HED - Architecture Special

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ARCHITECTURE COLLEGES IN INDIA

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ASADI ASA DI Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit, Chairman & Director, ASADI

AN ARCHITECT’S DRAFTING BOARD FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

DECEMBER 2019

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Higher Education Digest December 2019

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Higher Education Digest December 2019

Connecta

December 2019

Vol - 1 Issue - 13

Architecture Colleges Special (India Edition) Editor in Chief

Dr. Manoj Varghese

Managing Editor Rose Mary

Consultant Editors

Dr. Johny Andrews Anjana K Shyam S

Jessica Jo Stanly Lui Emma James

Editorial Enquiry: editor@highereducationdigest.com

Art and Design Ajay K Das

Sales & Marketing

Jyoti Kumari Prathyoosh K Shaji

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Arati Waghmare Rupali Mohankar

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Higher Education Digest December March 2019 2019

MANAGING EDITOR’S NOTE

ArchitectsDefying Gravity The Stylish Way

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rom the Colosseum and the Taj Mahal to the Guggenheim museum, the Millau Viaduct, and the Burj Khalifa, architecture has always left us spellbound, and that precisely is the problem. We have started to limit architecture to beautifully designed spaces and facades and tend to overlook the larger social and lifestyle development connotations. Great architects were never just great designers, rather they were social evangelists.

With rising populations, climate change, and rapidly diminishing resources, India needs architects who are visionaries. For this to come to fruition, we need educational institutes who can redefine architecture education to accommodate the requirements of today and tomorrow.

In this issue of Higher Education Digest, we have listed out 10 such colleges that have set their eyes on revolutionizing architecture. In the following pages, you

5 will not only meet them but also several wizened experts sharing their ideas and thoughts on various facets of higher education. From identifying, diagnosing, and discussing mental health issues in classrooms to the importance of teaching students how to think and not what to think, our authors have provided truly insightful articles for your disposal.

We hope that this issue will help you understand the changing architecture domain, why it is impertinent to re-think the current mode of arch-ed, and how these 10 colleges have found a way to seamlessly incorporate progressive thinking into textbook material, thereby shaping architectural geniuses.

Happy Reading!

Rose Mary

Higher Education Digest December 2019

ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Kuldeep Nagi, Ph.D, MBA, BSc. Program Director of Ph.D, Recipient of Fulbright Fellowship Award & Dan Evans Award for Excellence and Writer columnist.

Dr. Ajay Shukla, Ph.D, MBA, BE. Dr. Varughese K.John, PhD, MBA, MPhil, MCom, LLB.

Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Higher Education UAE

Program Director, MS in Management Program, GSATM - AU

6 Mr. Sreedhar Bevara, MBA, B.Com Senior General Manager: Panasonic Middle East & Africa, Thought Leader, Speaker & Author of ‘Moment of Signal’ (Amazon’s International Bestseller)

Mr. Amulya Sah, PGD PM & IR, PG Diploma in PM&IR (XISS Ranchi) Senior Director HR. Head HR group Samsung R&D Institute India,Transformative HR Leader, Change agent, Digitization facilitator, Engagement architect, Trainer and Diversity champion.

Major General (Rtd.) Dr. Sunil Chandra, VSM (Vishishta Seva Medal), Ph.D, M. Phil, MA, M.Ed, PGBDA Ex-M D Army Welfare Education Society, ExCOO GEMS Education - India, Ex- Addl Dir Gen - Army Education, Mentor - Adventure-Pulse

Asst. Prof. Dr. Suramya Mathai, Ph.D,M.Ed,MA,BA. Teachers Training Expert, Writer, Author, Speaker & Social Worker

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Higher Education Digest December 2019

COVER STORY

MENTOR’S MANTRA

14 - 16 Education in the 21st Century Niels Strohkirch, Co-Founder, Acton Academy Desa Parkcity

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Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit, Chairman & Director, ASADI

ASADI AN ARCHITECT’S DRAFTING BOARD FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

Higher Education Digest December 2019

46 - 48 Teaching Children How To Think, Not What To Think Paul Drewitt, Author and Senior Teacher

ACADEMIC VIEW

18 - 21 INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING, NIRMA UNIVERSITY

A Seat of Excellent Architectural Learning

24 - 27 MBS SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE

An Architecture College with a Difference

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40 - 44

Are Mental Health Disorders a Concern in Higher Education?

PILOO MODY COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, CUTTACK

Reforming Architectural Education via Innovative Pedagogy

Dr. Joshua Symes, Middle School Physical and Health Educator, Singapore American School

50 - 55 SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, JAIPUR

Where Innovation Meets Realization

56 - 59 VES COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

Creating an Army of Architects with ‘Sustainable Living’ Ideas

56 24 60 - 62 Introducing Learner Training Karl Millsom, Academic Director, Jakarta Language Academy

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Revisualizing vāstu śāstra in Indian Classrooms

rom the very beginning, India has been at the forefront of great architecture. The Ajanta & Ellora caves and the Taj Mahal, are but simple reminders of our prowess in the field of architecture and design.

Today, when it comes down to business, do architects, especially budding architects, find it affordable to pursue quality education, build a blooming career and land the job of their dreams?

Not really.

The number of Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch) courses in India has grown rapidly in recent years. According to the regulatory body “Council of Architecture” (CoA), there are now “about 558 institutions” offering degree courses. Each of these classes is crammed with students, sometimes up to 80 in a class, resulting in the number of students graduating each year to triple. This expansion in courses has further led to overstretched and under-qualified teachers.

Another concern is that architecture as a serious career option is for only a very small percentage of students in architecture courses. The rest choose this as a fallback option, thanks to the undue pressure of achieving a “professional degree”. It is no wonder that

these graduates then cut corners by paying others to make models, produce renderings and write their thesis.

This situation takes a turn for the worse during internships. Completing an internship of at least 24 weeks is mandatory for a B. Arch degree in India, therefore, several studios exploit this situation by asking students to pay for internships.

So, what needs to be done?

Identifying students who are genuinely interested in the course and ascertaining their creative abilities within the classrooms is a requisite. To do so, teachers must have time to spare individual attention to students, thus coming to the second point of limiting class size and procuring qualified teachers. Add to this better industry collaboration for internships, the Indian architectural education domain will have some relief.

We at the Higher Education Digest have gone ahead and compiled a list of “10 Must-Watch Architecture Colleges in India”. While we do not claim that this list is comprehensive, we would like to point out that these names have by far shown the best progress in the field.

We hope that the names listed in this issue will stand as a beacon for the rest to follow through.

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Institute Name

City

Amity School of Architecture and Planning

Noida

Uttar Pradesh

Asian School of Architecture and Design Innovations

Kochi

Kerala

Chandigarh

Chandigarh

Pune

Maharashtra

Ahmedabad

Gujarat

MBS School of Planning and Architecture

Dwarka

New Delhi

Piloo Mody college of Architecture

Cuttack

Odisha

Bengaluru

Karnataka

Jaipur

Rajasthan

Mumbai

Maharashtra

Chandigarh College of Architecture Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture For Women Institute of Architecture & Planning- Nirma University

RV College of Architecture

School of Architecture & Design, Jaipur

VES College of Architecture

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State

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MENTOR’S MANTRA

Education in the 21st Century Niels Strohkirch, Co-Founder, Acton Academy Desa Parkcity Born and raised near Hannover, Germany, Niels worked for 4 years as the CFO of the Valiram Group, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (the largest independent luxury retailer in South-East Asia). After ending his corporate career in 2012, Niels became a serial entrepreneur and is actively coaching and supporting young entrepreneurs and corporate managers to reach their fullest potential in life and business. Niels developed a strong passion to change the future of the children in elevating the education system to equip our children for an ever faster changing world. To support his conviction, Niels co-founded Acton Academy Desa Parkcity. Niels also has deep interest in Industry 4.0 related industries as AI, IoT and Blockchain technologies, as well as in Automotive, Health Care and Digital Retail. With a Master’s Degree equivalent in Business Administration from the University of Cologne, Germany, followed by an Entrepreneurship Development Program from Sloan School of Management (MIT), he also has executive education in courses at the DaimlerChrysler Corporate Academy. During his early age, Niels also served in the German Military Service, where he retired as a Second Lieutenant.

