on the Pur-suit of Prestige established that while prestige is a desirable end,

there is no point in planning for just prestige. It’s perhaps better to plan for excellence and prestige will just follow.

Left to Right : Surabhi Banerjee (Vice Chancellor, Central University of Orissa), Ajit Rangnekar (Dean, ISB-Hyderabad) and Veer Singh (Vice Chancellor, NALSAR)

“We are designing courses which cater to the employment market. That is fuelling consumerism and the emotional growth and maturity is on decline”—Veer SinghVice Chancellor, NALSAR

“This is the time when we are about to redefine and reinvent the concept of

higher education. It is more than time now to think seriously about the kind of

roadmap and the trajectory which will take you to that peak of prestige”

—Surabhi BanerjeeVice Chancellor, Central University of Orissa

“In industry, you can launch a product and if it fails, withdraw it from the market and move on. In academia, we do not have the luxury of failures. We have to get it right and we must get it right fast”—Ajit RangnekarDean, ISB-Hyderabad

Is it Just about Prestige?

DAy-1 | oPeNING SeSSIoN


coVeR StoRy The VC’s Retreat

Study tour of ISB: Given the acclaim that ISB has received interna-tionally, the participants were taken on a guided tour of the ISB campus, by Dean Ajit Rangnekar, with popular stories on what lies

behind some of the campus highlights.

For Whom Prestige counts and Why?Charles Goldman, a senior econ-omist at the RAND Corporation and has worked extensively on what inspires higher education institutions and their strategies. His seminal work on ‘reputation’ and ‘prestige’ was the inspiration-al theme for this retreat. Via Videoconferencing Charles shared his perspectives on the US Higher Education system, its pur-suit of prestige and what one may expect in this sector in newer emerging economies.

ISB’s Campus Story

Playing Host: Ajit Rangnekar, Dean ISB Hyderabad (on the right), with the leaders on a campus tour


Left to Right: Ramesh Kanwar

(Vice Chancellor, LPU) BP Sanjay (Vice Chancellor,

Central University of Tamil Nadu), and

Pankaj Jalote (Director, IIIT-Delhi)

What is ‘prestige’ in the context of high quality faculty? How do you remain attractive to them? What needs to change or what new needs to be done to ensure a continuous inflow of best-in-class instructors? Are there models to follow? The session focussed on why faculty is important for an institu-tion and what are the ways that one can solve faculty related issues. The panelists said faculty builds the reputation of an institution, enhances rankings and creates students. Good fac-ulty is attracted only to universities where there is an environ-ment for intellectual growth and where they have opportunities for their development. Dr Rameshwar Kanwar, VC, Lovely Pro-fessional University said that the role of institute heads is to make sure that they create the environment where faculty can succeed. “If faculty succeeds, we succeed. If faculty doesn’t suc-

ceed, all of us will fail.” Dr Kanwar cited the example of China to elaborate this. China has a strategic plan for 2050. They’re investing close to $600 bn in the next few years in the education infrastructure. India also has the capacity to do a similar investment.

The discussion also included the ways in which quality fac-ulty can be attracted. Dr Pankaj Jalote, Director IIIT Delhi, talked about the importance of focusing on research and devel-opment. “The best people will not join a place which does not have R&D as the focus.”

Dr BP Sanjay, VC, Central University of Tamil Nadu talked about the issue of freedom and the constraints that the leaders of institution today face when they go out in search of quality faculty. He also stressed the importance of central and state governments working in tandem.

Universities ‘best-in-class’

How they contribute to building FACULTY

DAy-2 | SeSSIoN-1


“Even if you get good faculty, how do you keep it productive and prevent complacency from setting in?I find this totally ignored and if there is something I can fix in any institution that I am familiar with, it would be this” —Pankaj Jalote Director, IIIT, Delhi

“Finding quality faculty is a challenge. We have more than 500 universities and 20,000 colleges. But the big question is how many PhDs are we training?Either we begin to recruit faculty globally or look for solutions at home”—Ramesh Kanwar Vice Chancellor, LPU

“The VC of a university today does not have the autonomy that Prof Gurbaksh Singh had

when he brought in faculty to the University of Hyderabad or when JNU was started.”

—BP Sanjay Vice Chancellor, Central University of Tamil Nadu

“I feel that we all have a role in some way or the other in helping the new generation of

faculty to catch up. However, we need a lot of innovations if we are to progress in any way”

—Rishikesha Krishnan Professor, IIM, Bangalore, Moderating the session


Reputed institutions of higher learning have traditionally boasted of an envious record in research. Is there a correlation between prestige and research in today’s environment? can industry-academia collaboration play a role here? Universities are expected to produce research output. They also must produce research oriented manpower and people who will then take on faculty positions or research positions in the industry. If you wish to be listed as a world class university, you have to be doing a significant amount of research, according to BN Jain, VC of BITS Pilani.

“The percentage increase in the number of PhD students is going to be significantly larger than the percentage increase in the undergraduate student body. The undergraduate student body will increase by about 30-40 per cent in the next few years, whereas the PhD programme will expand by 400-500 per cent in the next 8-9 years, said Jain.

Professor Vijay Gupta, Director, GD Goenka World Institute, however pointed out that right now our country’s realities dic-tate that we pay more attention to teaching and focus on faculty development. He said, “Excellence in research is definitely a prerequisite of prestige of a university. But what kind of pres-tige is this and how is it relevant for a country like ours? A fac-ulty gets professional standing only by the academic research he publishes.”

To elaborate the role of research, Professor Jain talked about Times Higher Education Rankings that are based on the quality and quantity of research. He said that 73 per cent of their met-rics relate wholly to research. So what will it take to focus on research? A research environment and infrastructure, top qual-ity research-focussed faculty; a large number of PhD students; sponsored R&D projects; linkages with the industry or...?

Left to Right: Vijay Gupta (Director, GD Goenka World Institute),

Prem Kumar Khosla (Vice Chancellor, Shoolini

University) and BN Jain (Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani)

education? of higher

An integral pillar RESEARCH

DAy-2 | SeSSIoN-2


“First, we need to do research so that we can bring that it to our classrooms. Second, we need to provide an opportunity for our undergraduate students too, to engage in research, gain experience, and take that to the industry when they go out”—BN Jain Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani

“I tried to see what is happening in this country in the name of technical

education, including the IITs. It appeared that we do not do BE or BTech in our

institutes, we do BA in engineering”—Vijay Gupta

Director, GD Goenka World Institute

“The government must stop the discrimination between the private and the public universities. It should treat faculty as a resource so that private universities can also march towards the progress of science”—Prem Kumar Khosla Vice Chancellor, Shoolini University

All ears: Participants at the conference listen intently

Institutions worldwide are grappling with the challenges of dependence on state funds or the lack of them for higher education institutions. How important is your financial strength in the context of pursuing prestige? And what does that suggest for your funding needs and strategy? What are institutions around the world doing? the primary concern seems to be around what institutions may need to give up. Are there some optimal trade-offs?

This session was about the importance of funds in academic institutions and the steps taken by institutes to raise them. The speakers gave insight on the core issues the institutions face, when it comes to generating funds.

Relevant points were raised on various issues like the kind of pressure an academic institute is subjected to. The example of

IIM-A was cited, which made for a valid point, as it met a lot of resistance in the process of becoming autonomous, from the government bodies.

Another point raised was about how funds generated by the different initiatives of the university, helped in raising the bar in terms of quality of education and the various facilities that the universities could provide to its students and teachers, as well.

The discussion was not limited to just the technicalities of the issue. But there were talks about setting up a visionary com-munity, which shall help institutes realise their real agenda and meet the demands of the day.

Also, the point that economic gains aside, education is also a social responsibility, was not lost in the discussion. In fact, this was a crucial point of discussion. And methods to amalgamate the two different segments were talked about.

FUnd RAiSing

Left to Right: Indira Parikh (Founder-

President, FLAME) Uday Salunkhe (Group

Director, Welingkar Education) and

Rajneesh Arora (Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical

University)

Independence? towards

DAy-2 | SeSSIoN-3


“If the investors see value in the institute, they want to encash it. If they are going to invest by the virtue of you, and if they see

you as a brand, they are willing to put their money on you; i.e. if they see the future of

the institute in you”—Uday Salunkhe

Group Director, Welingkar Education

“Being a government institution, if we wanted to charge more fees, just the cost became an issue. So autonomy definitely gives you a lot of opportunity to start many initiatives, otherwise, everything takes up a lot of time in decision-making”—Indira Parikh Founder-President, FLAME

“We tried to make our courses more and more market oriented so that the students can feel that whatever they invest, whether

it is money or time, they get the return.This is why we were able to get more and more

students in our courses”—Rajneesh Arora

Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University

Deep in thought: Higher education leaders pondering over the speakers’ presentations

there are old glorious campuses and there are new high-tech ones. Do the campus, the infrastructure and facilities contribute to building a prestigious institution? If yes, in what way? Also, can prestige remain in the absence of infrastructure? In this session, some highly-rated campuses and other prestigious institutions were examined and the correlation was discussed. Are there some best practices to be adopted? During the discussion on infrastructure, the panellists talked about the factors that make the physical being of a university better. Some of them include: Developing a flexible master plan that coincides directly with the institute’s strategic plan, Spend-ing more time and money outside the classroom so as to change the methodology to a learning methodology and not a teaching one, being sustainable and keeping campuses fit.

