Global Ambitions Local Moorings by Smita Polite

Volume 03 Issue 06

eDU | volume 03 | Issue 06

A 9.9 Media Publication june 2012 www.edu-leaders.com

TEchnology

FOR

Leaders

higher

educ ation

Tailor-made tablets for higher education may leave you spoilt for choice P 38 TECH Interview

George Siemens on why connecting online for learning makes sense P 44 profile

Bhushan Patwardhan, VC, SIU, on research and innovation P 52

FOR LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION www.edu-leaders.com

Global AmbiTions Local Moorings Devang Khakhar, Director, IIT Bombay, on the benefits of the New York Campus Pg 14

FOREWORD Taking India to a global platform

“...a global connect is necessary. What is required...is faculty support, availability of funds and a real RoI for the home institution”

e have to admit that when we first heard of IIT Bombay being a part of the consortium of six universities invited by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) to set up a campus for applied sciences at New York, we had dismissed it as one of those good to talk about events—thinking that nothing would really come of it. Our reasons? No Indian higher education institution features in the Top 100 global list of the best in the world. In the 2011 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings IIT Delhi reached the top of the Indian ladder with a global rank of 218. Top international institutions may be interested in attracting brilliant minds from India, we thought, but are usually wary of collaborations. Even when they do come on board, they do so with hesitation. Though, it was a part of the NYU consortium that included New York University, University of Toronto, University of Warwick, City University of New York and Carnegie Mellon, it lost its bid to the Cornell/ Technion consortium. We always knew it, we said. So, the news that the NYU consortium, as the runner-up, was invited by NYCEDC to set up the Centre for Urban Science and Progress was a happy surprise. Our smugness took a beating. Given the limitations that come with being a government-funded institution, IIT Bombay has chosen a sensible route to make its global foray—as a part of a consortium. Not only does this place it in a different league, it also provides an opportunity for knowledge-sharing with some of the best in the world. An added advantage: the logistics will be taken care of by NYCEDC, leaving the faculty at IIT Bombay free to make the most of its research interactions, since it is in the midst of planning a similar centre back home. While it’s true that India needs better institutions, it’s also true that, for achieving that, a global connect is necessary. What is required, though, is faculty support, availability of funds and a real RoI for the home institution—something that has been out of reach for the IIMs and IITs, despite best intentions. There are several institutions that EDU spoke to about their experiences with going global. We hope these conversations help you understand some of the compulsions and intricacies involved in heading out to distant shores. Here’s wishing IIT Bombay all the best, and let’s hope this kicks off a new beginning for Indian universities seeking a global presence.

Dr Pramath Raj Sinha pramath@edu-leaders.com

June 2012 EduTech

Contents EDU June 2012

update 04 plan 05 PARTNERSHIP RANKING 06 appointed awarded 07 plan proposed

Viewpoint 10 GS singh Varsity Social Responsibility 12 MJ Xavier Competencies & Skills for the New MBA

administration 32 where bravehearts fear to tread An insight into the travails of setting-up Central University of Orissa in Koraput By Smita Polite

strategy 26 interview Maureen Betses, Vice President, Higher Education, Harvard Business Publishing By Smita Polite

I like to make students think —Bhushan Patwardhan VC, Symbiosis International University

Technology

Global perspective

38 Made for Education Tailor-made tablets for higher-education will leave you spoilt for choices By Tushar Kanwar 42 tech tute Go Clutter Free: Avoiding information overload By Tushar Kanwar

52 2

EduTech June 2012

44 interview George Siemens, Educator and Researcher on learning and networks, says networks are essential to make sense of our complex world By Radhika Haswani

Find out what’s currently happening in institutions around the world. The Chronicle of Higher Education shares its perspectives with EDU 46 Europe’s Austerity Measures Take Their Toll on Academe By Aisha Laibi 48 Harvard & MIT Host Free Online Courses By Nick DeSantis 50 Open Education’s Wide World of Possibilities By Katherine Mangan

FOR LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Managing Director: Pramath Raj Sinha PUBLISHING DIRECTOR: Anuradha Das Mathur managing editor: Smita Polite

cover Story

14 Global Ambitions Local Moorings

Indian institutions are showing that they are capable of designing education for global consumption. Sight set firmly on conquering the world, they are slowly setting up base on unfamiliar grounds By Charu Bahri

18 IIT Brand Goes International Devang Khakhar, Director IIT Bombay

20 Business Needs Broadening Horizons

Nitish Jain, President SP Jain School of Global Management

23 Going Overseas Difficult Decision BN Jain, VC, BITS Pilani

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VOLUME 03 ISSUE 06

EDU | VOLUME 03 | ISSUE 06

A 9.9 MEDIA PUBLICATION JUNE 2012 WWW.EDU-LEADERS.COM

TECHNOLOGY

FOR

LEADERS

HIGHER

EDUC ATION

Tailor-made tablets for higher education may leave you spoilt for choice P 38 TECH INTERVIEW

George Siemens on why connecting online for learning makes sense P 44 PROFILE

Bhushan Patwardhan, VC, SIU, on research and innovation P 52

FOR LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION WWW.EDU-LEADERS.COM

GLOBAL AMBITIONS LOCAL MOORINGS Devang Khakhar, Director, IIT Bombay, on the benefits of the New York Campus Pg 14

Cover ART: photo: JITEN GANDHI design:PETERSON

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts before recycling

June 2012 EduTech

from the world of higher education

05 partnership 05 ranking 06 appointed 06 plan 07 awarded 07 proposed & more

Zameeruddin Shah is vice chancellor of AMU President Pratibha Patil has appointed Lt Gen (retired) Zameeruddin Shah as the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. Lt General Shah has vast experience in the field of education and has been associated with the Officers’ Training Academy, Chennai from 1972-74, Army War College, Mhow (MP), chairman of the Board of Governors of Sainik School, Purulia (WB), chairman of the Management Committee of the Army Institute of Management, Ko l k a t a a n d p re s i d e n t , Exe c u t i ve Council of Centre for Land Warfare Studies, Delhi Cantonment.