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The only way to prepare our children and any adult to face the current speed of change is through cultivating an open mindset to constant change

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he amount of technical information is doubling every 2 years. For students starting a 4-year technical or college degree, this means half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their 3rd year of study. Assuming they start at the latest level of technological development, which is highly unlikely knowing that to change a curriculum it takes at least 2 years. Hence, reality is even worse.

Educational institutions offer accreditation via a grading system. Nothing more. And for this honor they either take money from taxpayers or charge a tuition fee, or both. Worse, in many cases of higher education this ensures that students start their career with a massive debt.

What can today’s schools offer in terms of learning which you cannot learn by yourself? The big picture answer is: Nothing!

Have schools changed much since Otto von Bismarck established a government driven school system in 1887 in Prussia/Germany, which was later adopted almost worldwide, to ensure children shall be educated in the right way? The State’s approach: authoritative driven teaching where children must sit still and do as they are told, learn as they are told and get examined as they are told. Depending on the State examiner’s grading system, the children would be offered either a tertiary education followed by a career or end up as laborers. The system was all about reward and punishment. Has anything really changed since then?

Stuffing as much information as possible into a young mind and forcing it out via exams is not appropriate anymore. It is the anti-thesis of the meaning of the word “education” in Greek, which means “to draw forth from within” or “educere” in Latin, meaning “to bring up, to nourish”.

While the 1st and the 2nd Industrial Revolution took us about 100 years each from the beginning to the next level, the 3rd revolution was cut short by roughly half the time. The 4th Technological Revolution, which started around 2011 is ongoing for only eight years now. Looking at the speed of the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and 5G, just to name a few, it seems fair to bet that the 4th Revolution will have an even shorter life cycle than the 3rd one.

One thing is certain though, technology has changed our lives dramatically in the last decade and it will be even more dramatic in the years to come. Many blue-collar and white-collar jobs will simply disappear while new jobs evolve. Just 10 years ago who would have imagined being a “YouTuber”, “Instagrammer” or “Social Media Consultant”.

So, what are the choices left for providing your children with the best education? The world has churned out various school systems which are equipped differently for mastering these challenges in the future. Of course, the traditional schools still exist in a variety of guises and

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Have schools changed much since Otto von Bismarck established a government driven school system in 1887 in Prussia/ Germany, which was later adopted almost worldwide, to ensure children shall be educated in the right way?

Higher Education Digest December 2019

then there are other options, such as, Acton Academy, Waldorf School and Montessori Schools as well as many hybrids.

There is another trend called “Unschooling”.

Parents drop the original concept of Home Schooling altogether and take the responsibility of educating their children in their own hands. It may appear as the most extreme form of “resisting” traditional school systems and many perceive it as almost anarchic or even antigovernment.

Acton Academy places the collective responsibility of teaching and learning in the hands of the children themselves. It is a school of life without teachers but with adult supervision, called Guides. The children form their own community and build their whole lives around it. A golden rule at Acton is that the Guides never answer any questions from the children, instead they guide them to find the answer themselves. It is all based on the concept that children are natural learners and naturally curious. They only need guidance to use these gifts to their fullest potential.

You have free online services such as Khan Academy, which offer the entire American syllabus for free. If you think that this is not as good as going to school just look at how many online courses are offered by these institutions. It must be working, otherwise they would not be bothered.

The only way to prepare our children and any adult to face the current speed of change is through cultivating an open mindset to constant change. Change needs to become as natural as brushing your teeth every morning. This means you must be able to literally change yourself daily and create a habit of doing so to survive in the future world. The qualities you need to do so are, critical thinking, excellence, resilience and unconditional kindness, among others.

How will the future of learning look like? While the children still meet in a “classroom” setting, they will spend more time learning independently with a learning tool, as in Acton Academy. The difference is that while at present they follow the Khan Academy system, in the future AI will detect how each student learns best and prompt the best apps or tools to provide the student with another way of understanding and learning, if they get stuck. This is to ensure that everyone is taught according to their own learning style. It is like a private teacher who constantly experiments on how to reach the student on their own terms to ensure the most efficient use of time spent studying.

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INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING, NIRMA UNIVERSITY

A Seat of Excellent Architectural Learning

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he disciplines of Architecture and Planning go beyond the functional aspects of designing buildings and towns to create vibrant human environments that enhance the quality of life of the people and the overall character and image of a place. It is a field that encompasses various aspects like urban design, energy conservation, sustainability, ecology, landscape, heritage conservation, affordable housing, infrastructure and public transport, and design of public spaces, etc. at both micro and macro scales. Nirma University, Ahmedabad understood the delicate art of creating sustainable living spaces’ and wanted to educate architects who could not only understand but also bring this knowledge to fruition.

Thus, in 2014, the Institute of Architecture and Planning, Nirma University was born.

Functioning under the aegis of the Nirma Education and Research Foundation, Nirma University is a statutory university established under a state act, Government of Gujarat. With Karsanbhai K. Patel as the founder chairman of the Nirma Group and the president of Nirma University, Institute of Architecture and Planning, Nirma University (IAPNU) was instituted to enhance and further the quality of architectural education, which in turn would contribute to building India as a foremost country.

A Pedagogy and Mentoring System Sans Pareil The teaching-learning methodology followed at IAPNU is a unique mix of field-based experience, development of sensorial perception, and learning by doing. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach to curriculum design, the curriculum followed is an integration of creative, technical, skill-based, and humanities fields. For instance, a sun emulator heliodon has been set up as an interactive teaching-learning tool for testing and comparing alternative climate responsive architectural design.

All subjects lead to the design studio, where knowledge of theoretical subjects is applied to create the design of various types of buildings, areas, and cities relevant in the Indian context. The faculty ensures that design exercises include a range of scale and variety, so as to expose students to diverse ideas. IAPNU follows a mentoring system whereby each faculty member is assigned to 20 students and an informal atmosphere is ensured around the campus so that students are not pulled back from voicing their opinions and questions to the mentors.

As part of the curiculum, Nirma University offers electives and allied subjects, especially like urban design, urban planning, landscape design to introduce students to fields for pursuing post-graduate studies, as part of the curriculum, IAPNU encourages diversity in learning.

It is also noteworthy that IAPNU promotes experiential learning by facilitating documentation and exploration study programs. Related

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Study Programme (RSP) is an important component of the program curriculum for B. Arch and B. Plan that is conducted within the country as well as abroad.

Additionally, industry and site visits as part of learning are also carried out.

Apart from an exclusive library facility, as well as access to online facilities of Ebsco host and Scopus, IAPNU also houses excellent infrastructure facilities like studios, well-equipped GIS and Fab laboratories, with a digital printer, laser cutter, and 3D cutter, and construction workshops.

Prof. Utpal Sharma, Dean and Director, IAPNU

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It is also commendable that withing a short span, IAPNU, to foster fruitful relationships across the globe, has signed MOU’s with foreign universities

Higher Education Digest December 2019

Shaping All-round Individuals Unlike its peers, IAPNU considers its students as active partners in managing the Institute in its activities viz. conferences, training programs, guest lectures, seminars, cultural programs. This culture inculcates the spirit of independence, leadership, and the ability to take decisions after critical evaluations in the students.

Moreover, events like “KALP”, the annual technical and cultural festival at IAPNU, is completely planned, organized and managed by the student council, they also get a chance to display their managerial qualities.

KALP is an amalgamation of applied learning through relevant co-curricular and extracurricular activities.

Installations erected at KALP generates a lot of enthusiasm and a lateral learning atmosphere, while also witnessing several formal public lectures by eminent architects and planner across the country and from outside India along with a range of workshops.