Dr BV Somasekhar, VC, Gyan Vihar University, said that infrastructure is the embodiment of an institute’s prestige. He

said physical environment promotes creativity, creates alert-ness, social cohesiveness and intellectual excellence among the students. And therefore, physical infrastructure fuels the latent creativity of students and environment stimulates innovation. So to create innovation, environment is essential.

The panellists also emphasised on creating standalone infra-structures for institutions. They also discussed the importance of outsourcing and the lifecycle of an investment. Professor Savita Mahajan, CEO, ISB Mohali, said something maybe cost-ing less today, but what will its total cost be over a ten-year peri-od? We often make a choice for something which costs us a more in terms of upfront capital expenditure but saves a lot in actual maintenance and running over a ten-year period.

Aaron Schwarz, Principal and Director Perkins Eastman, who has designed many campuses globally and also a few in India, emphasised that maintenance has to be as important a factor as designing a good campus. He said that institutions must plan for good maintenance to ensure that they remains world class.

Necessity? the new

Left to Right: Savita Mahajan (CEO, ISB Mohali), BV Somasekhar

(Vice Chancellor, Gyan Vihar University) and

Aaron Schwarz (Principal and Director, Perkins

Eastman)

CAmpUS inFRASTRUCTURE And TECHnoLogY

DAy-2 | SeSSIoN-4


From roots to shootsCan higher education achieve its objec-tives if primary education is not aligned? Leading K-12 educationist, Ashish Rajpal shared his perspective on what is shaping primary education.

Ashish Rajpal, Managing Director, iDiscoveri Education, delivering the Day 3 Keynote

“We have to keep our campuses fit between now and 10-20 years from now. So make sure

when you’re getting money for capital improvement and operations, faculty and programmes, we also need to worry about

the money for maintenance” —Aaron Schwarz

Principal and Director, Perkins Eastman

“At ISB, while the academic administration is handled by the academics, the non-academic administration and all such other functions are in the hands of professional managers experienced in running such systems efficiently, and it has worked well”—Savita MahajanCEO, ISB, Mohali

“At NIFT Hyderabad and NIFT Mumbai, we wanted to make the campus aesthetic in

keeping with the objective of the institution, and to encourage students to think

creatively. And we achieved this by using a lot of creative designs and green solutions”

—BV SomasekharVice Chancellor, Gyan Vihar University

What comes first, great students or a reputed institution? In a world of increasing competition, how can you attract the best students and how should you assess ‘best’ to begin with? What makes students consider you a ‘prestigious’ institution to join? How can you stay abreast of student demands, and respond to them? this session examined what the highest-ranked institutions believe in and offer. In a holistic discussion on academics, students form the most crucial part. And this session was about students and the vari-ous issues surrounding them. Progressive methods of teaching students were talked about. And important points were raised.

The need to look beyond the ranking system was acknowl-edged, and the discussion veered to a conclusion that we have to find our own talents, our own strengths, see around us, what is it that we want to do and choose tasks which would be fruit-ful, and which we would enjoy doing.

Another point raised was about realisation of goals. Goal set-

ting is most important at both the institutional and also the student level. It was said that, shared goals and ambitions are essential, but setting of a goal should be such that one should enjoy reaching them. There is no point in setting impossible and unrealistic goals for either an institution or students. Also, there is more pleasure in the path to achiving the goals than in actually reaching the summit.

The need to make students self-reliant was addressed. Stu-dents should not be told what to be. They have to introspect themselves and decide for themselves as to what they want to be — was a point echoed by all those present for the session.

The difference in perceptions of a student and a teacher was another critical point that was discussed. It was said that things like industry programmes and international scholarships pro-vide students great exposure. And that mentoring is a big issue with them. These demands are difficult to be met. Therefore, the students could form groups and become mentors for each other on various issues that concern them.

Left to Right: Dheeraj Sanghi

(Former Director LNMIIT) R Venkata Rao

(Vice Chancellor, NLSIU Bangalore) and

Srinivasan Sundarrajan (Director, NIT Trichy)

STUdEnTS

Prestige? every institution’s

At the heart of

DAy-3 | SeSSIoN-5


“We started the human values programme at IIIT-Hyderabad to help students discriminate between what’s

valuable and what’s superficial. To develop sensitivity and awareness that

leads to commitment and courage” —Rajeev Sangal

Director, IIIT, Hyderabad

“Mentoring is an important part of students life at NIIT-Trichy. The senior

students realised that they should themselves be mentors of juniors and they

support and help each other” —Srinivasan Sundarrajan

Director, NIT, Trichy

“A German student at IIT-Kanpur pointed out that India is the only country that does not take into account any kind of linguistic abilities for entrance to its engineering colleges”—Dheeraj SanghiProfessor IIT Kanpur, Former Director, LNMIIT, Moderating the session

“Teachers in NLSIU believe in the concept that a teacher is the one who makes his presence progressively unnecessary. This is how we teach the students”—R Venkata Rao Vice Chancellor, NLSIU, Bangalore

Left to Right: Nikhil Sinha (Vice Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University),

Omkar Mohanty (Former Vice Chancellor, BPUT), SK Kak (Vice Chancellor, Mahamaya Technical University and Furqan Qamar

(Vice Chancellor, Central University of Himachal Pradesh)



Setting higher education agenda for the future

“The challenge today is not setting a new agenda but rather filtering through all those reports and agendas that are already there and do what needs to be done to finish them”—Furqan Qamar Vice Chancellor, Central University, Himachal Pradesh

“ Unless we make our school education more responsive, knowledge oriented,

value oriented, and oriented toward the needs of the child and society, I think, we will not have any particular future

for higher education”—SK Kak

Vice Chancellor, Mahamaya Technical University

“We must find ways of teaching those

students who do not top academic lists.

We cannot abandon them, and nor can we

put them in the pedagogical settings designed for the elite

students”—Nikhil Sinha

Vice Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University

“Educational institutes have a responsibility towards society. Societal responsibility may not be a buzzword, but we have to ingrain it into our institutions to make it a buzzword for a better future”—Omkar Mohanty Former Vice Chancellor, BPUT



EDU would like to thank all the participants, speakers and sponsors for making its first retreat successful. We look forward to your continued support.

thank you

time to relax: Partcipants at the retreat interact over tea and lunch, enjoy a team session with Drumberries and a Qawwali evening

THEANNUALVICE CHANCELLORS’RETREAT 2011


dialogue Vivek Bhandari

i do believe that a disciplinary synthesis is required for management education

to achieve its fullest potential

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Vivek Bhandari dialogue

ReturnRootsto

edu: From studying history in college to being a tenured professor in the uS, how did your academic path bring you to iRMa?dr Vivek Bhandari: Initially, history was going to be a stepping stone to the civil services but then I really got into it; and I studied it at a time when India was going through a tectonic shift. I am talking about the late 80s and early 90s. Liberalisation happened in 1991; the Mandal Commission when I was a stu-dent in DU. The communalisation of Indian politics reached a crescendo in the late 80s. I saw this first-hand and wanted to study it further. And when it became possible to go to the University of Pennsylvania for a second masters and PhD, I grabbed the opportunity because it gave me a chance to step back and process my Indian experience. At the heart of it was my confusion about

ViVek Bhandari

ACADEMIC:• PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania • Masters in South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania •Masters in Modern History, University of Delhi • BA (Honours) in History from St Stephen’s College

EngAgEMEnts:• Director of Institute of Rural Management Anand from 2007 to 2011 • Taught and researched at Five College Consortium: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and University of Massachusetts Amherst

AssoCIAtIons: • Associated with the Global Migrations Programme (established in 2002) • Co-founded the Hampshire College Centre for the Book (1998) •Works closely with the Planning Commission of India on issues of rural development

Noted historian and former director of IRMA, Dr Vivek Bhandari, returned to India after 15 years in the US to re-establish his connect with a dramatically transitioning IndiaBy aniha BRaR



how the institutional apparatus of inde-pendent India was serving or failing to serve the needs of India’s incredibly com-plex population. Then I proceeded to take up a job at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts and over time found myself a happily tenured professor.