Better prospects: The Ministry of Human Resources plans to cover a minimum of 50 per cent students through various financing schemes

Rs 4.13 lakh cr for HE in 12th Plan The amount to be used for stregthening existing institutions, quality improvement and setting up new ones under Universities for Innovation plan plan In the 12th Five Year Plan, higher education has got a booster dose with about four times the amount allocated, Rs 4.13 lakh crore against Rs 84,943 crore allocated in the 11th Plan period. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) under the 12th Plan focusses on consolidation of existing institutes and strengthening the existing central universities, new IITs, IIMs and state universities with infrastructure and faculty. Quality improvement will be brought about by funding states in order to improve their education infrastructure, a ministry source said. New institutes will be set up under the Universities for Innovation plan which are proposed to be created under the 12th plan at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore. The ministry plans to cover at least 50 per cent of students through various financing schemes as part of demand side management in higher education. The outlay is in line with the target of increasing the gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education from 15 to 20 per cent by 2017 and 25 per cent by 2022.

EduTech June 2012

Dilip Arora is VC of SKUAST Noted agricultural scientist Dilip K Arora has been appointed the Vice Chancellor of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu. Governor and Chancellor SKUAST, NN Vohra announced his name after consultation with Chief Minister and Pro-Chancellor of the university Omar Abdullah. Dilip Arora, is currently Director, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, Kusmaur, Uttar Pradesh. He is the recipient of many national and international awards.

Three New Chairs at Goa University Goa University has announced the establishment of chairs in the names of legendary cartoonist Mario Miranda, Bollywood music composer Anthony Gonsalves and Goan devotional singer Nana Shirgaonkar. “These chairs have been instituted to honour the great sons of the soil. It was a part of the promise made by me in this year’s budget,” said Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

update

IIM-L ties up with Kelley School of Business To offer certificate programmes in business analytics and global strategy Partnership Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, has tied up with Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business to expand teaching and research initiatives. An MoU was signed between the two institutions last year. The final agreement ceremony was held recently at the Kelley School for certificate programmes in the emerging fields of business analytics and global strategy. This programme will be available to about 100 students. One programme will be for students enrolled at IIM-L and another will be open to working professionals in India. Ultimately, Kelley and IIM-L plan to deliver a graduate degree programme on

business analytics, similar to what is already offered at IU. The Dean of the Kelley School, Dan Smith said, “Our collaborative goal is to fundamentally advance the quality of decision-making by business leaders by improving their ability to draw meaningful insights Strategic: The tie-up will work on advancing from the massive amounts decision-making skills of business leaders of data available to them.” graduate programmes. In recent years, Kelley’s student and faculty ties to students and faculty have frequently India were already extensive. Of the travelled to India for classes and social more than 850 Indian students enrolled entrepreneurship activities that have at Indiana University, about 400 are enriched their knowledge. enrolled in Kelley’s graduate and under-

New Survey puts Singapore at Top in Asia ranking Singapore at 11th spot is the best destination for higher education in Asia, says a new ranking that rates countries on how good they are at providing higher education. Commissioned by Universities 21, a global network of researchintensive universities, in the ranking of 48 countries and cities, the United States, as expected, topped, followed by Sweden, Canada, Finland and Denmark as the best places to study. Other top Asian locations were Hong Kong in 18th place, and Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia in 20th, 21st, 22nd and 36th place respectively. India’s higher education system was ranked 48. The U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems parameters are divided into four categories: output, resources, environment, and connectivity. The research also factored in population size. The new ranking hopes to move away from the emphasis on individual universities by looking at the broader areas and help governments benchmark their country’s performance. Students too can select the country of choice based on it.

global update

No. 1

The USA is at the top as the best destination for higher education

The rank that India got in as many countries in the U21 Ranking of higher education

June 2012 EduTech

update

New UC Chancellor is IIT Alumnus Pradeep K Khosla, Dean of Carnegie Institute of Technology was selected after an international search and will be replacing Marye Anne Fox Appointed Pradeep K Khosla, Dean of Carnegie Institute of Technology and an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, has been selected to serve as the Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego. University of California President Mark G Yudof who selected Khosla for the position, said “Khosla will bring to UC San Diego a distinctive set of attributes that will enable the university to build on the excellence that has made it one of the top institutions of higher learning in the world. He is a time-tested, oft-honoured researcher, an innovative educator dedicated to improving the quality of life for students, faculty and staff, and an entrepreneurial leader with a global vision and proven fundraising abilities.” Khosla emerged as the top

candidate after an international search. He will r e p l a c e Ma r y e Anne Fox who Top: Don Khosla is an innovative educator, entrepreneurial leaders with a global vision and proven abilities will be leaving the post on August 1. Khosla is the recipient of several “In slightly more than 50 years, UC awards including the ASEE 1999 George San Diego, under the leadership of Westinghouse Award for Education, the Marye Anne Fox and her predecessors, SiliconIndia Leadership Award for Excelhas become one of the world’s top unilence in Academics and Technology, the versities,” Khosla said. “I feel fortunate, W Wallace McDowell award from IEEE humbled and energised to have the Computer Society, the Cyber Education opportunity to contribute to that excelAward from the Business Software Allilence while embracing the challenges of ance, a lifetime achievement award from integrating world-class research with an the American Society of Mechanical undergraduate educational experience Engineers (ASME) , and the Pan IIT Acathat will remain accessible to all, regarddemic Excellence Award. less of family income.”