21 Unlike its peers, IAPNU considers its students as active partners in managing the Institute in its activities

It is also commendable that withing a short span, IAPNU has fostered fruitful relationships across the globe and has signed MOU’s with several foreign universities, thus opening doors for student exchange, faculty exchange, and collaborative research and design program. Some of the universities that IAPNU has shaken hands with are Escola Da Cidade, Brazil; ENSA Nantes, France; EAVT, Paris; and Curtin University, Australia.

Headed by the esteemed Prof. Dr. Utpal Sharma, who has been awarded Honorary Doctorate from Ecole Superieure Robert De Sorbon, France, IAPNU recently won the ‘Reubens’ Trophy, at the 62nd Zonal Annual NASA (National Association of Students of Architecture) held at Amity University, Mumbai from 20th-22nd September 2019. “We were awarded ‘Citation’ (Winner) in that category and was judged the best college for academic excellence. It is a matter of great pride that we bagged the first prize in our first attempt at NASA,” says Prof. Dr. Utpal Sharma, Dean and Director, IAPNU. Fully geared to help students succeed in their education, career, and engage in civic and cultural life, IAPNU has been actively responding to the educational needs of its local population and economy. Recognizing that learning is a lifelong journey, IAPNU provides opportunities for intellectual enrichment and physical well-being, while serving as an educational leader and contributing its resources to the intellectual, cultural, physical, and economic vitality of the region.

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MBS SCHOOL OF PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE

An Architecture College with a Difference

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fusion of Art, Science, and Engineering on a platform of social and cultural interactions, Architecture provides a space to play with and design it to emotions and ambitions. It is a multifaceted profession and, therefore, requires architects to have the ability to tap into their creative vessel and come out with brilliant creations as and when their client asks them to. Since creativity thrives when the person is at one with himself, architects must have a holistic development, if not from childhood, at least when they are learning the basics of architecture. And who better than MBS School of Planning and Architecture to assure this holistic development?

Established in 2009 by the ACME Educational Society to impart Architectural Education to meet the ever-changing needs and challenges of the future needs of architecture, MBS School of Planning and Architecture’s (MBSSPA) very motto lies in its name: Mind, Body, and Soul. Set in Dwaraka, MBSSPA as a center for education and research aims to create an institution of innovation and learning, with the mission of envisioning the future habitat of our society and developing sensitive, ethical and competent architects to build it.

Growing at an Incredible Pace Since its inception, MBSSPA has made eventful progress, with a batch of 40 students, affiliated to IGNOU in 2009, to advancing batches of 120 students being admitted each year and affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University thereafter since 2011. In all, the college has a strength of 600 students and over 50 faculty members with specialization from different regions and branches in Architecture.

MBSSPA currently offers B. Arch (5-Year Degree Program), which imparts skills and awareness in professional aspects of Architectural design and its varied fields. Much of the theoretical knowledge is gained in application and research mode being integrated into practical /studio and seminar activity-based courses.

MBSSP’s curriculum is designed as per the GGSIPU syllabus. The program is also designed to meet the guidelines of the Council of Architecture for B.Arch., which regulates architectural education.

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MBSSPA does not believe only in the theoretical training of students but also explores various innovative and practical methods to impart quality architectural education.

Within the classroom, MBSSPA graduates are encouraged to pursue their imagination. Each student is provided with a dedicated work and storage space and faculty members are always around to help students give shape and mold their ideas into the given dimensions of various subjects in the curriculum. The studio work is designed in such a way that it helps the students to explore various categories of projects, right from their inception level to their final stage.

MBSSPA’s studios are strategically equipped with drafting boards, mounted projectors, and display boards to put up students’ work. These studios also provide a stimulating learning environment for the students, where they can explore and experiment with their design concepts.

To help students in the execution of their innovation and ideas, MBSSPA facilitates them with various workshops and Skill Development Programmes. It is also noteworthy that apart from Computer Lab and Library, MBSSPA has well-equipped Climatology Lab, Survey Lab, Building Material lab, Model Workshop and Construction yard for students to experiment.

Teaching Beyond Classroom and Books Speaking of pedagogy, MBSSPA has made Guest lectures, Seminars, Workshops, Conferences and such interfaces apart of the almanac so that students, as well as the teaching fraternity, get an overview of the industry and the world outside concurrently with the academic education which is intrinsically introspective. MBSSPA also makes it a focus to make students well conversant with the latest

Higher Education Digest December 2019

technological advancements in the field of architecture as well as presentations through acquainting them with the latest software. To this extent, certain seminars that go beyond the realm of architecture are also included and so are a host of student-centric, extracurricular activities on sports and culture.

As with its peers, MBSSPA also organizes study tours, taking students to places of historical importance and modern advancement. The School understands that learning from Indian cities is vital as it provides a plethora of information on history, culture, economics, built mass, unbuilt spaces, technology and infrastructure facilities and people and their needs.

While taking care to maintain an outstanding pedagogy and campus facilities, MBSSPA also places equal importance on its faculty team. Organizing Faculty Development Programme on varied themes related to Architecture every year, MBSSPA warrants that the faculty team is provided with an opportunity to exchange knowledge and ideas with stalwarts from the industry.

The faculty team is spared no effort to keep themselves abreast of the latest developments in the field and exploring innovative techniques in pedagogy by writing research papers and presenting them by attending various seminars, workshops, and conferences at the national/international level.

Recruiters, Testament to Program Efficacy Weighing in the steps that the School has taken to ensure the holistic development of its students, it is no wonder that corporate kingpins like Hiren Patel and Associates, Ahmedabad; CCBA (Christopher Charles Benninger Architects Designs) Pvt. Ltd. Balewadi, Pune; StapatiBanglore, Calicut; and Design Forum International (DFI), New Delhi flock around MBSSPA to recruit the crème le crème.

Going forward, MBSSPA intends to expand its academic activities for next-gen architects by providing planned/desired spaces where they can learn and enhance their knowledge in an environment parallel with global standards. The School also plans on adding more courses that delve deep into architectural design and other related fields. With more built space available under the prevailing byelaws, it is only prudent to say that MBSSPA will be a beacon of progress and prosperity in the academic world of the future.

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ACADEMIC VIEW

Are Mental Health Disorders a Concern in Higher Education?

Dr. Joshua Symes, Middle School Physical and Health Educator, Singapore American School Passionate about education, leadership, team development, and all things health and wellness, Josh’s recent research was focused on building communities of wellness, with a particular interest in social, emotional, mental, and psychological well-being. This work has informed further research and development focused on holistic wellness, and in finding structures and approaches that schools and other community groups can adopt, implement and sustain.

Joshua grew up in Australia and currently resides in Singapore with his wife Kristin, and two children, Lucy and Oliver.

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ental health disorders in children, and adolescents have continued to increase over the past 20 years, and the mental illness has continued to garner more attention as a result.

However, the prevalence, causes, research, and understanding of mental health disorders in the higher education sector has received significantly less focus and attention.

A landmark study conducted by the American College Health Association (2012) involving 90,666 university-aged students across the US, found that 36.3% of students reported feeling of prolonged periods of sadness, 35.1% of respondents reported feelings of loneliness, 31.6% reported overwhelming anxiety, and 24.0% experienced feelings of hopelessness or depression that impaired regular functioning. The study created the initial catalyst for an increase in attention about the need for interventions, programs, and services to support the chronic shortage of available services, and to support an over-burdened higher education mental health care system. However, the ensuing action was limited, and there has been little improvement at the higher education level. Around 70-75% of US high school graduates attend College, but there are still significant drop-out rates, with drop-out rates increasing for those students who are black, Hispanic, American Indian, or from a lower socio-economic class. Despite the compelling evidence calling for change, and most mental disorder onset occurring before or during the university ages of 18-24, there has been limited research or success in meeting student needs.

Kruisselbrink Flatt conducted a qualitative study to identify the major factors leading to the increased number of reported mental health disorders at institutions of higher education.