But somewhere along the way, I had this sense of being disconnected with the rough and tumble of an India in the throes of a really dramatic transition. IRMA, (Institute of Rural Management, Anand) as an institution, represented a very interesting hybrid between a profes-sional education and a larger social and political vision, which I did not find in the mainstream business schools or in the social science and research universities in the country. In the latter, it was largely about research and understanding what the normative frameworks of Indian life were. Professional schools were all about creating professional managers who could walk into an organisational setting and solve problems. How do you bring the two together? That is precisely what IRMA was trying to do. As chance would

programme in which students spend roughly 40 per cent of the time working in the field, away from classrooms. The classroom sessions are a hybrid of man-agement and development studies, and some humanities — which again is a rarity in the firmament of management education. But what keeps them all together is the field orientation. This gives them not only the critical voice and perspective that they need to ask difficult questions, but also teaches them to build relationships of the kind that simply aren’t possible if you are being parachut-ed in and out of rural settings because you are ‘the expert’ or at the very least an ‘expert-in-training’, which MBA students seem to be.

IRMA had a pretty different sensibility and I would say that for a very long time, this vision remained completely undiluted.

did changing political and economic circumstances impact the fortunes of an institution like iRMa?

have it, I was invited to apply for the job and that’s where I ended up.

how was iRMa unique and how did it walk the middle path between understanding the needs of indian life and creating managers to solve problems?

IRMA was set up partly because of a need. Dr Varghese Kurien was the archi-tect of much more than just Amul, and he realised that if you want to achieve scale, you need a very particular kind of manager who not only has the skills that are necessary to manage an organisa-tion, but also the sensibility to under-stand what the producers and those whose l ives are be ing af fec ted actually want.

Basically, Kurien Sahab felt that you need to create a very particular kind of rural manager, a person who could work in partnership with rural producers. IRMA, recognising this need, set up a curriculum that did something which I think no other programme in the world does, even today. They created an MBA


Vivek Bhandari dialogue

From a distance, it looked as though it was almost losing its way in the late 90s to the early years of the new millen-nium because I think it was not entirely sure how to locate itself within India’s growth narrative. They embraced the co-operative model, which is obviously Kurien sahab’s big achievement, but they weren’t sure what to do with a pri-vatising economy. But IRMA’s core promise was very attractive. It remains a very strong institution with the kind of network of close to 500-600 organisa-tions scattered around the country, all of which focus on grassroots develop-ment. I don’t think any management school has that. And for me, the idea of being able to shape an institution that was trying to work its way into the new economy was really interesting. Deep down, I don’t think I necessarily sym-pathised with the directions most busi-ness schools were taking. I actually felt that IRMA’s version of management was more pertinent to an India that was in the throes of a transition.

But the rules had to change because

the economy was changing — a co-oper-ative in 1999 was not what it used to be in 1979 (which is the year IRMA was founded) and we’re now talking of pub-lic-private partnerships, and the state itself withdrawing from welfare in the way that it hadn’t done in a long time. In fact, the relationship between the civil society, the market and the state, was in complete turmoil. This was the opportu-nity to reposition itself. The challenge was to rebuild the faculty, to redirect IRMA without losing sight of its core commitment to the rural poor, and per-haps hardest of all, to somehow shake this institution out of complacency about its own sense of right and wrong. That is what I came back to when I left the US after 15 years of living there.

do you think more such rural management institutions or models need to be worked out? What is happening within management institutes in the country – should they adopt broader based programmes?

Firstly, management at a generic level is undergoing a profound shift. What earlier used to be a much narrower and smaller space with a certain number of very elite institutions is now becoming massive. Everyone’s doing it — a lot of hole-in-the-wall places, a lot of manage-ment shops where you can literally go and buy yourself a degree. And the fact that a lot of management institutions, including some of our best ones, are nothing but placement agencies, angers me a great deal because it is potential being wasted. These institutions have a lot to offer and shouldn’t be serving as p lacement agenc ies for the highest bidder.

I think rural management as a field is also in flux. The original version was a product of the Licence Raj economy and not the liberal Indian economy we have now. So some of the fundamental ques-tions remain. How is it that we come up with a management paradigm that serves the greater common good? I do believe that a disciplinary synthesis is required for management education to achieve its fullest potential. And rural management did attempt it in a way that the basic management schools just did not. The fact that you were able to com-bine experiential learning with social sci-ence insights, the odd course in human-ities and the core of management education in one programme, was a pretty audacious and important inter-vention in higher education. More such programmes are necessary.

Management education also needs to become more political: to raise questions about power, and how political pre-sup-positions need to be managed. Unless you understand the power dynamics, you aren’t going to get very far with addressing larger societal concerns. For all their many strengths, the fact is that mainstream Indian educational insti-tutes exist as silos. I think the best man-agement schools in the world have suc-ceeded because they exist in larger university structures. There is a lot of cross-pollination of ideas. IRMA, in its own way, did try for that cross-pollina-tion. But I don’t think our mainstream elite institutions are cross-pollinating in

I think rural management as a field is also in flux. The original version was a product of the Licence Raj economy and not the liberal Indian economy we have now. So some of the fundamental questions remain


Rural management is just a phrase.

Actually, we are living in a rural-

urban continuum. It’s

not rural or urban anymore.

It’s just one continuous

space. People are going back

and forth


quite the same manner or to the degree that is necessary.

do you feel that by its very definition, ‘management’ cannot be a highly-specialised discipline? don’t you think that effective managers will need exposure to a broad range of ideas?

It’s not as though people aren’t adopt-ing that sort of holistic view of the learn-ing experience. A lot of management schools are doing it, to be fair to manage-ment education. I do think what distin-guishes a management degree from a degree in social sciences, for example, is what we call the functional core, which allows graduates of MBA programmes to go and hit the ground running in a diver-sity of workspaces. But I think what we need is more texture, more complexity of the kind that will come from an amplifi-cation of the relationship between these functional disciplines and the context in which they are to be used. For example, food security is tectonic in terms of its implications for the political economy of India, it needs to be addressed. It also has deep ramifications for the institu-tional apparatus that we use to deliver not just nutrition but democracy for the country. Unless you engage with this question in some fashion, you will be undermining your role as a manager. I think that a lot of programmes are bringing it in.

Rural management is just a phrase. Actually, we are living in a rural- urban continuum. It’s not rural or urban anymore. It’s just one continuous space. People are going back and forth and migrations are extremely difficult to track. In that space, all kinds of questions of a political or economic nature are coming up and these have to inform the functional core of a manage-ment education.

There’s no reason why what we call the management sensibility should actually emerge at the end of our undergraduate education. Most people aren’t even engaging with the idea of an interdisci-plinary learning until well into grad school. I think we can start earlier with

allowing our young men and women to think more creatively about how to take what they know into the real world, with a practical intent. The absence of humanities at the undergraduate level is killing our technocrats and I think there is a way in which you need that mixture.

do you think rural management enjoys an equal status with other management courses – are there many takers?

IRMA is one of a kind, so it remains an elite rural management programme in the country. To give figures, in my time as the director, the number of appli-cants that wanted to get into IRMA ranged between 12,000-15,000 for a total of about a 100 seats. Placement, in my four years, was a breeze, despite the bad economy that we saw in the last couple

of years. It’s a different matter that there is a tension in the placements, which is specific to IRMA. IRMA would prefer to see a lot of its students go where they’re most needed. But because of market pressures and partly the fact that IRMA started charging fees for its programmes in the mid-90s, that does not always hap-pen. Within that construct, students started taking loans for (what is a heavily subsidised) education and that informed their work choices.

My own view is let them do what they want to. Do the best you can to excite, enlighten and challenge them, to plant the seeds of progressive thought and let them go into the world. If they want to work for a multinational corporation or an NGO or become entrepreneurs, good luck to them. If they carry that sensibility with them, they’ll do well wherever they go. That’s a view that sometimes gets contested as people believe that an insti-tution has the responsibility to produce graduates that serve a sector. I just don’t know how you define a sector in 2011. I don’t know where the civil society space ends and the private sector begins or where the state ends and the civil society begins. For example, we’ve been relying on NGOs to deliver NREGA – so where is the line? So at one end of the sector you have the shrill, almost jingoistic cel-ebration of India’s growth narrative, which I think is an overstatement. On the other hand, we have doom and gloom statements from those who question everything that India has achieved in the last 10-15 years. I do believe that India has a long way to go in order to fulfil its promise as a great democracy and as one that is capable of mitigating the hardship that a lot of Indi-ans face. So, I guess that is both a chal-lenge and an opportunity for manage-ment education.

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Infinite PossibilitiesIf you haven’t set up a website yet, it’s time you flung open the portals of your institution to reap endless opportunitiesby tushar kanwar

Eleven years into the new millennium and we’re certain our readers do not need to be con-vinced about the need

for well-planned web presence via your institution’s own website. Unfortunate-ly, all websites aren’t created equal, and so while they may all look similar, you fundamentally have three kinds of web-sites – bad, good and effective.