Update

Young Scientist Award to Maheswar Ojha Awarded Senior Scientist of the National Geophysical Research Institute, Dr Maheswar Ojha has been awarded the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) medal for Young Scientist, 2012. He won the award for his outstanding contributions in the field of gas hydrates, which is a compound of methane and water, a potential fuel. Dr Ojha has been working on new techniques to assess gas hydrates using seismic data and rock physics modelling. He has also participated in six scientific expeditions, including one for acquiring seismic data of the ocean bottom in the Bay of Bengal. He has published 20 scientific papers and has been a visiting scientist to the University of Texas, Austin. His research interests are R&D on Gas Hydrates; an alternate future poten-

EduTech June 2012

tial energy resource. This is high achievement indeed, for the INSA Young Scientist Award is given in recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist. An annual award, it is bestowed on those who have made notable contributions in science and technology. The scheme of Science Academy Medals was instituted by INSA for young scientists in 1974, in association with Kothari Scientific Research Institute. It is notable that till 2011, 618 scientists have been recognised and awarded under the scheme. Many of these awardees continue on their rewarding scientific career paths making outstanding contributions to India’s scientific pool.

update

DU Mulls Change in Course Duration Plans to add another year to degree programmes and ease midway exit and rejoining options for students Plan Delhi University could change university will also review the internal the duration of its undergraduate coursassessment system. es from the next academic session. It has According to sources, the blueprint of planned to add one more year in the the new plan is ready. The administrathree-year programmes of BSc, BA and tion has also planned to bring the proBCom. It will also ease exits and rejoinposal up for discussion during a Teaching for students. ers’ Congress in June. The VC said, “The Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh said, plan will be put up at a Teachers’ Con“We propose to launch the four-year gress and finally the proposal will be courses from the 2013-14 academic sesplaced before the academic and execusion. It will be a transdisciplinary course tive councils of DU.” with multiple exit options. The programme will offer As we are simultaneously students two exit options durrevamping our open ing the course-at the end of learning system, undergradsecond and third years. If a uate students at colleges will student decides to opt out of be allowed to complete a the course after completion of The new semester through open the first two years, he/she will course learning and the credits will get an associate degree. At the structure to end of third year, the student be counted.” be introduced can opt out with a bachelor’s Courses will carry credits to help students to migrate from 2013-14 degree. If the student comto other universities with a pletes four years, an honours session similar credit system. The degree will be awarded.

2013

WB Plans Medical College for Muslim Students West Bengal University of Health Science has suggested setting it up on PPP model proposed If the West Bengal government succeeds, there will be a medical college exclusively for Muslim students. “We have received a proposal for setting up a medical college and hospital for Muslims based on the public private partnership model. We have informed the chief minister about this and have sought her advice,” said Prof Susanta Banerjee, Director of Medical Education (DME), adding, “Since we have no idea whether an institution can be set up exclusively for any particular community, we have to explore the legal aspects too.” According to the project report, the new medical college could come up either at Barasat or Rajarhat on 20 acres of land. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs 400 crore and it includes a hospital with 500 beds. The authorities plan to have 100 seats for the MBBS course, of which 50 per cent will be management quota seats.

voices “Of 10 students I interacted with, around 8 said they wanted to be teachers. I don’t know what happens between Std 2 and 12 when those very students will sell everything but not become teachers!”

—Jayanthi Ravi, Commissioner of Higher Education, Government of Gujarat

“An aberration has occurred between those who can afford to go for coaching for IIT-JEE and brilliant students who can’t afford to compete with them” — Kapil Sibal, Union HRD Minister, India

“My experience of working in Osmania University , where students are allowed to voice their concerns, will be replicated in dealing with issues on EFLU campus. There will be no underhand deals. Everything will be made public and transparency will be the motto”

— Sunaina Singh, VC, English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad

June 2012 EduTech

Viewpoint

MJ Xavier

Competencies & Skills for the New MBA

anagement education in India must throw off its western handicap that promotes rational intellectuals as managers. A more holistic outlook built on core values that allow the left and the right brain to work cohesively together, ie, the intellect and intuition for the greater good of society is the need of the hour. No Place for Emotions Here Albert Einstein had once said, “The intuitive mind is the sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.” True, we need intuition as much as intellect in order to survive in the world that is characterised by tectonic shifts in science, technology and social norms. Unfortunately, Indian management education (for that matter even technical education in India) has been modelled on western education, overlooking local needs. In the process, we have been producing management and technical graduates who are selfish, aggressive and moneyminded. Additionally, we are churning out graduates who lack social sensitivity

EduTech June 2012

and appreciation for arts and crafts. The positive thing is that they possess good analytical skills and strong left-brain capabilities. The selection process is such that hardly any right-brainers can make it to the hallowed portals of the IITs or the IIMs. Interestingly, Western scholars like Warren Bennis and James O’Toole, Henry Mintzberg, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Christina Fong, Harry DeAngelo, Linda DeAngelo, and Jerry Zimmerman have observed several flaws in management education and are on the lookout for new formats. Most of us would agree with the observation by Pfeffer and Fong that management educators have lost their souls and that altruistic values have been supplanted by a “show-me-the-money” mindset among MBA students. Lack of industry relevance, loss of scholarly focus, over emphasis on competition, fixation upon MBA programme ranking and money-byany means attitude are some of the key comments made by these scholars.