Kruisselbrink Flatt found the most significant six factors to be the increase in academic pressure, which may stem from the potential of over-inflated grades in high school; financial burden and the ever-increasing tuition costs, particularly at higher education institutions in the US; the movement to greater accessibility for students from all backgrounds, which is placing higher strain on mental health support

services; the increase in the number of females pursuing higher education, because females are more likely to seek help; technology and the use of social media; and, the change in student lifestyle which often leads to an increase in drinking, and sexual behaviour. Furthermore, the transitional nature of college students who are establishing autonomy from parents; forming new relationships; adjusting to a new social environment; mastering new curriculum and instructional approaches; and, developing career plans, may be also be impacting.

At the university or college level students have reported elevated levels of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, stress, and interpersonal problems, which negatively affects academic performance. This could be further impacted by the non-compulsory education laws at higher education level, because students have the autonomy and responsibility to pursue their studies. Depression and anxiety disorders are a significant predictor of lower GPA, and higher drop-out rates. Anhedonia, or the reported decrease in pleasure or enjoyment in usual activities, is seen as being the strongest negative predictor of academic performance.

University and college campuses are recognizing the need to be more vigilant in identifying and meeting the needs of students suffering from mental health disorders. Schoolbased universal mental health promotion and prevention programs have a well-established evidence base in K-12 education, and these programs have demonstrated moderate success in higher education. Universities and colleges have also reported moderate success with skilloriented programs, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy, mindfulness, and meditation, that are implemented with supervised practice.

However, the aforementioned programs have only demonstrated moderate success, and the resources available for students to self-report and seek help, are still lacking. Students suffer from the stigma of accepting and admitting to a mental health disorder, and when they seek help it is often difficult to get the immediate assistance that they require.

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AN ARCHITECT’S DRAFTING BOARD

FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

By Rose Mary

Higher Education Digest December 2019

Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit, Chairman & Director, ASADI

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s of September 22, 2019, the world’s human population is estimated to be 7.735 billion.

The current average population increase is estimated at 82 million people per year. What with population migration from suburbs to urban areas and from the countryside to cities, for a variety of reasons, there arise several densely populated areas. Each of these people requires their own living space. Now the most important, albeit dreaded, question: how much space can the planet provide? Here is where architects do their magic of ideating, creating, and realizing housing structures in limited space, pleasing client dreams and purse strings.

An architectural genius, however, can do this and much more. They can improve people’s quality of life

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despite the migration density and create living spaces that are economical and environmental-friendly. It is this very ilk of reformist and propulsive architects that ASADI aims to nurture.

Not Limiting Ethos to Words Asian School of Architecture and Design Innovation (ASADI) is a proud alma mater for the very reason that each of its students contributes significantly to the social needs of the day. ASADI has been a long-standing advocate for architects turning into social scientists who honour the sustainability commitment and who will have the ability to change the way the world thinks and behaves by creating a better and more responsible and environment-friendly living spaces. They also

commit to doing their best to house the unfortunate billions. It is in this spirit that ASADI kicked off their “Home and Hope for the Billions”, a low-cost housing project intended to provide shelter for the billions of homeless people in the world, 3 years back.

With the support of Mr. Binoy Viswam, former Minister for Housing, Government of Kerala, who has been delivering encouraging words and actions to the ASADI graduates and the respective faculty members of the project, “Home and Hope for the Billions”, the project has been faring well. Proposed as a 10-year program, the project has 2nd-year and 3rd-year B.Arch students undertaking R & D work. The graduates split themselves into 6 teams, each team dealing with aspects like Technology, Materials, Social Acceptance, Budget, Services, and Sustainability. Last year, 75 students submitted their designs based on their independent analysis of their R & D

work and 3 senior architects, Ar. Sajan Pulimood, Ar. Jayanand Kilikar and Ar. Saira Mathew shortlisted 12 best designs from the submitted entries. The cherry on top was that one of these designs was selected by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Cochin for their Flood Relief Housing Project.

This philanthropic streak of ASADI was not merely added to the curriculum for colour. Rather, this trait can be visible in the trustees of ABR Foundation, Kochi, which runs ASADI. The trust has allotted 40 cents of land in Silver Sand Island for housing the needy for the next few years in plots of 3 cents each. The ASADI students will be directly involved in the construction work as part of their “handson” experience. It is for reasons such as these that ASADI, though a relatively young institute, has already caught the attention of academic leaders in the country and abroad.

Established in 2013 by Prof. Ar. B.R.

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Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit, Chairman & Director, ASADI

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Ar. B.R Ajit also spearheaded the Flood Relief Operation in the then Madras City of Tamil Nadu in 1975, during his student days as University Convener. He has specialized in the utilization of solar energy in architecture under the auspices of the Tata Energy and Research Institute, Pondicherry and in 1977, he graduated as an Architect from Madras School of Architecture and Planning.

Consultant Architect to various prestigious organizations like Kerala Housing Board, Dept. of Tourism-Govt. of Kerala, Indian Airlines, Karnataka Housing Board, Army Welfare Housing Organization, NMG Bank, KINFRA (Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation(India)), KSIDC (Kerala State Industrial Development Cooperation) , Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit etc, Prof. Ar. B. R. Ajit has currently taken up the following projects: BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) Head Quarters at Thiruvananthapuram and Qatar Airways Office Complex at Cochin besides many others.

Mr. Ajit has been conferred with the title of “ Honorary Professor of the Academic Union of Oxford� on the 17th of December 2019 at a glittering event held during the Summit of Leaders in the famed Town Hall of Oxford, UK.

Higher Education Digest December 2019

Ajit, ASADI, situated in a beautiful island called Silver Sand Island, right in the heart of Cochin, Kerala, is driven to provide quality architecture education to the deserving, as per government norms and fee structure. ASADI currently offers a five-year B.Arch program approved by the Council of Architecture, the statutory organization in the country for the education and practice of architecture.

Affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, ASADI is already discussing plans to introduce Post Graduate programs. Moreover, ASADI is blessed with an International Board of Governors consisting of professionals and leaders like Prof. Chris Johnson (Australia), Dr. Davina Jackson (Australia), Noted Cine Director, Dr. Adoor Gopalakrishnan ( India), Ambassador T.P Srinivasan (India), Prof. Sara Udina (Barcelona), Dr. Sunil Dubey (Australia) , Dr. Elisa Silva (Latin America) and Dr. George Polson (USA).

Practice What You Preach ASADI is a true beacon in the architectural education world because not only does it preach sustainability as a way of life, but it also thoroughly practices and incorporates it within the campus. The ASADI campus, dubbed as “Living Laboratory”, is a learning classroom, with the construction of every unit of the college done in such a manner that as many components used for servicing like pipelines, electric cable works, and air condition system

such as ducts are fixed in such a manner that the students can see and understand the construction techniques that are designed and implemented in the project.

ASADI also offers top-notch infrastructure facilities that aid in developing the talents of students in sculpting, painting, music, etc. “We believe that good architecture is all about rhythm. Therefore, we built a “Koothambalam” in the outskirts of the college premises. The Koothambalam is a typical example of Kerala Architecture style, that provides students with the best ambiance to hone their artistic talents,” says Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit, Chairman & Director, ASADI. Since Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit is also a Member of the Board of Studies of M.G University, ASADI is at an advantage to receive educational inputs regarding architecture syllabus in keeping with industry standards.

The ASADI faculty is a strong team of luminaries hailing from varied fields of architectural expertise ranging from Urban Design and Planning, Landscaping, and Sustainable Environmental Design to Interior Design, with extensive professional experience ranging from 10 to 30+ years. However, to continue honing the skills of the faculty, ASADI has established a consultancy division by name ACD (ASADI Consultancy Division). “The faculty are engaged on a percentage time basis between academics and ACD so you may find some working on a 50-50 basis between academics and the consultancy or a 20-80 basis or 80-20 basis. This keeps faculty in touch with existing

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trends in the industry and as such, they can impart current knowledge to the students,” says Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit.