The bad ones are easy to recognise – often ugly, they hurt your eyes and are a nightmare to navigate, and more often than not, send visitors away irritated and confused. A good website, on the other hand, has, at first glance, everything you think you need – professional appear-ance, sensible navigation and good con-

50 Tech TuTes: Twitter

47-51 Tech snippeT: Technology news, Tips and Tricks

TECHNOLOGY

ph

oto

s.c

om


Websites tEChnOLOGy

tent. What makes a website truly shine and be effective is when it anticipates the needs of the customer/visitor and meets them. If you can liken a good website to a static electronic version of your institu-tion’s brochure that merely ‘sells’ your institution, an effective website goes that one step further to inform, engage and convert your audience. Ready to go that extra step with your website? We spoke to leading solution providers and institu-tions to look at the important consider-ations and choices you have to make.

tangible benefitsThe benefits each institution derives from an effective website are largely translatable across the education landscape. For instance, at Manipal University, each of the three pronged objectives – information reach, student engagement and online applications – saw significant improvements with the website launch, according to Satish Kamath, Head of IT, Manipal University. In addition, with the strong focus on the external target group by way of user-generated content initiatives around the ‘Life in Manipal’ theme, the institute has not only seen measurable growth in positive brand association, but also an increase in international online applications and enquiries. Prospective students and their parents can log onto

the respective institute’s website, evaluate their eligibility conditions online and even discuss their concerns and clarifications with guidance counsellors via live chat.

Apart from the increased ability to reach students across state and national boundaries, there are benefits of trans-parency to be derived from a well inten-tioned website. At Amity, for example, processes that relate to admissions, attendance, placements are available via the website, enabling not only students to manage their academic lifecycle but also giving parents direct access to mon-itor their wards’ performance through-out the academic calendar. KN Senthil

Kumar, Vice President, AKC Datasys-tems (a company under the Amity Group) says that over the 12-year history of their website, they have added fea-tures that greatly enhance the experience for audiences external to Amity as well. He highlights the Online Certificate Ver-ifying System (OCVS), which facilitates recruiters by allowing them to check the authenticity of the degree of Amity stu-dent by merely entering his/her roll number. In addition, with every work-shop, seminar and conference published via the website and publicised via social media, a recruiter or a prospective stu-dent can easily get a glimpse into the academic rigour of the institute. And

Google has restored offline functionality for some of its apps, allowing users to access Gmail when they are not connected to the internet. The company has already kicked off the func-tionality to Gmail, Docs and Calendar. Gmail users will now be able to sync some emails locally and read messages offline. The Calendar and Docs apps will get full-fledged offline func-tionality in the coming days.

To start using the offline features, the users are required to install offline-access apps from the Chrome Web store. The

TECH SNippET | Offline Functionality

Google restores offline capabilities for Gmail; Docs, Calendar to follow soon

app for Gmail is called Gmail Offline, which Google says, is powered by HTML5 and is based on the application used in the tab-lets, which also works with-out internet access. The users will be required to download separate apps for Docs and Calender from the Chrome Web Store.

Once installed, icons of the offline apps will be featured on the Chrome browser, prompting users to use them for their offline work. According to Google, the Gmail application will run on its own user interface, while the Docs and Calendar offline apps will work in background.

“the benefits each institution derives from an effective website are largely translatable across the education landscape...information reach, student engagement and online applications”—satish kamathHead of IT, Manipal University

48 EduTEch October 201148 EduTEch October 2011

above all other reasons, a website is the only channel that is truly 24x7x365.

In-house or Outsourced?For many universities and institutes, such as the Amity, Manipal and LPU, the decision to maintain an in-house IT/web team that is responsible for the continuous upkeep of their web infrastructure was a simple decision. For smaller institutes who lack a dedicated staff budget for a web team, it may be wise to contract the services of one of the many web design and maintenance providers that dot the landscape. Bear in mind some key selection criteria, and don’t necessarily get swayed by low-cost providers that are abundantly present across the country. Insist on previous experience with education clients, if possible and ask to see their portfolio with previous websites. Remember that a website is rarely a one-time activity, and ask to see what the long term costs (and continuity measures in place) of a maintenance contract would work out to before you close the deal with a service provider.

the key ComponentsDomain Registration: Probably the most

commoditised of your choices, domain names can cost you anything between $8-15 (Rs 360-675) per year, and are usually bundled along with a hosting plan for free. Bear in mind the fact that your web identity is intimately tied to your overall brand strategy, so choose wisely while picking that ‘.edu’ domain. Too long and you’ll tire your audience out just typing your address in the browser; too short and it could be too cryptic for anyone to understand.Web Hosting: Your website will need a home on the internet, and a reliable web host is critical. Digging the bottom of the barrel to choose a cheap web host may have severe consequences in terms of uptime, so go with the larger US provid-ers like DreamHost, 1&1, etc. You could choose web hosts with servers based in India if your traffic/audience is primari-ly Indian, but bear in mind that web hosting in India is prohibitively priced, especially when compared to offerings in the US. Hosting charges can vary between $8 and $25 a month, based on what kind of server you’re looking to rent (dedicated servers are costlier) and the traffic/bandwidth you expect your web-site to experience. If you’re willing to pay for a year’s worth of hosting in advance,

you’re likely to snag a better deal from the web host. Technology Platform: Unlike a decade ago, very few sites these days rely solely on a small number of HTML pages cobbled together by hand. With the advent and rapid proliferation of Content Management Systems (CMS), there is no reason why you should deny your audience rich and highly interactive websites. But what is a CMS, you ask? Put simply, a CMS is a web application that uses a database to store your content, and serves up this rendered content on the fly based on what your user requests in his browser. The primary reason to go the CMS route is to make creating and editing of content simple and easy so that the task of maintaining your website’s content is not limited to a few tech-savvy staff and students, and can be distributed among larger sections of your administration and students. Invest some time with your core web team to research the various options – you would do well to consider a CMS that installs easily, has a simple administration interface, has a wide and supportive user community, and has a wide variety of plug-ins and extensions to extend the functionality of

your website is the Most authoritative resource

In conversation with Dr rameshwar kanwar, Vice Chancellor, Lovely Professional University (LPU)

at LPu, what benefits and business considerations drove the website creation?

Apart from the increased number of queries and reach to potential students, especially those living in faraway places, our drivers included online application for admission and facilitating online payment via a payment gateway. Equally important were degree authentication systems (for employment and VISA purposes) and serving as a mechanism for collection of real time feedback from the students.

what insights would you like to share with institutions looking at a web presence?

The central theme, I would ask institutions to keep in mind is to provide maximum information via the most usable interface. Due diligence must be performed in the planning phase – taking into consideration key technology choices, business objectives and human resource planning (selecting a team, crowdsourcing the initiative to students) to ensure that content is regularly updated. In addition, ensure that the implementing team is familiar with meta keywords and search engine optimisation so that search engine queries for the institute are directed to the university website alone. Strong integration of the website with social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can really enhance/boost the traffic on the website. But your website must still be the most authoritative resource on your institute.

tEChnOLOGy Websites


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TECH SNippET | Hindi Tweets

twitter to Launch its services in hindi

the CMS to cover a feature you need. CMS such as Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla and Radiant are great places to start, but conduct your own due diligence before you settle on one of these. Each of these CMSes are free (some of the plug-ins may cost you extra) and can be taken out for a test-drive before you commit to them.(Read more at http://www.inc.com/guides/choose-website-content-management-system.html)

how to Go about It Like any big IT project, more so because it is consumer facing, building your own website (or redesigning it to be effective) is as much planning as it is execution. It begins with understanding the customer, says Kamath from Manipal. He adds that as a university, the website is not meant to merely cater to prospective students and admissions – that approach is too narrow. The audience of your website includes existing students (info about course/classes, attendance, results, etc.), faculty (info about published research), alumni (event updates) and the influencer community which includes parents, industry, international students etc. Each of these target groups has to be kept in mind when drawing a feature-funct ional i ty -map, and Kamath r e c o m m e n d s a c o m p e t i t i o n benchmarking exercise to evaluate what global education players are offering, before you start charting out your own

customised website plan. It would also be a good idea to start looking at the technology platform – the right balance of features such as CMS, social integration and e-commerce need to be part of your plan from Day 1.

Information design and navigation elements are next, not to forget involving your existing marketing communica-tions and branding teams to leverage your existing marketing collateral and visual identity. It is crucial to remember that some of your biggest assets at this point are within your own institute – harness the enthusiasm and talents of your students.