A Model Worth Emulating In Singapore, school education is controlled a great deal by the government. Depending on the

M J Xavier

aptitude of the students identified in the early stages, they put the students into science, arts and commerce disciplines. The Singapore ministry of education has come up with a new framework to enhance the development of 21st century competencies in their students. The desired outcomes as envisaged by the Singapore government are: A confident person who has a strong sense of right and wrong, is adaptable and resilient, knows himself, is discerning in judgment, thinks independently and critically, and communicates effectively. A self-directed learner who questions, reflects, perseveres and takes responsibility for his own learning. An active contributor who is able to work effectively in teams, is innovative, exercises initiative, takes calculated risks and strives for excellence. A concerned citizen who is rooted to Singapore, has a strong sense of civic responsibility, is informed about Singapore and world, and takes an active part in bettering the lives of others. Though the Singapore government has come up with these sets of skills and competencies that should be developed during education at the primary levels, they are equally applicable to higher education too. Unlike the western model that promotes and celebrates individual achievement, the Singapore model emphasises both individual excellence and social sensitivity/sensibilities. What the Singapore government has done is laudable. They have not blindly adopted the western model. They have taken up the best of the West and blended it with the requirements of their country. They are attempting to develop continuous learners and critical thinkers who are patriotic and at the same time are global citizens. Basically, they are trying to develop both the right as well as the left brain capabilities among their students. They are attempting to produce global citizens who are also proud of their country and its culture.

Learnings for India The Singapore model has several lessons for India. The model of education for India should have both hard elements (analytic models and decision theories of the West) as well as soft elements (culture and context specific inputs). Our graduates should be better human beings before they become better managers. Consequently, right values and attitudes should be instilled in the minds of our MBA students. They should develop the ability to learn on their own and also be innovative in their approaches.

Viewpoint

“Our MBA graduates should be better human beings before they become better managers with right values and attitudes” It is heartening to note that several scholars in India have already developed pathbreaking theories on management based on our epics and Vedas. Spirituality and management are being researched not only in India, but by scholars around the world. We also have unique Indian case studies and models that are used by B-schools around the world. However, it will be premature to discard the western models. It would be more worthwhile to build the vision of the new IIMs on the concept of erudite fusion of ‘western processes and technologies for knowledge creation and dissemination’ and ‘the repository of wisdom found in our epics and Vedas to attain thought leadership in the field of management education. A vision that we have effectively translated at IIM Ranchi. The core values of an IIM should be: humility, honesty and hard work for individual and corporate success; holistic development of individual, institution and society at large and harmonious coexistence with society and environment. In order to get closer to these noble ideals, we can make a small beginning by introducing courses on Indian culture, inner development and Indian ethos to our PGDM students. We can have rural immersion projects that sensitise the students to needs of underprivileged sections of society and the need for preserving the environment and ecology. The students should be assigned to NGOs for a year and asked to submit project reports on social and environmental issues. We still have a long way to go to develop intuition and create a sense of appreciation for arts and craft in our students. This problem is accentuated by the fact that IIMs are standalone institutions. However, university departments can easily add courses on arts, culture, ecology and environment and build the necessary skills and attitudes. Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

Author’s BIO Dr MJ Xavier, Director of the IIM Ranchi, has more than 25 years of professional experience in teaching, research, and consultancy. His areas of interest include Marketing Research, Data Mining, e-Governance and he has authored three books and published more than 100 articles in journals and magazines in India and abroad.

June 2012 EduTech

Viewpoint

RS Grewal

Varsity Social Responsibility

t seems universities today have lost the idealism and wthe reason behind their institution. Historically, universities had been set up with a much nobler purpose—for the masters to share their knowledge with their pupils—a model of benign giving and higher ideals. Universitas—Society of Teachers & Students

The etymology of Nalanda—the first university in the world—is ‘insatiable in giving’. Prof Yash Pal describes a university as “a place where new ideas germinate, strike roots and grow tall and sturdy…a place where creative minds converge, interact with each other and construct visions of new realities. Established notions of truth are challenged in pursuit of knowledge”. For Prof Anandakrishnan, the mission of higher education is to contribute to the sustainable development and improvement of society as a whole. However, instead of engaging in scholarly discourse for knowledge creation and sharing, our universities have become mere degree awarding institutions. Placements in the industry, collaborative arrangements, number of patents, etc, are considered as benchmarks to achieve higher rankings. Thus, a major shift has come about in the role of universit i e s . Ma t e r i a l i s t i c c o n s i d e r a t i o n s a r e t h e l e i t m o t i f o f a l l knowledge creation. Study of liberal arts and nurturing of human values and ethics have taken a backseat.

EduTech June 2012

Overtaken by Corporate Credo The neoliberal ideology that prevails in society has resulted in market forces radically altering the concept of evaluating human behaviour and action. Citizens have lost their public voice and corporate culture prevails over civic freedom and society, diminishing the non-commoditised entities of public life like, institutions engaged in dialogue, education and learning. A major fallout of this culture has been that capitalistic demands of commerce and profit motive overshadow the language of personal responsibility and private initiatives. However, this is not to suggest that capitalism is the enemy of society. But in the absence of a vibrant public discourse driven by human values and the imperatives of strong societal forces, the power of corporate culture has overtaken all aspects of the societal interactions. Therefore, there is a need to pause and think about the relationship between corporate culture and democratic and social values. Specifically, this is required to be done in the sphere of higher education that is so essential for expanding and deepening the societal processes and shaping the course for future generations. Universities, which are the fountainheads of higher education, need to reflect on their role and social responsibilities.