As a faculty mentor at ASADI, one must showcase a set of values such as being friendly and approachable to students. No matter their qualifications and professional weight, once within the walls of ASADI, their first and foremost concern is to be a mentor. Therefore, they are expected to never criticize the concept and design of students, rather give suggestions for improvement in functionalism. In case the mentor finds any functional mistakes, they should first ask the reason, giving the student a chance to explain themselves. Because today’s mistakes are tomorrow’s inventions. Moreover, ASADI insists on impartial evaluations and guidance. The mentors are asked to never restrict the students’ thoughts into a box, and they should also keep in mind to not impose. ASADI ensures that no student should ever say “This teacher is my example for design”, that students’ intellect should not be branded with a particular architectural attitude.

Effective Teaching-Learning Methodology The course structure followed at ASADI provides flexibility in timing and in choosing which subjects to learn in each semester, within the allowed norms of the Council of Architecture and Mahatma Gandhi University. Moreover, selected students from the fifth semester onwards can work after school hours at ACD, thus adding on to their hands-on experience. When it comes to implementing an effective teaching-learning experience, ASADI has

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a unique mix of amalgamating old school methods with new-age technology. ASADI follows the Gurukula System, where each student has a single ‘Mentor/Guru’ all through their education at ASADI. The student receives constant guidance throughout the five years of education. Each student is also enlisted with a practicing architect who is their ‘Professional Mentor”. Similarly, to acquire in-depth knowledge the students are extensively involved in handson projects in the construction of various buildings within the campus and in the various construction projects of their professional mentor at ACD. Offering business avenues to its students, ASADI shares a fruitful agreement with Malayala Manorama, a well-known press and media company from Kerala.

Every year, Malayala Manorama conducts a building material and design exhibition, “Veedu”, wherein final year ASADI graduates can develop a format for “Veedu” visitors who wanted help in designing their homes, which are less than 1000 sq. ft. “We received more than 150 applications out of which the 40 selected applications are directly dealt with by final year students. Here, they get the opportunity to interact with clients directly and provide them with the designs as per their requirements.

The final designs are vetted by the senior faculty members and members of ACD. This program is the only one of its kind in the country by any college that opens a gateway of entrepreneurship for every student,” adds the proud Director.

Such thoughtful and path-breaking ideas have helped

Harvesting of paddy crop at ASADI

ASADI to not only garner a name for itself in the educational community but also win prestigious awards and accolades like the “Platinum Rating”by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) with the highest ever point of 86 for its Green Studio block. ASADI is the first of its peers to have been rated as Platinum by IGBC. Moving forward, ASADI sees itself adorning a prominent position among all the Architecture Design Institutions around the world as not only just a Centre of Excellence but also a national centre for continuous dialogue and intellectual interactions between students, faculty, and opinion leaders around the world, and most importantly, an institution that will contribute towards the well-being of the society. “We are looking ahead with rose-tinted shades at an era where every student would contribute immensely towards the development of the country on account of the training and focused education they have received, to serve the country without any selfish motives. We shape our students to think and act beyond the basic objective of creating wealth, rather consider wealth as just a by-product in their journey to creating a perfect world,” concludes Prof. Ar. B.R Ajit.

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Higher Education Digest December 2019

PILOO MODY COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, CUTTACK

Reforming Architectural Education via Innovative Pedagogy 40

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eaching architecture entails a teacher to teach students to put their creative ideas through the grind in order to come out with the perfect creation. Therefore, a teacher of architecture, within a classroom, cannot merely limit themselves to teach the basics but must also act as a mentor. However, in the present Indian education environment, where more than 30 students are crammed into a classroom, the teacher is left to grapple with time and juggle student priorities to advantageously meet the creative and educational requirements of all the 30. In this scenario, there are only a few educational institutions that keep their focus on quality education at all times. One among these is Piloo Mody College of Architecture, Cuttack.

Adhering to a 1:10 Students to Teachers ratio in the classrooms, Piloo Mody College of Architecture ensures that the teachers are always available to help students.

Moreover, personal interaction and mentoring are provided to the students by faculty proctors beyond classroom hours.

Besides, PMCA offers electives, taught by specifically trained faculty, that cater to the students’ varied interests.

The students are also driven by the faculty to participate in various national and international competitions. “The academic needs of the students are addressed in the classrooms experientially and collaboratively with intense discussions, seminars, group discussions, innovative assignments, as well as traditional classroom delivery of instructions,” says Er. Payal Mohapatro, Director, Piloo Mody College of Architecture.

Maintaining Masterful Mentors Mentors at PMCA are expected to showcase, besides empathy, self-discipline, patience, and adaptability to the situation, academic initiative, innovative approach, an affinity for current affairs and recent developments in the industry, research orientation, presentation skills, and an ability to act as an interface between the students and the industry. They are encouraged to constantly upgrade their skill sets to keep up with industry trends by attending seminars, workshops, and courses.

“Our faculty must complete SWAYAM courses by MHRD related to their areas of interest/research. They are also encouraged to take up higher studies and pursue certification programs of IGBC, GRIHA, etc. They are

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expected to take part in the Faculty Development Programmes organized by COA and the social development programs (involving habitat design such as Park development with disability access etc).

The mentors will also be subject to a strong student feedback system where even the opinions of the weakest of students are considered by the faculty,� says Prof. Dharitri Das, Principal, Piloo Mody College of Architecture, Cuttack.

Established by Late Ar. K. B. Mohapatra, with a vision to build an Institution of International standards at Cuttack, the 1000-yearold Millennial city, Piloo Mody College of Architecture, Cuttack, has been going full steam ahead for the past 25 years and has been recognized as a premier Institution of Architecture in the country.

Offering B. Arch (5 years) and Exec. M. Arch (3 years) programs, PMCA ensures that the curriculum is regularly revised and is curated by the best academicians in the Industry. The curriculum caters to the strict standard of BPUT, of which PMCA is an affiliated institution. PMCA also offers several new and innovative electives that cater to the latest and fast-developing emerging areas in the built environment.

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Setting its eyes forward, PMCA sails ahead to continue providing quality education and shaping architectural professionals who can make a change in the society

Higher Education Digest December 2019

The academic needs of the students are addressed in the classrooms experientially and collaboratively with intense discussions, seminars, group discussions, innovative assignments, as well as traditional classroom delivery of instructions

PMCA deftly weaves in regular hands-on workshops by industry stalwarts from Laticrete, Pidilite, AAC, etc and seminars by eminent professionals and academicians as a part of the teaching process. These initiatives lay a strong foundation for influential network and interaction opportunities between the industry and students and bring industry experience and the knowledge of the latest by-laws, trends, and innovations to the campus. Similarly, site visits and study tours are conducted every year to historically significant places. These visits are an essential part of the curriculum and are appropriately mixed with other modes of teaching.

PMCA also encourages students to attend webinars and MOOCs as part of the teaching-learning process and inspires students to utilize self-learning resources, including online courses available on the internet and home assignments. Along the same lines, PMCA also organizes vertical studios at the beginning of each session that hones the creativity and innovative capacity of students through challenging assignments/ live projects. This studio also encourages teamwork and peer learning across semesters. Moreover, teaching students to actively take part in sustainable living, PMCA advocates its students to organize community engagement activities for environmental awareness like Save Water, Save Earth initiatives.

Nurturing Successful Industry Collaborations Thanks to PMCA’s fruitful collaborations with the industry, the students find it quite easy to land the mandatory 6-months apprenticeship with various top architectural consultancies in the country in the penultimate semester. PMCA graduates also get an opportunity to engage themselves with the Summer Studio project and Learning Exchange programs

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with international universities and attend workshops at Auroville, Pondicherry on Sustainable Architecture. It is also a matter of pride that PMCA is a Partner Institute of IGBC (India Green Building Council).

Additionally, PMCA also provides an avenue for students to engage in disaster mitigation related research activities with SEEDS, New Delhi. Furthermore, a group of students was engaged by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority for providing light and quick solutions for different city beautification projects at Bhubaneswar before the Hockey World Cup 2018. Our PG students have collaborated in Slum Upgradation schemes in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar along with different NGO partners.