If an in-house IT team is not a feasible alternative, and you plan on getting the initiative outsourced, we’d recommend that you get the right folks from the fac-ulty involved in the core team as well, before you approach a web design firm for a bid. At this point, keep in mind that this project, like your other IT engage-ments, should be consultative in nature, and that website needs and require-ments for even similar sized institutions can vary. Souvik Das Gupta, Co-founder of Miraj, a web design studio in New Delhi, cautions institutions against con-sidering the web design component as a commodity. Unlike the hosting and domain name components, web design initiatives cannot be expected to have a fixed market cost from the word ‘go’. Apart from the inevitable scope that comes up with most clients, Souvik

opines that the cost for designing varies with every design company, with some companies billing for the actual effort whereas others have evolved a fixed price model.You may ask: What is an institution to do in the face of such uncertainty? Souvik recommends all clients analyse their return on investment (RoI) equation first and start with a budget, both in terms of time and cost, and work with a design partner with these numbers on the table. He adds that his firm asks clients to answer four questions – essentially around describing the project, your intended target audience, expectations from users of your website and time/budget constraints – that make the strategies clearer and lead to a more fruitful engagement for both the web design firm and the institution. Kunal Dua, Co-founder of Random Loops, another web design firm in New Delhi, provides some ballpark estimates – institutions looking for a basic CMS-based site with a planned effort of about 4-5 weeks should budget for an outflow, not including long-term maintenance, of anywhere between Rs 1-2 lakh. Of course, a more complex site with events, admissions and forums, etc., would add significantly to this estimate. At the end of the day, our advice would be to think

In a move that is going to delight millions of Twitter lovers in India, the micro-blogging site has said that it is going to launch its services in Hindi. After almost five years of its launch, Twitter now boasts of 100 mn users across the world.

“After launching Hindi, Filipino, Malay and simplified and traditional Chinese in the coming weeks, Twitter will support

17 different languages,” says the company in its blog. It’s notable that both Twitter and

Facebook are highly popular in India. Facebook has already launched its services in Hindi and five other Indian languages namely Malayalam, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu

and Tamil.Earlier, Twitter had announced

accomplishing 100 mn active users worldwide. The micro-blogging site put up some interesting

figures. It disclosed that 40 per cent of its active users simply log on to the website to read what others are posting.


50 EduTEch October 201150 EduTEch October 2011

tweet, tweet!

anand Mahindra uses it, as do Amitabh Bachchan and Narendra Modi, not to fo rge t a s l ew o f renowned educators and

thinkers. You’ve probably heard a lot about Twitter, the white-hot microblog-cum-social-network that’s growing even faster than Facebook. But what is Twitter, and how can you make the most of this service? Let’s find out.

If the name itself sounds like the chirping sounds birds use to communicate with each other, that’s because it is exactly that. At its most basic level, Twitter lets you communicate “what are you doing?” by sending short text messages at most 140 characters in length, called ‘tweets’, to your friends, or ‘followers’, essentially anyone who cares to listen to what you have to say. You too can lis-

will remind you how many of the 140 characters you have remaining. Concise-ness and clarity of thoughts are highly regarded on Twitter.

As you start following folks on Twitter, the service even makes handy sugges-tions based on who you follow via the ‘Who to Follow’ link. But reading other people’s tweets is only the beginning – the real story of Twitter lies in the inter-actions. So, if you want to reply to some-one’s tweet, all you have to do is begin your Tweet with the ‘at’ symbol (@) fol-lowed by the username of that person. Keep in mind that replies are visible to everyone who follows you and the per-son you mentioned, as also to anyone who visits your Twitter page (so don’t say anything personal in a reply that you don’t want the world to see). Here’s an example of a reply Tweet (addressed to me, in this example): @2shar Interest-ing primer on Twitter in EDU Tech! Thanks for getting me onto Twitter.

You can even mention other user-

ten to or ‘follow’ others who possibly share the same interests as yourself — think of it like a giant room of people talking, but you only hear the people you want to hear. It’s a great way to follow luminaries in your field (or celebrities and sportspersons, if that’s what inter-ests you) and hear what they have to say.

To sign up, head over to Twitter.com, enter a few basic details such as name, as email address and a password for logging onto Twitter, and just like that, you can be

on Twitter and ‘Tweeting’. You can choose to check your Yahoo, Gmail, Hot-mail, or MSN address book for contacts that already use Twitter so you can follow some familiar faces to begin with. Next, head over to your Twitter home page and you’re ready to post your first ‘tweet’. Enter your message in the ‘What’s hap-pening?’ box – as you type, the counter below the box

rEaDEr rOI Twitter lets you communicate what you are doing by sending short tweets of 140 characters to your friends and followers and the world at large

Learn the Twitter etiquettes and get going today

twitteratti: Twitter has proved to be a great enabler and is a great medium of communication for one and all


Tech TuTesUsing Twitter Effectively

by tushar kanwar

Twitter is being used with great effect by netizens of all shapes and ages. This is how you can can spread your chirp too

of it not in terms of how much of the IT budget you will have to realign, but the increased brand value and enrolments that a well-designed website can bring. A website is a long-term commitment with the web property, and post launch, you will need a continuous improvement cycle in place to regularly review the

content and features to keep the site relevant for an ever-evolving audience. Social network integration, sharing user generated content across platforms and engaging in online events are just some of the next steps you could consider to stay relevant and the institution of choice in your target group’s mind.

We recommend starting with these galleries of web design and effective academic websites: http://bit.ly/rghHUT and http://bit.ly/nfHTR0.

tEChnOLOGy Websites


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Facebook is reportedly prepping a new feature that will allow its users to view others’ wall posts in the language of their choice with just a single click.

According to Inside Facebook, the new button is placed next to the ‘Like’ option. On clicking the button, the language in which the status or post was originally written gets translated to the user’s profile language or the default language they’ve set. The button is then replaced by an ‘Original’ button,

TECH SNippET | Facebook Translator

Facebook Prepping a ‘translate’ button for its Pages

Get Chirping: From Tweet No. 1 remember that conciseness and clarity of thought matter a lot

Engage Twitter is not a place for self-aggrandisement or

advertisement. People respect free opinion and thought, but at the same time you must respond to the tweets

of followers and friends

names (preceded by the @ symbol) to include other people in your tweets, and they can see these messages (if they’re not following you) in the @Mentions section. Now what if you want to send a Twitter message to someone without the world seeing it? Twitter has a direct mes-saging capability — in the ‘What’s hap-pening?’ box, enter the letter ‘d’ followed by a space and then the username. Here’s an example of a direct message:d 2shar: Could you do a story on smart-phone applications in EDU Tech?

There are a couple more things you need to know. If you like what someone says on Twitter, you can ‘retweet’ their tweet via the retweet button to spread the message to your followers as well. Then there’s the hashtag. If you see the pound symbol (#) before a word or phrase, it is essentially a keyword tag for the tweet so that others can find it more easily. On Twitter, this is called a hashtag, and they can be serious, to help people search for your tweet (like #delhi or #education) or funny (like #IneedaVacation!).

And that’s it! Learn its etiquette and use it for personal and professional gain. You can use your Twitter account for bringing a number of benefits to your institute – right from generating traffic to the website or key articles you may have published, to soliciting feedback on recent changes you may have made, to event updates as well.

Just remember, it is vital that you engage on Twitter – do not fall into the habit of only conducting a one-way con-versation with your followers and not listening and replying. Twitter isn’t an advertising channel, and people respect free thought and independent opinion more than sponsored messages.

Learn more about Twitter basics: http://bit.ly/nQopfq. Use Twitter from your mobile device: http://bit.ly/nAY85H !


which allows the users to switch back to the original language.

The feature, however, does not work for all comments. In case Facebook is unable to

translate the content, it will return with an error message stating: “There is no translation available for this story at the moment.”

The new feature is limited to Facebook pages presently. Also, there is no word on a

mass-translate option that will translate a foreign user’s profile into one’s native language.

However, the new move will certainly help users get more access to the global community on the social networking platform.

Foreign Connect strategy

Hyderabad – home to internationally reputed B-school, the Indian School of Business (ISB) – is set to host yet another prestigious international business school. This time, it’s the Schulich School of Business (SSB) of York University, Toronto, known as Cana-da’s global business school, which is opening a full-fledged cam-pus in India.

The campus is slated to open in September 2013, and will be located near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad. The decision of SSB to set up base in India was formally announced in July this year.

Schulich’s India ties, however, go back more than 15 years, when it forged a partner-ship through academic exchange collaborations with the Indian Institute of Manage-ment (IIM) Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore in the early 1990s. Later, the business school established an academic exchange partnership with ISB.

India CallingIt wasn’t until around 2005, though, that the school began to explore the idea of building a campus in India. Schulich set out by opening a satellite centre in Mumbai to recruit students, provide career placement services to alumni, offer executive education pro-grammes, support local Schulich alumni chapters, and to handle local media relations. The centre also assists Schulich students and alumni with career planning and career

opportunities and provides customised execu-tive and leadership development programming for executives of firms like Tata Group, Citi-group, American Express, Indian Hotels Ltd and the Aditya Birla Group, among others.

CallingComes

schulichHyderabad will soon add another feather to its cap. After ISB, it is ready to host the internationally-renowned Schulich School

Mirror Image: Schulich India campus will be built on the lines of its Toronto school and will provide world-class education

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However, Schulich felt India needed world-class management education in the coming decade. “The Indian market is under-served in terms of high-quality management education to meet the country’s demand for professional man-agers in the years ahead,” explains Dr Dezsö J Horváth, Dean, SSB.