RS Grewal

The Changing Paradigm In India, we need to learn from the experience of the developed countries, especially the USA where the university-system has developed well over the past two centuries but the adverse effects of the culture of consumerism have necessitated a fresh look at the role of the universities. Post economic liberalisation of 1990s, the sudden expansion of the university-system has raised questions about the quality of teaching and research standards. To compound the matters, the tendency to concentrate on commercial aspects of education is gaining ground. The distinction between higher education and business has blurred wherein profit-motive and creation of job opportunities seem to have become the guiding concepts of universities. For the betterment of society, higher education needs to be considered as a public good and universities need to concentrate on producing socially responsible intellectuals capable of contributing meaningfully without monetary considerations. The educators must not allow commercial values to dominate the purpose and mission of universities. But it is easier said than done. The universities are cash strapped and the governments all over the world are stressing upon them to create their own sources of funding. Thus, they have no option but to look towards the industry for financial resources. The latter is more than willing to contribute, but on its own terms. Industry increasingly dictates that the research funded by it should lead to increase in its own productivity and profits.

Corporates Can Help It is here that the industry can help by expanding its role of corporate social responsibility. Apart from laying stress only on research that facilitates its interests, the corporate world could also promote research that helps academics in seeking truth and furthering human values. The universities also need to put their act together. Over a period of time a tendency has developed wherein the institutions of higher learning shape their operations as if they were corporations or business houses and seek ‘market niches’ to save themselves. The concept of shared governance between the administration and the faculty has taken a backseat. Institutions that used to take pride in faculty-controlled governance have switched over to faculty-advice mode of operation. Corporate-culture and values have started shaping the life in universities. Thus, corporate planning has replaced social planning and private

Viewpoint

“Instead of being the followers, the universities need to assume their leadership role in shaping society” domain of individual-achievement takes precedence over social responsibility. The adopted role of commercially inspired knowledge-production has placed considerable strain on teacher-student relationships. These are not encouraging signs. Instead of being the followers, the universities need to assume their leadership role in shaping society.

Expectations from Academia There is a need for revitalised, expanded and far broader involvement of universities with society encompassing health, education and including technical and liberal arts, environment, energy, urban development, international relations, economic competitiveness, etc. Universities need to cater to entrepreneurial as well as traditional role without limiting their purpose. The need for broader engagement of universities with society has arisen because of population explosion that in turn has resulted in ‘massification’ of higher education. Knowledge explosion ushered in the past three decades has transformed the shape of society and its underlying economic base. However, it is still not too late for universities to revive their traditional role while still remaining responsive to social and economic needs of knowledge-society and economy. The universities should be able to evolve new innovative systems that will involve all stakeholders. A new agenda for higher education is required to capture worldwide opportunities and at the same time avoid dangers unleashed by the markets and globalisation. We need a modern university system that lays emphasis on sustainable development and social cohesion by developing competencies of the population. That can be developed by foresighted thinking of its leaders and interdisciplinary approach of the faculty that encompasses transcultural understanding and cooperation, participatory skills, empathy, and distanced reflection on individual and cultural models.

Author’s BIO Brig (Dr) RS Grewal, is the VC of Chitkara University. After retiring from the Army in 2002, he joined the Manipal Group, where he was the director of Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology. Later he was the pro-vice chancellor of Sikkim Manipal University and also the first director of ICICI Manipal Academy.

June 2012 EduTech

By raj verma

Global

Ambition Local Moorin EduTechâ&#x20AC;&#x192; June 2012

ons ings

Overseas Campuses

cover story

A growing number of higher education institutions are setting-up bases abroad, pointing to the demand for and recognition of Brand India in the global academic space. The world is their oyster, to quote the Bard by Charu Bahri

June 2012â&#x20AC;&#x192; EduTech

ast year, Indians experienced a new high, when IIT Bombay made history by becoming one of the few Indian institutions among several leading global institutions, to be invited by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), to submit a proposal to establish a campus for applied sciences in the global business capital. The understanding was that the NYCEDC would make a capital contribution towards new teaching and research establishment as well as provide land and other requisites for setting up the facility. Indian hearts swelled with pride. Brand IIT had gained considerable international visibility. As a result, there is express interest in seeing more of this reputed chain of institutions abroad. Still, to improve its prospects, IIT-B bid for this prestigious opportunity as a member of a consortium that also comprised New York University, University of Toronto, University of Warwick, City

“ Our goal is to hold out the promise of high-quality

education in niche streams imparted for a lesser cost vis-à-vis the older established institutions” Atul Chauhan

Chancellor, Amity University

University of New York and Carnegie Mellon University.

Victory Abroad While the NYCEDC bid was won by the Cornell University/Technion consortium, the availability of funds with the corporation has made it possible for the runner-up, that is, the aforementioned consortium, to be supported in creating a centre for urban science and progress (CUSP) in the borough of Brooklyn, New York. With New York as their laboratory, the six institutes will develop solutions to give a facelift to the city buildings and services dating back to the 17th century. According to IIT-B Dean of International Relations & Professor of Electrical Engineering, Subhasis Chaudhuri, “Although New York is the key research focus of the CUSP, we at IIT-B, would additionally like to take up collateral developmental work for Indian megacities. Admissions to the programmes for upto 200 students will start in 2014.” Apart from this venture in the Big Apple, overseas campuses of quite a few other institutions are already jostling shoulders with local competitors. Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani opened an engineering campus in the UAE at the turn of the 21st century. Manipal University has ventured into Malaysia, Antigua, Nepal and the UAE. Management education specialist, IMT Ghaziabad, has a presence in the UAE. SP Jain Centre of Management Mumbai has campuses in the UAE, Singapore and Australia. The multi-campus university Amity boasts of campuses in London, Singapore, New York and San Francisco. And the list contains many more illustrious names. Not only higher education institutions in the private sector, but public universi-

Overseas Campuses

ties are finding berths in foreign lands too. Pune University was the first government-run institution to open a campus outside of India, in UAE, in 2009. IIM Indore offers a programme in the UAE as well. Some of the other IIMs are said to be exploring the scope to expand their education offering to the Middle East and South East Asia.