“With PMCA students securing the University Gold Medal for Best Graduate for the past 4 years and its faculty winning the University Best Researcher Award, it is no wonder that PMCA has been made a Nodal Centre

Higher Education Digest December 2019

for Research under BPUT this year”, says Dr Santosh Misra, Professor, PMCA and Dean, Architecture, BPUT. “Clubbing these victories to the ones such as being mentioned in the World Architecture Festival, where the work of 3 students has been shortlisted for their project titled Adiganga: From a Sewer to a Storyteller, PMCA is achieving milestones after milestones,” he adds.

Setting its eyes forward, PMCA sails ahead to continue providing quality education and shaping architectural professionals who can make a change in the society. PMCA also plans to continue its research activities to develop skills on Sustainable Development Goals on (SDGs) of the UN and enable our students in such design skills. Piloo Mody College of Architecture also envisions collaborating with Global Leaders in Architecture Education to provide its students with a truly global perspective.

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Higher Education Digest December 2019

MENTOR’S MANTRA

Teaching Children How To Think, Not What To Think Paul Drewitt, Author and Senior Teacher

An Australian based writer of poetry, short stories and crime fiction novels, Paul Drewitt’s work is known as being creative and forthright, always telling a worthwhile story that engages the senses and tweaks the mind. He is a proud Senior Teacher who mentors others to achieve their lifelong goals; an occupation like no other in the world. Paul lives in the Northern Territory of Australia with his partner and three children, a mediumsized dog and a black cat

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ducation has come a long way in the past 50 years. From chalk and talk to quality teaching and learning practices that are now verging on teaching children how to think, with the ultimate objective of producing lifelong learners who are equipped with the skills and motivation to teach themselves as adults. Teaching children ‘how to think’ is our greatest challenge into the next decade; creating self-awareness through quality programs such as Visible Learning that assists children to reflect on their leaning and the ‘thinking’ processes involved. The success criteria for being an independent thinker can be described as an individual who can simply think for themselves, show initiative, take risks, be innovative and demonstrate a range of virtues and EQ skills through increased self-awareness.

It is perhaps the key to our successful evolution into the next millennium.

Creating a love of reading from early childhood is a good step in attaining the ability to ‘think’ from an early age. Studying children’s fiction such as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Charlotte’s Web inspires us to dream and demonstrates how children learn the process of ‘thinking’ though dreaming, risk taking and adventure.

Let’s explore these two novels to examine exactly how the love of fiction in early childhood facilitates the ability to think and dream.

Charlotte’s Web Early in the novel, Fern saves Wilbur the Piglet from Mr. Arable the farmer. At this point Fern shows empathy for Wilbur. As educators we are now at the crossroads of what vs how, which directly equates to what you need to know now and how you need to think about this concept to engrain this behaviour as a lifelong learner.

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Focusing

Connecting

Organizing

Thinking Analyzing

Generating

Compiling

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Whilst engaged in thinking behaviours we begin to feel the magic and adventure of risk taking, then hopefully adopt this mindset into our own lives

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How is Fern feeling at the time she shows empathy? Through the eyes of Fern, how has Wilbur benefited and vice versa? What good has come from this situation? What is Wilbur’s reaction to being saved by Fern? It’s at this point that thinking occurs and we feel the benefits of empathy in the story, rather than simply understanding the concept.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. A timeless children’s classic where Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy unexpectedly enter a magical winter wonderland through a cupboard at the home of professor Kirke in the English countryside. This story helps us to dream of the unexpected, to realise that anything is possible and above all, to believe. Whilst playing hide and seek, Lucy finds a mysterious cupboard and begins to explore. The thinking question at this point is how was Lucy feeling at the point where she walked through the cupboard and saw Narnia for the first time? At this stage we begin to actually think about what it would be like to enter a magical winter wonderland. Whilst engaged in thinking behaviours we begin to feel the magic and adventure of risk taking, then hopefully adopt this mindset into our own lives.

For those of us who remember the novel, even after 30 years have passed, it’s because you were

Higher Education Digest December 2019

actually thinking at the time. This may have equated to an increase of risk-taking behaviour; perhaps to live in a foreign country for a year or live in the city when you grew up in a small country town. C.S Lewis, being the master writer that he was, knew only too well that his audience needed to actually think to truly comprehend and feel the magic of adventure, and knew how to tweak a mind to think about the concepts he was explaining.

We tend to live our lives demonstrating a series of learnt behaviours and routines that make up who we are. Learning to think is no different to any other routine as it must be learnt, then become habitual.

To change habits and routines is perhaps the most difficult thing a human can do, so it’s important to teach students how to think from the onset when personality and the anatomy of the brain is developing.

Teaching students how to think is the single most important skill to prepare the next generation.

It is said that innovation and creativity are the skills most sought after in the workplace, but if students don’t actually know how to think this simply won’t happen. Forming a culture of thinkers will assist the next generation to become independent learners, non-conformists and create a generation of free thinkers.

(Originally published in LinkedIn)

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SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN, JAIPUR

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or an industry as diverse as architecture, providing relevant education is a gargantuan task. What would make it easier for the educational institution in this endeavour would be the strength of its industry network. In this respect, School of Architecture & Design, Jaipur has done a tremendous job!

Associated with the Manipal University Jaipur, School of Architecture & Design, Jaipur, enjoys national as well as international collaborations and MOU’s with institutes and organizations such as INTACH, IGBC, IIA, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), SHRESHTHA-India space, Air Con Engineers Pvt. Ltd, Integrative Design Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (IDSPL), and Ecole Bleue Global Design, Paris. The School’s industrial associations have facilitated practical learning and value addition to the students’ education.

Similarly, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Lab in collaboration with GBCI and USGBC provides the School’s students and faculty with opportunities to gain exposure to green rating systems and relevant certification procedures. Along the same lines, the School also promote exchange programs for students with foreign universities through their in-house program called IAESTE (International Association for Exchange of Students for Technical Education).

Manipal University, Jaipur, encapsulates the philosophy of creating innovators, empowered with the knowledge for the creation of a dynamic world, pulsating with intellectual acuity and striving for the utopia of a prosperous biosphere for all.

It is with this vision that School of Architecture & Design, Jaipur was born. The School strives to provide world-class architectural education by coupling state-of-art facilities with a dedicated and experienced faculty team and student-centric academic practices.

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Currently offering Bachelor of Architecture (5 years), Master of Landscape Architecture (2 years), and Ph.D. courses, The School ensures that the curriculum is updated every three years in consultation with different stakeholders such as students, parents, experts from academia and industry. “The course content of each course is defined by a set of key objectives that are mapped to ensure a linkage between course content covered as part of the present, previous, and upcoming semesters and thus address the changing needs of the architectural profession,” says Prof. (Dr.) Madhura Yadav, Director, School of Architecture & Design, Jaipur.

Prof. (Dr.) Madhura Yadav

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Prof. (Dr.) Madhura Yadav is an ArchitectPlanner with over 25 years’ experience. She is on several Committee/Expert Groups set up by Government of India. A jury member of various Architectural Competitions, she is also on the editorial board of Architecture, Urban Design, and Urban Planning Journals.

She has published number of papers in national and international journals and conferences and is a UNESCO certified mentor for Community Based Participatory Research. She is Indian Green Building Accredited Professional and her current research interests are Architecture- Ecology Interface and Eco-cities, Promotion of Eco Materials and Community Based Participatory Research. She is recipient of awards such as Distinguished Faculty in architecture Award, Academic Excellence award and Education Leadership Award.

Higher Education Digest December 2019

Creating A Constructive Learning Environment The pedagogy followed at the School is unique as it is the perfect amalgamation of technical, practical and hands-on work. Apart from regular classroom/studio work, the students are encouraged to undertake site visits, building studies, participate in workshops and technical sessions. The School promotes students’ growth and selfdevelopment through internships, guest lectures, industrysponsored projects, opportunities for experiential learning, study tours to architecturally significant locations, expert talks with renowned architects, industry experts and professional bodies such as IIID, CoA, etc. and national and international conferences. Workshops are also organized for students to learn about and explore various techniques, materials, and advancements in the field of architecture. The School also houses a construction yard for ready accessibility and experimentation by students.