The talks between GMR and Schulich, for setting up a world-class SSB campus in India commenced in the second half of 2008. For GMR, a global infrastruc-ture company, the decision to enter into management education with an SSB campus in India, was prompted by sound market research. Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony in July, GM Rao, Group Chairman, GMR Group had said that for the next 10 years, India would continue to send a large number of its students to Western universities for higher education. It was this factor that made the group look for partner institutions in the United States and Europe for three years since 2006, when, on the suggestion of Canadian embassy officials, it came across Schulich and found it suitable.

20 in most well-known international rankings like The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune and Aspen Institute, cemented the GMR Group’s decision to go ahead with the project.

Horváth promises that the India cam-pus would be a mirror image of the Toronto one, and would focus on creat-ing “a new breed of globally-oriented managers for the growing number of Indian transnational companies.” It means that Indian students can now pursue an MBA degree in their home country with a number of benefits at a lower cost, he adds.

The GMR Campus in Hyderabad will be the first full-fledged Schulich campus outside Toronto, and the first campus of a major, top-ranked international busi-ness school in India. According to Rao, “GMR will bring its world-class infra-structure development skills to the table, while SSB will bring its expertise. The campus in India will provide a high-quality option for business management education to the best Indian and interna-tional students.”

ning, much of the India-based executive education programming wil l be housed there.

When the campus becomes function-al, Schulich will become one of the world’s few transnational B-schools. “Students from Toronto will have the option of spending either a semester or a full year at the GMR campus in India,” says Horváth. Likewise, students at the GMR campus will have the option of studying in Toronto.

SSB says they will get the same educa-tion in India that the Toronto campus offers. In time, they expect the India campus to have about 40 per cent international students.

The school will develop specialised India courses, which could be in any of the busi-ness verticals such as IT, where India has a stronghold. “New programmes and cur-riculum innovation at our India campus will go hand-in-hand with whatever takes place in Toronto,” the Dean said.

Teachers and students will be able to move back and forth between Toronto and Hyderabad. It has been decided to recruit tenure-stream faculty globally

—Dr Dezsö J horváth, Dean, ssb

“The Indian market is underserved in terms of high-quality management education to meet the country’s demand for professional managers in the years ahead”

As Dr V Raghunathan, CEO, GMR Varalakshmi Foundation explains, “GMR was scouting for a top-ranked partner in the US, when the then High Commissioner of Canada in Delhi, Joseph Caron, brought Schulich to my attention. As we are US-centric, some-how top Canadian schools and universi-ties have never been on our radar.” The fact that Schulich ranked among the top

student QuotientSchulich, a public, non-profit institution, will initially offer its two-year MBA pro-gramme to 120 students at the Hyder-abad campus, apart from various execu-tive education programmes for working executives such as an executive MBA, post-MBA Diploma in Advanced Man-agement and Executive Education. So, once the GMR campus is up and run-

from Toronto to work at both the Toronto and Hyderabad campuses. The faculty will be recruited globally, some of them will be from India. In addition, Schulich will hire local academicians for its Hyderabad campus.

“The India campus will significantly reduce the cost of international business education for the student community,” Raghunathan said. “The placement of


Foreign Connect strategy


Dr ashwin Joshi, executive Director of the Schulich MBA in India Programme

What is schulich’s experience in India? Schulich has academic exchange partnerships

with Indian business schools such as the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore, initiated in the early 1990s. We then established an academic exchange partnership with the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad around the turn of the century, shortly after ISB opened. These partnerships represent Schulich School’s first involvement with India.

What are the activities of the Mumbai satellite Centre? Schulich set up the Mumbai Satellite Centre in 2005. The centre recruits

students; assists Schulich students and alumni with career planning and career opportunities; provides executive and leadership development programmes for executives, and supports SSB alumni chapters in the region.

What about career placement services? Career placement services are available at our main campus in Toronto as

well as at our Mumbai Satellite Centre. These services are available to all students. The idea of embedding career placement services in our satellite centres originated with our very first satellite centre, which was opened in Beijing in 2004. At the time, a growing number of the MBA graduates who had come to Schulich from China were interested in launching careers back home in China, as the national economy was really booming. The interest in seeking career opportunities in China, however, also came from many of our Canadian students. The Mumbai Satellite Centre gives all Schulich students the opportunity to seek career placements in India.

Can you throw light on the schulich Mba in India Programme? The programme began in January 2010 in association with the SP Jain

Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) in Mumbai. It was the first MBA programme in India by a leading international business school. The programme received government approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). This experience enabled the school to move beyond the experimental path and establish a track record with the government.

graduates will be with both Indian and global firms, not only in India but world-wide. We will also offer students access to one of the largest global networks of academic exchange partners.”

In the school’s first year, courses will be identical to those at the Toronto campus in terms of core courses and electives. In the second year, additional electives will be offered. The programme will cost C$

30,000 a year and Hyderabad students will be eligible for scholarship and bur-sary support of up to C$ 10,000 a year.

The school says it expects the student profile to be similar to those currently studying in Toronto, that is, about 28-29 years old, with five years of work experi-ence, strong basis in a four-year under-graduate degree course and proven lead-ership or entrepreneurial experience.

skirting the roadblocksUnder the agreement, Schulich will develop the learning environment and academic infrastructure while GMR will provide the land and the physical infra-structure. Subject to approval under the Foreign Education Provider’s (FEP) Bill, currently awaiting Parliament nod, admissions will commence in January 2013. “We expect the FEP Bill to be passed in this calendar year,” Raghuna-than said. “In case the bill is delayed, we have a Plan B to work with, which will be under the AICTE norms. For instance, Schulich already has a twinning pro-gramme in India. A similar twinning programme could be structured with a GMR-promoted business school, which will probably have three semesters in India and one in Toronto.”

Campus tourThe GMR Group is providing the infra-structure – 25 acres within the overall airport zone. The academic building is scheduled to be built in about 20 months and the hostels will be completed in line with student intakes.

Architect-Partner, Rajesh Renganathan of Bangalore’s Flying Elephant Studio, has been roped in to give definition to the blueprint. Construction will start around September-October. “The design combines intense experience of nature with an urbane sensibility,” explains Renganathan. The school says it plans to invest about C$5 mn in technology and take care of its operations.

the sP Jain Connect This collaboration gave the faculty the opportunity to live and work in India. “This exposure has been transformative for the faculty. It also gives the School a foundation in terms of knowledgeable faculty to draw from our campus in Hyderabad,” Dr Ashwin Joshi, Executive Director of the Schulich MBA in India Programme, said.

schulich Opens its Doors to India


perspectiveINSIDE

F r o m o F h I g h E r E D u c a t I o N

the global 58 | Colleges Bullish on Online Courses, but Public Still Sceptical

Industry needs highly qualified graduates’ and universities are no longer training PhDs to be just professors By JENNIFEr LEwINgtoN

canada prepares Young researchers for Non-academic careers

The young doctoral students in Canada, acquiring professional skills is increasingly essential. The supply of postgraduates outstrips the demand for full-time academics, and many students find themselves eyeing alternative

careers in industry, government, or the not-for-profit sector. New training programmes have sprung up in the past few years, with more on the way, designed to give them professional skills, such as communication, leadership, and intellectual-property management, for careers in industry, government, or academe.

“We see that the majority of our university graduates don’t have an academic career, so we are sending the message to think about the future career of your trainees,” says Isabelle Blain, Vice President of research grants and scholarships at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Three years ago, her agency introduced the Collaborative Research and Training Experience Programme, which provides $1.7-mn over six years to leading university researchers who provide young scientists — from undergraduates to postgradu-ates — with professional skills training, including opportuni-ties to work in labs at other universities and in the private sector.

This year, the council financed 18 such projects, which will provide training to 300 students.

The council developed the programme after looking at a sim-ilar initiative introduced several years earlier by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and at other such programmes in the United States.

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research Plus: Young doctoral students in Canada are acquiring professional skills

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Chronicle of Higher Education at Chronicle.Com/Globalnewsletter

The Chronicle of Higher Education is a US-based company with a weekly newspaper and a website updated daily, at Global.Chronicle.com, that cover all aspects of university life. With over 90 writers, editors, and correspondents stationed around the globe, The Chronicle provides

timely news and analysis of academ-ic ideas, developments and trends.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, another Canadian govern-ment agency, expects to unveil its own profes-sional skills programme next March.

One measure of the demand for such skills training is the growth in workshops, intern-ships, and seminars offered by Mitacs, a national organisation financed by government and industry to recruit, train, and deploy grad-uate students for the Canadian economy. In 2010, Mitacs offered a broad suite of pro-grammes to 3,000 graduate students, up from modest offerings in 2005.

