Vineet

Ashoka University founder Vineet Gupta says, “We need an expansion in both capacity and quality of our higher education” Brain drain has been a problem in India and not enough has been done to address this issue. “With NEP 2020 being implemented and several reforms underway, we hope this will help expand both capacity and quality of Indian higher education. This should help students have enough options at home, instead of going abroad for their higher education”, opined Vineet Gupta Ashoka University Founder. The former Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had held a meeting with various bodies to discuss the “Study in India and Stay in India” initiative. During this meeting, a lot of options were discussed on how to retain students in India and how to integrate those students who left their studies abroad midway and are now stuck with no options. As an outcome of the meeting, a new committee headed by the UGC Chairman was formed which was tasked with drafting rules and regulations on how to make sure more students are retained whilst also finding ways to integrate students who are midway through their programmes in a foreign nation. Why is it important to provide our students options? “Having helped thousands of students go abroad by training them for entrance exams, I realized that most of these youngsters move abroad because of lack of options in India. And this is true in most disciplines whether engineering or social sciences. Medical students are tired of competing for a minimal number of seats in medical colleges in India and a lot of them opt to pursue medicine abroad. In-fact, countries like Ukraine, China, Russia etc. are providing medical courses at far cheaper rates than Indian Institutes further incentivizing young Indians to make the move abroad”, explains Vineet Gupta Ashoka University Founder. As per a report, over 7,00,000 students moved abroad for their studies in 2019. Not only is that a worrying sign but also, that is a significant amount of foreign exchange drain on India. It is estimated that Indians spend close to USD 25-30 Billion on foreign education every year. The same money spent in India could not only re-vitalize our higher education sector but also give a boost to the economy. Options India needs to explore to ensure that “Stay in India, Study in India” is a success Through the NEP reforms, India can look at multiple avenues to revolutionize its education system and many changes are already underway as we speak. Some options that need to be explored and implemented: 1. Incentivising private institutions to create more capacity – For far too long, the narrative of public institutions being the primary option for millions of youngsters has existed in India and it has hampered many private institutes from attracting talented students into their programs. Private higher education should not be looked at as an “industry”. All higher education institutions are not for profit and to get quality higher education, government should incentivize by providing land at affordable costs and also provide capital at reduced rates of interest. 2. Multidisciplinary approach and credit transfers will give flexibility – “I have spoken many times about what we have done at Ashoka in terms of multi-disciplinary education and credit transfers. With the NEP also emphasizing on it, all Indian institutions should adopt this. This will help many youngsters who want to pursue multiple options during their higher studies and often look abroad. With credit transfers, many students who come back mid-way can study in Indian universities. It is also encouraging to note, that the Government has shown keen interest in setting up multidisciplinary universities across the nation and implementation of this will help many students get better options in India”, opines Vineet Gupta Ashoka University Founder. 3. Making education more cost effective and providing more scholarships – Rising costs has become a major factor in access to higher education. Private institutions can lower their costs, if the government can subsidize fee by providing more scholarships. Conclusion “Education in India currently is undergoing a massive transition and our aspiration should be to establish one of the top education systems in the world. With our outstanding human talent, we have a unique opportunity to not only have all our students study at home but also we could educate large numbers of students from all parts of the world at a fraction of the cost of western universities. This will not only ensure inflow of more foreign exchange into our economy but also, improve competition and collaboration in our education ecosystem.”, concludes Vineet Gupta, Ashoka University Founder. Source: FreePressJournal