Prestigious Invites The present wave of international moves is being encouraged by the fact that Indian higher education has earned a good name for itself overseas, and continues to improve upon this image. IIT-B was invited to set up a campus in New York. Not many are aware that Manipal University too has ventured abroad mainly at the behest of several overseas governments. “Aware of our reputation as a private higher education provider, the governments of Malaysia, Antigua, Nepal and Dubai (UAE) sought our presence on their land as well. Malaysia in particular was keen to have a tie-up in medicine because nearly 30 per cent of their doctors are products of our Kasturba Medical College, Manipal,” shares Dr HS Ballal, Pro Chancellor, Manipal University and former chairman, FICCI Education. Last July, Manipal University stepped up its engagement in Malaysia with the launch of a multidisciplinary university for engineering and other courses. The previous year, Minister for Higher Education Dato’ Seri Khalid Nordin had handed over the charter for the university to the Chairman of Manipal Group, Dr Ramdas M Pai, during Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to Malaysia, in the presence of the Malaysian Prime Minister. That said, Manipal University also conducted surveys to study the demand and supply of higher education in the intended overseas locations before pressing ahead with its plans. “We wanted to know where exactly we fitted into the scheme of things in another country, another situation and a totally new setup. We took the step after becoming fully convinced that we can give them our best in the given circumstances,” says Dr Ballal.

cover story

“Dubai and Singapore have emerged as the

two favourite overseas destinations as government incentives and financing are forthcoming” Dhiraj Mathur

National Education Leader, PwC

BITS Pilani’s Dubai Campus (BPDC) was started at the behest of ETA ASCON, a UAE industrial group with interests in the verticals of construction, airconditioning, power generation and shipping. ETA employs over 12,000 individuals, a significant fraction of which is Indians. Prior to the turn of the 21st century, these families (and other Indians in the UAE) were feeling the lack of a good institution of higher technical education for their children to study in. As a result, many of the 25,000 students of Indian origin, living across the UAE and sitting for the higher secondary examination every year had no option but to relocate to India or other countries for quality technical higher education. Seeing an opportunity to serve the South Asian expat community, the ETA ASCON group contemplated starting degree level technical education in partnership with a reputed Indian institution. An intense scrutiny of Indian institutions zeroed in on BITS Pilani as the right partner. A delegation from BITS was invited to visit the UAE to take matters further and to cut a long story short, they jointly decided that Dubai would be the best city to start the campus in.

Evaluating a Move This is not to say that BITS Pilani accepted the offer blindly. “We carefully considered every aspect of the proposition. The socio-political environment in Dubai seemed conducive to the launch of a campus. The UAE was seen as a country in West Asia with plans to create educational hubs, and Dubai as well positioned (and connected) to serve Indian and other students from the entire Gulf region as well as East Africa,” says Prof Bijendra Jain, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani. Another plus point was that ETA ASCON offered to support the programme. While BITS Pilani would take care of the academic aspects, such as faculty, the curriculum, admissions and the award of degrees; ETA ASCON would invest in and maintain the campus infrastructure and help obtain the requisite licence to get local recognition for the programmes offered. Both of these are key factors. A fledgling campus in unfamiliar territory needs all the support it can garner. According to Dhiraj Mathur, National Education Sector Leader, PwC, “Dubai and Singapore have emerged as June 2012 EduTech

cover story the two favourite overseas destinations for this very reason. Government incentives such as infrastructure support and financing are forthcoming.” Local recognition of degrees is equally useful. It helps avoid the costs of a tie-up with another university that is locally recognised. For instance, Amity’s campuses in London, New Jersey and California confer degrees for the courses they offer from Anglia Ruskin University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the California State University of San Bernardino respectively. In contrast, Amity’s programmes in Mauritius have been accredited by the Tertiary Education Commission of Mauritius, a government body formed to plan, develop, promote and coordinate post secondary education in the country.

Overseas Campuses

Backing up Plans When universities determine of their own accord to set up operations overseas, they must back their global vision with a solid action plan. Failing to do so can prove embarrassing and waste a lot of effort. Pune University, for instance, became the first public sector institution to start an overseas programme (in business administration) from premises identified by its local partner in Ras Al Khaimah in 2009. After two executive batches and one regular batch, the programme has been suspended, citing the recession in the UAE as the primary reason. IIM Indore started two postgraduate programmes (out of rented premises) in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) last year. One is a full-time postgraduate programme while the other is an alternate weekend post-

graduate programme for working executives. According to Prof Mahesh Ramamani, Coordinator of the programmes and faculty member, Department of Information Technology, IIM Indore, “This was an outcome of our seeing ourselves as a rapidly growing management education institution. We desire to provide nourishment to working executives and students in the region, who would be keen on getting a prestigious IIM degree. At the same time, we are cautious about the student intake and have instituted systems whereby prospective candidates will undergo the same rigorous screening prior to admission as they do in India. Being the first IIM to offer a postgraduate degree in the Gulf shows our agility in making the most of the opportunity.”