“There has been a huge sea change in the Canadian system about these kinds of pro-grammes,” says Arvind Gupta, Chief Executive of Mitacs and a professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia. “Partly it is recognition that we are no longer training PhDs to be professors.”

Gupta says industry needs highly qualified graduates who can communicate across disciplines and write a business plan — skills not typically taught in their academic specialties.

A recent survey by the Mining Industry Human Resources Council and the Canada Mining Innovation Council identified a lack of polished communication skills, business acumen, and leadership in otherwise highly qualified academics recruited to the industry. For example, Canadian mining companies work with aboriginal communities and need employees who can communicate, negotiate, and grasp legal issues, says Martha Roberts, Director of research for the Mining Industry Human Resources Council. “If you blunder badly in any of those nego-tiations, you end up setting them back years.”

Young researchers say they find the training invaluable.“Industry interests me more so now because there are fewer

academic jobs,” says Casey Gardner, a doctoral student in chemistry at McMaster University, who is participating in the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s training programme.

She is working with a professor at McMaster, along with stu-dents and researchers from other universities in Canada and

Europe, to develop cell-based therapies to com-bat diabetes and other chronic diseases. Stu-dents also attend workshops on intellectual property, project management, and other top-ics applicable to careers in Canada’s fast-grow-i n g b i o m a t e r i a l s a n d b i o m e d i c a l -engineering industries.

The opportunity to receive such wide-rang-ing experience early in her career “is huge,” says Gardner. As a chemist, she most values the opportunity to collaborate with researchers from medicine and other disciplines. “They have different ways of approaching problems,” she says. “You learn to speak their language and you learn to look at your own problems from a different perspective.”

At McGill, Nadia Mykytczuk, a microbiolo-gist and postdoctoral fellow, is involved in another project under the council’s training programme that aims to pave the way for a

Canadian mission to Mars.As part of her research, Mykytczuk has gone on field trips to

the Arctic, working in cooperation with geologists, physicists, and astronomers to study microbial communities as potential analogues for life in places like Mars. Though her academic discipline is microbiology and molecular biology, she has pre-sented papers to academics in other disciplines, and partici-pated in formal intellectual-property collaborations between McGill and Canadian and foreign-government agencies and private labs.

The varied training opportunities, says Mykytczuk, represent “the best launching pad I could ever hope for.” Her goal is to pursue a career in academe despite the scarcity of full-time jobs. She says the training programmes have strengthened her aca-demic portfolio and widened her network of contacts, thereby enhancing her competitiveness in future job searches.

German PhD student Hannes Dempewolf, an evolutionary plant biologist completing his studies at the University of Brit-ish Columbia, credits landing a job at a United Nations affiliate to support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s training programme.

The Collaborative Research and Training Experience Programme, provides $1.7mn over six years to leading university researchers who provide young scientists, from undergraduates to postgraduates, with professional skills training

thE gLoBaL PErSPEctIVE


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the dim view of online-course quality by consumers of higher education suggests that colleges need to do more to make the case for internet-based teaching By JEFFrEy r youNg

colleges bullish on online courses, but public still sceptical

Delivering courses in cyber classrooms has gained broad acceptance among top col lege leaders , but the general public

is far less convinced of online education’s quality, according to new survey data released this week by the Pew Research Centre, in association with The Chronicle.

Just over half of the 1,055 college pres-idents queried believe that online cours-es offer a value to students that equals a traditional classroom’s. By contrast, only 29 per cent of 2,142 adult Americans thought online education measured up to traditional teaching. The presidents’ survey included leaders of two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges and was conducted online.

He received a $6,000 (US) internship (available to interna-tional and domestic students) last summer that paid for a stint at the UN’s Global Crop Diversity Trust in Rome. He says advis-ers at the university’s biodiversity research centre and the trust gave him hands-on training in writing proposals and synthesising ideas.

Without the internship, he says he would not have been able to participate in a successful grant proposal by the trust that now is able to hire him on a full-time basis.

“It was an opportune time for me to be there when the proposal was being written, and funded,” he said, adding that he gained insight into what excites potential donors. As well, he learned the intricacies of writing proposals to fit UN funding criteria. “I had no clue about any of this

before. It was incredibly useful to me to get that kind of background.”

The new emphasis on broadening skills and knowledge of young researchers is winning praise elsewhere.

“Many academics do a disservice to graduate students by lead-ing them to believe that the primary reason one does a PhD is to pursue a job in academia,” says Jay Doering, president of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies, whose organisation endorses the new focus on professional-skills training. “Maybe we should not be training students for academia but training them to have the skills they require.”

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The public survey was conducted by telephone.

The gauge of differing perceptions comes at a critical moment for online education. Just 10 years ago, few colleges took teaching onto the internet, and scepticism about the practice was the norm among professors and university leaders.

Now many studies have proved the effectiveness of online instruction, and colleges trying to cut costs and serve stu-dents who want more convenient options are embracing this form of teaching.

But the relatively dim view of online-course quality by consumers of higher education suggests that colleges need to do more to make the case for internet-based teaching as they increase their offerings, according to some proponents of online learning.

Presidents “should be more visible in making the assertion” that online educa-tion is high quality, said A Frank Maya-das, who started the Alfred P Sloan Foundation’s online-education support programme. “There’s a huge amount of misunderstanding of what ‘online’ is. You ask the man in the street, ‘What do you think of online learning?’ and they’ll say, ‘You can’t just learn by yourself.’”

Fighting Popular culturePortrayals of online learning in popular culture don’t help, said Russell Poulin, Deputy Director for research and analy-sis at the Wiche Cooperative for Educa-tional Technologies. He pointed to a recent episode of the TV show Glee, in which a character was insulted for hav-

ing a degree from an online institution. “You still have a lot of people who grew up in an era where there was very little or no technology in their classroom, so it’s very hard to relate to taking a course either partially or fully online,” he said. “It’s good to see that the presidents —who also did not grow up with technolo-gy — are seeing at least some value in online education.” (Most of the presidents in the survey were 50 to 64 years old.)

Not surprisingly, presidents of colleges delivering substantial numbers of online classes expressed higher regard for them than did leaders of colleges offering fewer such courses. Two-year colleges reported the most activity online: 91 per cent of two-year presidents said their institutions offered at least some online courses. Two-thirds of those presidents said online learning was comparable to face-to-face instruction. In contrast, 60 per cent of presidents at private, four-year colleges said their institutions deliv-

Now many studies have proved the effectiveness of online instruction, and colleges trying to cut costs and serve students who want more convenient options are embracing online teaching

ered courses online. Of those presidents, only 36 per cent thought the quality of online education was equal to that of in-person courses.

William J Pepicello, President of the University of Phoenix, a for-profit insti-tution with substantial online offerings, said higher education as a whole had been far slower than other sectors to adopt game-changing technology. “Higher education lags behind the rest of society,” he said. “While lots of things have changed in the rest of society in the past century, higher education has remained substantially the same.”

He said college leaders first had to be convinced before they would approve new delivery methods. “We’re seeing that slowly, higher education itself is coming around to accepting online,” he said, “and I think that has to come first.”

Pepicello believes that online educa-tion will spread even faster than most survey respondents indicated. “I don’t see how higher education can’t go in that

Percentage who say online courses offer an equal value compared with courses taken in a classroom:

Percentage of college presidents who say:

College presidents Most students will take classes online 10 years from nowGeneral public

Most students today have taken a class online

Note: General-public figure is from a telephone survey connected on landline and cellular phones March 15-29, 2011. College-presidents figure is from a Web survey conducted March 15-April 24, 2011.

Source: Pew Research Centre/Chronicle of Higher Education Survey

51% 50%

29%15%

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direction,” he said. “People thought that shopping online or banking online were fads, and yet I can’t tell you the last time I was in my bank,” thanks to online banking and ATM’s.

Kenneth E Hartman, President of Drexel University Online, a spinoff from the brick-and-mortar institution, said most college presidents have never taken an online course and have little sense of what’s involved. “It’s like asking some-one, ‘How do you like driving a Ferrari versus a Hyundai?’ when they don’t even have their driver’s license,” he said.

But even presidents who had never entered an online classroom had a better sense of distance learning than the gen-eral public does, said Molly Corbett Broad, President of the American Coun-cil on Education. “There is an excite-ment about the potential” of online learning to expand access and reduce costs, she said. She did note that online education fits the missions of some institutions better than others, which

may explain the greater scepticism among leaders of private colleges that focus on a residential experience.

Indeed, most presidents who respond-ed to the survey predicted continued growth in online offerings. About half of the presidents said that in 10 years, the majority of college students will take at least one college course online. Today, only 15 per cent of the presidents said most of their students had taken an online course. The presidents also were bullish about online educational tools.

gadget-happy LeadersCollege presidents appear to be more tech-savvy than members of the public are. About half of the presidents said they used a tablet computer, for instance, com-pared with only 8 per cent of the Ameri-can adults surveyed. Presidents are also slightly more likely than the general pub-lic to use Facebook (50%, compared with 45% of the public) and Twitter (18% of presidents and 10% of the public).