To bolster this learning environment, the School provides avant-garde facilities like fully functional labs and workshops equipped with the latest hardware, plotters, laser cutter, and 3D printer. At the same time, the School understands that irrespective of providing such facilities all students are not made equal and it reflects in their academic outcome owing to personal and emotional needs. To counter such issues a balanced Teacher-Student Ratio (1:10) is maintained to ensure that every student is given ample attention. To ensure the overall growth of each student initiatives like Teacher Guardian and MentorMentee programs are undertaken to have a dialogue with students beyond their regular classroom. Apart from these, the Slow Learner initiative attempts to take care of those students who are unable to cope up at a pace as their peers.

Fostering innovation, the School houses design studios, where students are trained to solve real-life design problems as a part of their academic training.

Moreover, these initiatives also enable students to convert their ideas to their start-up ventures.

Currently, the School oversees three start-ups that are enrolled with the E-cell for incubation. Of the multitude of instances where students have proudly advocated the exceptional qualities of the School, there are a few that stand apart. Some of them are: A batch of 34 students of VII Semester are presently studying a major part of the walled city of Jaipur – a UNESCO World Heritage Site and proposing

Chancellor’s Gold Medal awarded to Hakim Ali Reza, B.Arch Student of founder batch (2012-2017)

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Higher Education Digest December 2019

To ensure the overall growth of each student initiatives like Teacher Guardian and Mentor-Mentee programs are undertaken to have a dialogue with students beyond their regular classroom

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interventions for the rejuvenation and redevelopment of the public spaces as part of the Urban Design Studio; and the Annual NASA Design Competition 2017, where the objective of the competition was to convert an abandoned public site into a social interactive space. The students chose a semi-urban site at Mahapura, Jaipur-Ajmer road and revitalized the space using appropriate techniques, which led to the villagers of Mahapura feeling a sense of belongingness to the place.

Manipal University, Jaipur, believes in the famous saying “From Sage on the Stage to Guide by the Side�

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and ensures that all mentors possess such skills and are well qualified with a post-graduate degree (minimum) from a reputed national or international institution before they embark on their teaching journey. To further hone the teaching skills of the faculties, the School encourages them to undergo faculty development programs (FDPs) in collaboration with CoA-TRC (Council of Architecture Training & Research Centre), MUJ-TEC (Manipal University Jaipur Teacher Empowerment Centre), and GIAN Workshops, etc. with IITs, NITs, SPAs, etc. regularly.

Believing in “From Sage on the Stage to Guide by the Side”, the institute ensures all mentors possess skills and are well qualified with a post-graduate degree (minimum) from a reputed national or international institution before they embark on their teaching journey

Faculty are also motivated to involve themselves in architectural consultancy, research studies and pursue Ph.D. in their area of interest to increase their expertise and competencies. The PDA (Professional Development Allowance) by MUJ helps them to attend national and international conferences, publish papers, purchase books, register as members of professional bodies, etc. in pursuit of their higher goals. The annual appraisal system of the faculty also motivates them to perform well and bring out the best in their students.

Blueprint for the Future “We as a School of budding architects and designers aim to establish a Center for Excellence in Built Environment, enabling cutting edge research and experiments in the field of the built environment. To support this vision, we have already established a LEED Lab reinforcing the creation of research opportunities.

This supports the vision of making the campus of MUJ as a living laboratory, promoting research and experimentation in the field of sustainability. We also aim to facilitate outcome-based education by providing practical exposure and guide the students to obtain various credentials and certificates. Also, owing to the location, we have a vantage point in understanding the state of Rajasthan, which is one of the richest states in India in terms of its culture and heritage,” says the Director.

The School intends to create an archive of heritage documentation for the state and become forerunners in the conservation of cultural landscape and heritage of the region. The School also plans to further promote community-based societal approaches and practices by undertaking research and consultancy projects in lines with the sustainable development goals and smart city mission.

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VES COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

Creating an Army of Architects with ‘Sustainable Living’ Ideas

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rise, awake and do not stop until the goal is reached.” These are the wise words of Narendranath Datta aka Swami Vivekananda.

Indian educational institutions, at their core, believe in this and strive to work towards their goals. Of the many such educational establishments, Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Architecture is a prime seat of architectural education that aims at excellence. Founded in 2018 by Vivekanand Education Society, Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Architecture (VESCOA) was established with the intent of developing humane, socio-cultural, environmental, technological, aesthetic, and philosophical values in architectural education. VESCOA’s prime focus is to develop an approach towards an environment of learning, innovation, integration, and leadership.

VESCOA envisions to develop a knowledgeoriented environment in the field of architecture towards creating a sustainable humane habitat.

It endeavors to do so by adopting Ekistics, the study of human settlements. “Ekistics forms the backbone of the teaching principles and processes in the college. We continuously strive to improve the teaching-learning process to achieve academic excellence and strive to collaborate with students, teachers, and professionals towards key areas like learning, realization, discovering, engaging, integration and becoming leaders in the society.

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specialized training for professional examinations such as LEED Green Associate, GRIHA, etc. Likewise, they are also given exposure to alternative building materials through hands-on workshops, Lectures, Site Visits, Product demonstrations. Moreover, the college also sits its students through hand-based skills teaching sessions such as origami, pottery, model-making, and carpentry through electives courses and workshops that are conducted by experts.

Prof. Anand Achari, Principal

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We have an unwavering focus towards empowering the students in engaging with the society along with nature and the built environment around them, thus enriching their knowledge of traditional systems while working towards experimentation and innovation,” says Prof.

Anand Achari, Principal, VES College of Architecture.

To this extent, VESCOA, recently, organized a Council of Architecture’s Teachers’ Training Programme on ‘Education of a Design Professional – The Ekistics Approach’ from 9th to 14th December 2019, where experienced professionals like Prof. Madhav Deobhakta, Prof. Harshad Bhatia, Prof. Anil Nagrath, and Prof.

Anand Achari were the lead speakers. Distinguished guest speakers Prof. Akhtar Chauhan, Prof. Prasanna Desai, and representatives of Ar. Brinda Somaya were also invited to share their experience and present their projects.

An Astute Curriculum and Pedagogy Presently, VESCOA offers a five-year undergraduate course in architecture (B.Arch.) that is recognized by the Council of Architecture and the University of Mumbai and approved by the Government of Maharashtra.

VESCOA follows the University of Mumbai syllabus.

As the University of Mumbai syllabus offers flexibility to colleges to develop their curriculum for subjects like College Projects, Allied Design, and Electives, VESCOA uses these subjects for experimentation with innovative teaching content and imparting knowledge to students that would be crucial for architectural practice.

VESCOA ensures that Knowledge on basic and advanced software such as AutoCAD, REVIT, Rhino, CorelDRAW, Photoshop, InDesign, ArcGIS, Primevera, and Grasshopper is imparted to students while introducing them to the concepts of green buildings and giving

Higher Education Digest December 2019

Faculty Competence and Potency Truly aware that each student is different, VESCOA has in place a desirable student-teacher ratio of 1:10 that will help teachers to nurture the unique strengths and potential of each student, thus paving way for individual growth and the collective progress of the institution. Meanwhile, for studio-based subjects, each student is assigned a mentor who can give personalized attention to the student.

The VESCOA faulty team utilizes innovative teaching methodologies that encourage experiential learning through hands-on working, outdoor site visits, debates.

To boot, the college also organizes open forums to discuss and understand the difficulties they are facing and to make them aware of being professional while carrying out important conversations. The visiting faculty team, who consists of architectural professionals who bring their industry experience to the classroom and studio, on the other hand, provides a practical dimension to the teachinglearning process within classrooms.

Thanks to the state-of-the-art laboratories and workshops for Services, Surveying and Levelling, Environment, Computers, Carpentry, and Model-making, all of which are furnished with high-end equipment and machinery, the students have various avenues to actively use these services for their academic activities, assignments, and hands-on experience.