World class varsities must for knowledge economy: Vineet Gupta, founder Ashoka University The demand for quality education continues to increase in India as the growing economy requires talented individuals to cater to the demands of the knowledge economy. “There has been a need to reform higher education in India for a long time. The lack of reforms has not only led to a large percentage of our graduates being unemployable but also led to a huge outflow of youngsters seeking higher education abroad. The New Education Policy, 2020 seeks to bring in much needed reforms and the stage is set for institutions to be set up in India which can cater to the huge demand for higher education in our country”, says Vineet Gupta, Ashoka University founder. However, modern day educational institutions will need to adapt themselves to the changing times in order to best serve the interests of their students and stay relevant in a world where students have ever increasing options. Building a university for present day India Institution building is a noble task and educators are taking the responsibility of educating young minds of the country. However, universities are much more than just centres of learning. The modern university not only helps students complete their higher education, but also helps in their holistic development and provides them exposure to sport, music, art and a host of other extra and co-curricular activities.  Universities of today should look to incorporate the following institution building model to drive excellence and relevance: Collective philanthropy: “At Ashoka University, we have over 150 eminent founders who have contributed to build the institution. In addition, they have contributed with their time and expertise to the brand of the university. There is and can be only one mission that binds all these people together – to build an excellent institution. Hence excellence is built into the DNA of the institution. Excellence in turn draws in more like-minded founders. It is a virtuous cycle and the founder base of Ashoka will continue to grow”, says Gupta. Selecting the right faculty and leadership: Faculty are at the heart of institution building. Selecting and recruiting the right faculty helps in building a great institution. Good students in turn are attracted by high quality faculty. The second key stakeholder category is the selection of leaders who run the university. University leaders need to be not only just great scholars but also open-minded, empathetic and have a deep commitment to institution building. Experiential learning and real-world exposure: Curriculum that is supplemented by project work, has open-ended problems and research assignments helps build problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Students in professional courses need to go on industry visits, have special lectures with industry evangelists and prepare case studies on real world problems. Engineering education should encourage learning by building and making than learning just theoretical concepts. Apprenticeship and Internships: “Apprenticeship and Internships should be a part of every university program in today’s age. Often students are confused on what professional organisation they would like to join. Multiple internships help students not only in discovering their strengths but also figuring out which job functions they like or don’t like. It also brings in the whole element of learning by doing.” adds Gupta. Investing in modern infrastructure: Universities of today need to be well equipped to give students the platform to get the best out of their education experience. Investment in digitisation, research labs, makers labs and adoption of the latest learning technologies etc. go a long way in curating a modern university experience. “The idea of a campus as a living lab is being tried by many new institutions,” adds Gupta.  “The reason why Ashoka University has become a brand is because of its focus on governance, faculty and curriculum. Today, Ashoka University has gone from strength to strength and established itself as one of the top private universities in India. As per the most recent QS University rankings in 2021, Ashoka University was ranked among India’s top 5 private universities, among the top 250 universities in Asia and amongst the top 30 universities in India. In terms of international faculty, Ashoka University ranked no.1 among all 118 universities,” says Gupta. For India to fulfil its mission of building a $5 trillion economy, we will need many high-quality educational institutions that not only provide trained people, but also focus on research and innovation. We need to break free of age-old practices that hamper our higher education ecosystem and strive towards building a new one which builds on our strengths. Universities which can find the right balance between modernisation, and our core values will emerge frontrunners in the post NEP era of Indian higher education.  Source: The New Indian Express

Vineet Gupta Ashoka University’s Founder feels “One nation One test a good idea if implemented correctly” The UGC plans to merge JEE and NEET with the CUET (UG) exam from the next academic year and is all set to form a committee by the end of the month to examine ways and processes to implement this transition. “The introduction of a common test is very much an implication of the New Education Policy, 2020 as one test aims to make life easier for students who have to write multiple tests currently and studying the same subjects in the process. Organizing just one-test  helps students save themselves from the hassle of preparing for multiple exams and concentrate fully on the one test. Many developed countries worldwide have done this”, adds Vineet Gupta, Ashoka University Founder.  Implementation of the idea and why it is key Millions of students have been used to writing JEE or NEET exam for entrance to engineering or medical schools and  for better or worse these exams have been an integral part of our education system. Infact the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) which started this year was introduced for the first time in 2010 as CUCET (Central Universities Common Entrance Test). The UGC has maintained that the syllabus for CUET would be fully based on the NCERT and as long as students have prepared for their boards well they should face no issue attempting an expanded CUET in the future.  Hence the idea of merging the JEE, NEET and CUET sounds great on paper, but given how the NTA has struggled to conduct the phase II CUET UG exams this year due to technical snags at various centers, there is a shadow of doubt amongst students on the NTA’s ability to take on the pressure of merging all three exams together and being able to conduct it smoothly. Around 70% of the students fear that the idea of merger is bad, as per a Times Now survey. The NTA (National Testing Agency) is aware of what happened earlier in August at various test centers around the country and was quick to take remedial action on their part and fix the issues. The NTA going forward plans to start their own centers which can be used for examination purposes and convert the same into training centers when not being used for examination purpose. The UGC is hedging its bets and not overly committing to the idea. “It is good to see that the UGC is placing a committee in place to evaluate the feasibility of this merger and taking input from various industry stakeholders before arriving at a decision. This will ensure nothing comes as a rude shock for students and other stakeholders that make up the ecosystem and everyone will have enough time in their hands to prepare for the exam. I also welcome the UGC’s suggestion to conduct the CUET-UG multiple times a year so that students get another attempt at the test instead of waiting a full year to reappear for the same”, said Vineet Gupta Ashoka University Founder. Implementation of this merger is key to how it will be perceived by the students and teachers, and it is key that both the UGC and NTA work together to diffuse any concerns and ensure the best possible outcome can be reached keeping in mind the welfare of students. With the proposed merger of the entrance tests, next on the agenda would be to combine accreditation and ranking bodies into one which would set in motion the changes proposed by the New Education Policy 2020. Source: Career India