“I would have expected even higher,” said Broad. “When this is your profes-sion, it’s an important responsibility to try to stay ahead of the curve, or at least not stay too far behind the curve.”

College presidents reported some downsides of technology use at their institutions. 55 per cent of the respon-dents said student plagiarism on assign-ments has increased in the past 10 years, and of those who saw an increase, 89 per cent said computers and the internet had played a major role.

Hartman predicted that the future for many colleges will most likely include new mixes of online and in-person teaching. “Blended instruction provides an opportunity for students to structure their schedules so they are much more productive.”

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V I E W S , R E V I E W S & M O R E

NEW RElEaSES fOR yOuR BOOKSHElf


EllEN HazElKORN

“Our obsession with top-rated universities is denying us a ‘world class’ education”

Reshaping Higher Education for ExcellenceEllen Hazelkorn talks about the role rankings play in reshaping higher education in a globalised scenario

Professor Mommy: finding Work-family Balance in academia A guide for all the women who wish to com-bine parenting with professorships, Profes-sor Mommy offers practical solutions

picked from experiences of authors and mothers-cum-pro-fessors. The book answers some key questions. Author: Rachel Connelly & Kristen GhodseePublisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Price: $29.95

facilitating a Collegial Department in Higher Education A book for chairs and deans, it talks about strategies to run departments effectively. The book has latest ideas and research on what works best in improving the climate, culture, and collegiality in academic departments as well as the university. Author: Robert E CiprianoPublisher: Jossey-BassPrice: $40

Institutional rankings, which were until now only a part of the US higher education, have become highly prevalent across the world today. There are about 11 global rankings while nation-al rankings exist in more than 50 countries.

In her book, Hazelkorn asks: “Governments, employers, philanthropists and students all use rankings to inform their decisions about resource allocation, employment of graduates, investment opportunities and programme choic-es. We need to ask — and I have tried to do this in my book — are rankings reshaping higher education and if so, are they measuring the right things?” Rankings demonstrate the new environ-ment of higher education and act as a driver of change.

The extent to which these changes are productive or fruitless is still controversial, but institutions of higher education are worried about their impact on the reputation of their institution, individuals, and the country as a whole; potential to recruit international and postgraduate students; and ensure opportunities of graduate employment. Hazelkorn also tells how rankings influence not only students in choosing an institution, but also decision and policy makers.

It is a must read for policy makers, institution-al heads, managers, advisors and scholars.

autHOR: Ellen HazelkornPuBlISHER: Palgrave MacmillanPRICE: $85

RaNKINgS aND tHE RESHaPINg Of HIgHER EDuCatION: The Battle for World-Class Excellence is the first comprehensive analysis of higher education rankings from a global perspective. The author, Ellen Hazelkorn, has used international surveys and interviews with various universities and stakeholders to narrate how rankings are helping reshape higher education in the era of globalisation.

The author says that university rankings have gained popularity around the world because they seem to be fulfilling demands by everyone for information and transparency: students, parents, policymakers, employers and stakehold-ers, and have become an important criterion in shaping institutional reputa-tion. Written from a global perspective, the book makes an important contri-bution to our understanding of the institutional rankings phenomenon.

63February 2011 EduTEch

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tECH INSIDER | Mala BHargava

Sony’s Personal 3D ViewerSONy will soon be launching a Personal 3D Viewer, HMZ-T1, a head-mounted wearable 3D display that will feature two 0.7-inch OLED displays, one for each eye, both capable of displaying an HD resolution of 1280x720 pixels and both 2D and 3D images and videos. It will also have built-in 5.1 surround sound speakers and a processor unit with two HDMI interfaces that can be connected to televisions, consoles and blu-ray players. With a 45-degree horizontal viewing angle, they are the perfect video glasses for you.PRICE: $784 (approx)

My SWItCH to a smartphone with a roomy touchscreen for a keypad was easy and felt entirely natural. Many others, however, feel differently. My appreciation of touchphones is often met with severely disapproving remarks, accompanied by rolling eyes and disgruntled noises.

One reason for this animosity is the fear of doing something wrong that may even lead to permanent damage. Those in happy unisons with their touchphones will agree that this fear is com-pletely unfounded. Apps that disappear can be downloaded

again. They can also be moved back to their pre-ferred locations. Nothing particular-ly drastic can hap-pen. Drastic or not, claim the touch-averse, one still doesn’t know what an erratic

touch can do. A keypad is familiar zone; one knows what to expect and how to get there. The keypad offers a definite sense of security. At this point I find myself empathising with the dissat-isfied users. Capacitive touchscreens can be so startlingly respon-sive that it seems they react to accidental touches even faster than intended ones. I have started app after app when all I want-ed was to get to my mail. I have ended important calls midway. I have dialled numbers that I had no intentions of reaching. All involuntarily of course.

A useful tip for those planning to make a gift of touchphones to the yet-inexperienced: carefully explain the home screen as how to return to it from elsewhere. Also, explain how to exit applications.

Some ways of making haptic feedback more usable as a part of the overall user interface, are currently being researched. The idea is to develop haptics where one can actually feel keys and buttons on the screen. This new dimension of haptics will prove to be a boon for the visually-challenged.

Good to Touch?

MapMyIndia CarPad: Infotainment with NavigationMaP MyIndia has recently launched an in-car infotainment and navigation device: the CarPad. The device can be used as a tablet for its apps, with the Android Market and other app stores. The device features Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth, FM radio and GPS. It comes with an 8GB microSD card and a complete car kit. On the navigation front, the CarPad comes with the latest version of MapMyIndia’s ‘Navigator Aura’ interface. Its 7-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 800x480 pixels makes it stand out. PRICE: ` 22,990

Mala Bhargava is Editorial Director at 9.9 Media and a technology writer. She is also the author of That’s IT, a regular column on personal computers in Business World.


PersPective

Model of excellence

We cannot apply the same standards of regulation and expect university professors to be innovative and creative

Universities in the 21st century are trying to encompass all disciplines from physics to philosophy, to management. But can they also maintain standards of excellence?

In the 1960s, renowned American sociologist, Talcott Parsons, wrote a book, The American University, in which he presented a model of the

American university as an intellectual system – with a core and a periphery. The core consisted of arts and sciences: physics, philosophy, chemistry, language and history; while the periphery comprised law, medicine, management and engineering. I don’t think Harvard corresponds to that image at all. Harvard Medical School can buy up and continue 20 faculties of arts and sciences.

The extent to which these specialised schools have expanded, makes it very dif-ficult for them to deal with each other within the context of a university. There-fore, if a university is to be viable in the 21st century, we must reconsider wheth-er it can continue to encompass all disci-plines from physics to philosophy, film studies, general studies or management, and still maintain an advanced level of teaching and research, or whether, it should limit its scope in order to main-tain a reasonably high standard.

There is no reason why each university must have the same core and periphery. I can think of universities that differ in the core they choose. You can have a uni-versity with law as the core and a range of disciplines like economics, politics, sociology and statistics. Take the exam-ple of IITs that have science and technol-ogy as the core. They also have depart-ments of humanities and social sciences.

Unfortunately, this experiment is not going in a planned manner. I went to the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences and met the Vice Chancellor, MP Singh. I always pose the same question to the lecturer in Sociol-ogy there, who I know since she was a student: “What is happening to your PhD thesis?” And she always gives me the same answer: “There is only one lec-turer in Sociology here. How do you expect me to maintain my obligations as the professor?” The university teaches sociology, economics, history and politi-cal sciences, but has only one lecturer. Such an institution is not viable.

In the 19th century, the universities were extremely conservative and suspi-cious of adopting new subjects. But today, at least in India, universities are hungry to open up new departments and centres. This is a manageable problem. As universities expand, there will be the problem of regulation.

A university should be a large self-reg-ulating system. But what is happening is that pro forma is being sent to teachers asking them how many seminars and lectures they have attended and papers and journals they have published. We cannot apply the same standards of regu-lation and expect university professors to be innovative and creative.

The really sticking point is: What should be the norms for the regulation of undergraduate colleges? So should we regulate undergraduate colleges in the same way in which we might consider the regulation of a small and manage-able centre of advanced studies and research, or should we regulate them in a manner in which schools are regulat-ed? If you say that colleges and universi-ties should be given autonomy; then it is also a fact that people responsible for funding these colleges impose all kinds of conditions.

These are some of the issues of the universities: their viability, size, scale, the range of disciplines they have to cover, the manner in which they can or should be regulated. I don’t have answers to all these questions but by thinking about these things, we might be able to find out a way of creat-ing institutions and not just individuals, who will maintain the high standards of excellence.

This is an extract from Prof Beteille’s keynote address at EDU’s VCs’ retreat

andre beteille Professor Emeritus, Sociology, Delhi University

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The First Annual EDU VCs’ Retreat

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