IIT

Brand Goes International Director IIT Bombay, Prof Devang Khakhar, shares his views on what getting the nod to co-create a centre for urban science and progress in New York means for Brand IIT I see it as recognition for the international stature of the IITs and for the excellence of our institution. In technical terms, it is a great opportunity for us to share our skills in urban design as well as learn from subject experts in the city of New York. Urban design is a topical theme in India given the trend of increasing urbanisation. While being invited to bid for the CUSP was prestigious in itself, I believe we improved our chances by entering into a consortium with leading international universities. Our participation will not deplete our resources in any way. Although we have not made any financial commitment towards the centre at present, we will make appropriate contributions in terms of faculty and other resources

EduTech June 2012

in due course. Our industry partners, like IBM and CISCO, will be making a financial contribution to the centre. Our lead partner, New York University, is investing $60 million in the project. The New York City Economic Development Corporation has allocated a building for the centre in Brooklyn. Our present role is to depute some of our faculty members to CUSP and I also see scope to engage some of our students with this initiative. The initiation of CUSP is happening at a very opportune time. We are in the process of creating a similar centre at IIT Bombay, driven by the need for more specialists in urban design in India. The future belongs to smart cities. But smart cities are defined by technology and so, entail greater

Overseas Campuses

Identifying a USP IIM is one of India’s leading higher education brands. Brands that are lower down the pecking order are as clear about their target audience. Amity, the sole Indian education group engaged with preschool to doctorate education, is the only one with campuses in London, Singapore, New York, New Jersey, California, Dubai, Mauritius and Romania. It has plans to open new campuses in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina and other countries in central Asia. Critics argue that Amity’s setting up base in developed cities like London and New York, home to some of the world’s best institutions, is more than a tad far-fetched. Amity would not stand a chance against older universities in these cities let alone be able to attract students from India, opting to study

overseas. They question: why would a student of any origin heading to the UK choose an Indian academic institute in London over and above say, an Oxford or a Cambridge? On the one hand, Amity abroad is clear that it is targeting a different set of students to those who would apply to the world’s unparalleled leading universities. “There are so many meritorious students from average income households who do not get into the top universities. Our clear goal is to hold out the promise of high-quality education in niche streams imparted for a lesser cost vis-à-vis the older established institutions. Smaller classes held in a teaching facility that does not compromise on technology, infrastructure or on the quality of faculty translate into more personal atten-

engineering inputs in city design. Transportation engineers, communication engineers, electrical engineers and so on will need to join hands with social scientists to co-create smart cities. IBM is a part of this project because smart city design is an area it is actively engaged with. Knowledge flows freely in academic circles but you must be plugged into the right places to tap the best ideas and methods. Having a campus in New York will connect us at IIT-B with a much larger pool of researchers and academicians. Interaction and communication play a significant role in research. We are plugging into the city of New York to connect with some of the brightest minds in the world and improve the quality of our research.

cover story tion and a better learning experience. Our lesser number of students is our trump card,” clarifies Atul Chauhan, Chancellor, Amity University. So is cost. Whereas an overseas student pursuing an MBA from Anglia Ruskin at its Cambridge campus would pay about £11,000

“Knowledge flows freely in academic circles but

you must be plugged into the right

places to tap the best ideas and methods” Prof Devang Khakhar

Director, IIT Bombay

cover story a year, at Amity, the same Anglia Ruskin MBA degree could be had for just £7,800. Dr Keith Sharp, Head of the UK’s Higher Education, International Unit, is known to have said that foreign players (including Amity) establishing themselves in the UK are undercutting British universities in price while offering the same qualification. On the other hand, continues Chauhan, “The move fits in perfectly with Amity Group’s Founder President Dr Ashok Chauhan’s vision to groom future leaders who are competent professionals with a deep passion for humanity and guided by values.”

Cross-cultural Settings Professionals entering the global economy are increasingly being expected to be trained to work in a multicultural milieu. Arguably, such professional competencies are best acquired in a multicultural learning environment, which is more easily created overseas than by attracting a fair number of foreign students to study in India. Mathur points out, “Foreign campuses of Indian institutions can enrol greater number of foreign students, for instance, 10 to 15 per cent students of the MBA batch at SP Jain’s Dubai campus are international vis-à-vis a negligible percentage of international students on the Indian campus.” Amity’s foreign campuses, home to students of different origins, offer international exposure and the right environment for developing such skills. Mathur acknowledges that overseas campuses are catering to the increasing non-resident Indians’ needs of quality and affordable education. In addition, he believes that creating foreign branches offer an additional alternative to Indian students opting for foreign education, and gives the institution access to global faculty and management best practices of some of the leading universities it comes in contact with, for cross learning. That is a big plus. Private as well as public institutions across India are facing faculty shortages, be they newly launched facilities or exemplary institutes of national importance like the IITs and IIMs. Being able to tap into good

EduTech June 2012

Overseas Campuses

Business

Needs Broadening Horizons Nitish Jain, President, SP Jain School of Global Management on the relevance of dual city management programmes, as the institution prepares to unroll a programme spanning Dubai, Singapore and Sydney SP Jain’s Dubai campus was launched in 2004. Clichéd though it may sound, the overseas move was in response to the increasing globalisation of business. We believed that if business is global, business schools should be global in their operations as well. A year later, SP Jain was invited to set-up a base in Singapore, which we did in 2006. Our dual city global management programme followed thereafter. Students spend six months of the one year course each in our Dubai and Singapore campus, gaining exposure in the business environment, business culture, political situation impacting business and so on, in the cities. It’s all about broadening their horizons because ultimately, that is what defines the ability to conduct business in the modern world. Our programme goes beyond academics; it focusses on decision-making skills, global exposure, and personal effectiveness, or the ability to make a difference. Our experience overseas has been excellent. Students from Dubai have made the most of the opportunity to study in two cities. In Singapore, we have been extended special privileges as we are a part of the Global School House initiative of the government wherein prestigious institutions like Insead of France, University of Chicago, USA, and others were invited to impart education in the city-state and thereby attract foreign students and boost the local economy. The Australian government has also been extremely supportive of our efforts to create a campus in Sydney, especially the Department of Education. Ours is the first foreign business school to be accredited by the government of New South Wales, the state we are located in. We are delighted to be in this space and look forward to welcoming students to our campus in October 2012.