VESCOA has been consistently studying the needs of the industry and is adapting its teaching methodologies to enable students to acquire individual capabilities necessary for becoming competent professionals. “In our endeavor to make students industry-ready, industry experts and researchers, through guest lectures and academic and professional seminars and conferences share their views and ideas with the students. They are also encouraged to intern or volunteer with organizations during their summer vacation to gain professional exposure.

For instance, in May 2019, 10 B. Arch students engaged in vacation activities in architects’ offices, construction firms, and NGOs. The students were also introduced to various building materials and products used in the market through vendor presentations conducted in college, the ever-growing materials museum in the college, as well as the materials factory and other site visits organized by the college.

One with the Environment In line with the college’s vision of ‘creating a sustainable humane habitat’, VESCOA has collaborated with several industry organizations to imbibe the principles of sustainability in the pedagogical framework of the college.

For example, VESCOA collaborated with C-Balance, a knowledge-centric solutions hub working towards greenhouse gas and ecological footprint mitigation and sustainable development. The collaboration focused on embedding the principles of ‘thoughtful cooling’ in the academic curriculum through training programs for faculty, provision of teaching aids, lesson plan co-creation with

faculty, and handholding for specific courses. Additionally, VESCOA is a signatory to UN-Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME), working on the 6 principles of PRME and plans curricular and co-curricular activities that address the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

As a result of working closely with the industry, VESCOA only knows truly well the extent of environmental concerns that plague the world, hence its decisive take on sustainability. To this extent, the college takes active measures to mold students into conscious architects who can, through their knowledge and expertise, actively address this dismal situation. An example of these efforts is that in 2018, as a part of the Electives course, first year B.Arch. students transformed the outdoor space of Sunil Keswani Creche and Daycare Centre, Chembura, a crèche in the vicinity into a colorful and joyous space for its users.

Under the guidance of Dr. Martina Spies of Anukruti Foundation, the students painted the entire space with vibrant graphics and created playful bamboo installations to revive the children’s play area. Likewise, as a part of United Nations World Habitat Day and Swacchta Pakhwada in October 2019, students of VESCOA collected e-waste and plastic waste from their homes and surroundings. The students also made informative posters on the theme of “Waste to Wealth” that was based on the theme of World Habitat Day. Plans for the Future For an educational institution that is a fairly new entrant, VESCOA has already taken the steps to initiate a VES Atal Incubation center where students can receive seed funding for their ingenious ideas. With a strong vision for the future, VESCOA marches ahead to increase its student intake and to begin value-added course to bridge the gap between academics and professionals by conducting Continuous Development Programme. VESCOA’s Research and Design Consultancy Cell is all set to house a consultancy and research cell, thus enabling faculty and students to get the opportunity to work on research and publish papers.

Along the same lines, the college also intends to start B. Vocational Interior Design Course and part-time diploma and certificate courses. Looking forward to hosting an International conference in collaborations with the World Society of Ekistics (WSE), the Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Architecture is also planning for NAAC and ISO certification.

A look at the progress that VESCOA has made in its short span of existence, it would only be prudent to state that this is one player to look out for in the architectural education space.

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ACADEMIC VIEW

Introducing Learner Training Karl Millsom, Academic Director, Jakarta Language Academy Karl Millsom has been an EFL teacher in Jakarta for over a decade and now runs a teacher training institution that is dedicated to improving education standards in Indonesia and South East Asia. Karl is especially interested in making high-quality teacher training available to educators from all backgrounds.

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I

have been conducting teacher development workshops and TESOL training for several years, and last year I also started lecturing various subjects in an English Language degree at a local university.

This semester, the college assigned me the TEFL units in the final semesters of the degree program. These are two semesters that every student of the English Language degree must take at the end of their four years, and this is fairly standard across institutions her in Indonesia. On the one hand, I had for some time coveted the position of teaching these units, given my professional background, but now that I have been assigned them, I find myself somewhat disappointed.

There are two causes for my disappointment. The first problem is the lack of English ability of these students, and the second is their lack of interest in TEFL as a subject.

TEFL for Non-Teachers The first of these problems I shall not deal with in this article, though needless to say, it is a significant obstacle. Here I will discuss the more relevant problem of the students’ lack of interest, how I responded to that and what I learned from the experience.

So, what to do in a TEFL class full of students who have no intention of becoming teachers? I chose three basic approaches, which I both combined and alternated amongst as the course proceeded: 1. Help students identify good teachers in their own learning environments.

2. Help the students understand more about how teaching and learning works so that they may become more effective learners.

3. Highlight all the most interesting aspects of teaching in the hopes that some of the students might actually become interested in a teaching career after all.

One semester in, and I have seen substantial gains in all three areas. While only one of the nineteen students at the beginning of the semester had an express interest in teaching, by the end of the semester an additional three told me they were thinking about it. That might not be a large number, but progress is progress.

On the other hand, I had a good number of students come to me at different times during the semester commenting on and asking for suggestions regarding some of their other teachers—none of whom I ever directly undermined as individuals, of course—and all of them both expressed and demonstrated growth as learners.

As a student, try to identify the learning objectives of your lessons, either in the lesson as it is being delivered or from the syllabus, if it is distributed in advance

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TEFL for Learners On the TESOL course that I deliver publicly, I try to make a small but important distinction from approaches taken on other, similar courses. Over the last few decades, there has been an incredibly valuable transition, primarily seen in the EFL domain, from teacher-centered to student-centered learning.

More recently, we have seen a shift in terminology from student to learner, mostly intended to further remove the emphasis from the teacher and put the learner fully in charge of his or her learning.

In my own syllabus, I have made a further modification, using instead the term “learning-centered”. The learning-centered curriculum still maintains the learner’s position at the heart of the classroom dynamic but places a particular emphasis on making instructional decisions based on what is best for learning.

With this in mind, I was able to unearth a considerable amount of value in my materials for those members of my class who were more interested in their current role as learners rather than their potential role as future teachers. In the end, my students were grateful not only for the inherent value in this approach but also for the effort I made to cater to their specific interests rather than just delivering a syllabus full of content they didn’t care about.

How to Be a Better Learner As with many things, the true, fundamental key to be a more effective learner is to be intentional. The more we think about why we’re doing the things we’re doing and make plans and consider carefully our approaches, the more likely we are to achieve success, whatever it is we’re talking about doing.

I train teachers to plan the lessons starting with a clear learning objective, and I taught this recent batch of students to think the same way. As a student, try to identify the learning objectives of your lessons, either in the lesson as it is being delivered or from the syllabus, if it is distributed in advance. Try to determine

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what the teacher is planning to teach so that you can make the most out of the materials and so that you can ask the most valuable questions. If the learning objective is not readily available or self-evident, try asking your teacher to verbalize it for you. By the way, should it happen that she is not able to do so, consider that a red flag.

I also train my teachers to consider carefully how they present information to the students, placing emphasis on student discovery through guided encounters with authentic materials. Similarly, I encouraged my students to approach materials—both in the classroom and out—analytically, to ask themselves questions about the materials they encounter in order to extract as much meaning and as much valuable language as possible.

One of the most important principles I focus on heavily in my teacher training programs is that of applied learning. I tell my teachers that all learning should be applied and that any lesson without clear, real-life application is an incomplete lesson.

Nevertheless, I know that many teachers who have not been so trained do not include such application in my lessons, so I encouraged my students to seek out the real-life value for everything they learned, either by asking their teachers or through critical analysis.

Knowing the true value of what you learn ensures that you will understand it better in the first place and remember it for much longer.

I also spent a couple of sessions in the semester familiarizing my students with a variety of note-taking techniques so that they could better record and organize their learning, and I also introduced them to some strategies for using their notes for effective retrieval practice so that the learning they acquire in one lesson is not forgotten before they have chance to apply it.

Whether you are a teacher or a student, I hope that these tips have been interesting for you and that they will enhance the learning in your lessons.

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