Overseas Campuses

cover story faculty would be a major boon. But how practical is this really? The faculty at BPDC largely hails from the subcontinent. “Not because the management is not keen to hire locals, but because of the difficulty in finding suitably qualified and experienced faculty locally,” shares Prof Jain. For best results, faculty must be oriented to the culture of the institution, including the pedagogy, its evaluation methods and academic regulations. And such people are simply hard to find overseas, just as in India. BITS Pilani’s Dubai Campus is headed by Prof RK Mittal, a long-standing faculty member of BITS Pilani. Faculty from the IIM Indore campus shuttles back and forth between Indore and Ras Al Khaimah to take classes. There is no local faculty. Why? “This is a better value proposition,” says Prof Ramamani.

Multicultural Faculty

“We believe that if business is global, business schools should be global in their operations as well...SP Jain was invited to set-up base in Singapore” Nitish Jain

President, SP Jain School of Global Management

In contrast, Amity’s overseas campuses bring together experienced locals, Indian academicians and corporate leaders. Chancellor Chauhan believes that this helps establish an environment which is increasingly global and multicultural, which in turn ensures that students get the best of both the countries and that Amity achieves its aim of readying for employment professionals who are oriented to the emerging multicultural working environment. These crosscultural teams are headed by individuals who have a sound knowledge of the nuances of the local market. Amity Global Business School, London, for instance, is being led by Dr Peter Taylor, the former Director of the MBA programme at the UEL Business School in London and a marketing management expert with over 35 years of teaching experience across Europe, Canada and Asia. Manipal University’s overseas campuses recruit faculty and other staff locally, as far as possible. People are sent from India only if there is a shortage locally. “Our first priority is always to give preference to the local people and we try hard to find the right individuals,” says Dr Ballal, who has an interesting take on the faculty mix. June 2012 EduTech

cover story

Overseas Campuses

“Indian institutions can be at the

forefront of opportunity...

create campuses with local relevance and individuality in other global scenarios” Shobha Mishra Ghosh Director, FICCI

BPDC are the same as those offered on the India campuses, the management of the institution needed to associate with sufficient companies in the UAE so as to place all of the class, which has been as large as 500 plus students. “We offer students the choice of the Practice School or doing research on campus. It is noteworthy that so far almost every single student has opted for industry exposure. Fortunately, the Practice School is part of the curriculum in the last year so we had three years to develop industry linkages and identify sufficient Practice School stations. BPDC has connections with over 350 industries for the Practice School,” says Dr RK Mittal, Director, BITS Pilani Dubai Campus.

Global Prospects

Many courses offered by Indian higher educational institutes overseas are mash-ups of existing Indian programmes and the expectations of the local industry. Dr Ballal explains, “Courses need to be customised to meet the requirements of the local industry that will absorb the graduates and postgraduates. In doing so, we take care not to compromise on quality. Manipal University was invited to set-up base in foreign countries because of its academic excellence. That cannot be devalued at any cost.” The irony is that part of the customisation comes from employing local staff. Indigenous inputs can enhance the relevance of the education for the potential beneficiaries, and there could be more takers for programmes delivered at least partially by local faculty. For these reasons, Amity values the inputs of the academicians and members of the corporate world who have designed the management programmes offered in its global campuses. “We benchmark programme content with the latest industry updates, tailored for the local market, and deliver the courses using contemporary global teaching methodologies,” says Chauhan.

EduTech June 2012

Tailored to Local Needs Amity offers several bespoke programmes created in keeping with the needs of the overseas cities it calls home. Its regional campus at Dubai International Academic City, a member of Tecom Investments’ Education Cluster will open its doors to undergraduate and graduate students this year. The bouquet of courses includes bachelors and masters in nuclear science, aerospace engineering, solar and alternative energy, transport and logistics, banking and insurance and hospitality administration. Chauhan explains the choice of subjects, “These are the core focus areas in Dubai and hence the sectors that will demand trained manpower in the future.” Customisation does not play a role in launching globally standard courses, like engineering. What does impact the quality of engineering education, however, is the ability to provide students industry exposure. BITS Pilani is well known for its Practice School, a semester that final year students (accompanied by faculty who monitor and mentor them) spend working with engineering companies to gain practical industry knowledge. Since the engineering programmes offered by

The ability to tailor education is a speciality that could help the Indian higher education industry to make deep inroads into overseas territories. In today’s globalised world, there is an increasing need for education to adapt to prevailing situations. Emerging economies would especially benefit from the appropriate repurposing of the western university model, which has been accepted as the standard worldwide. Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Director, FICCI avers, “Indian institutions can be at the forefront of this opportunity. In India, they have been able to adopt the western university model and adapt it to local needs. They could use these skills to create campuses having local relevance as well as individual character, in other global scenarios.” She cites examples of Indian universities in the private sector that have developed indigenous models addressing the nations’ diverse and complex socioeconomic structure, and which have been accorded industry recognition for the quality output. “Dayal Bagh Engineering Institution holds out an innovative and comprehensive educational experience in providing a high degree of personalised education. The ISB experience is no less, it has adopted an innovative teaching method whereby visiting world-class faculty

Overseas Campuses

expose the students to global best management practices while reducing the revenue burden accruing from employing full-time faculty. Many newer entrants in higher education like Azim Premji University, Shiv Nadar University, and OP Jindal Global University have tailored their programmes to address the current needs of Indian economy and society.” In spite of the many good things to write about these players and others, the challenge is that currently very little is

known worldwide about what is happening in the country, other than the IITs and IIMs and exceptions like Manipal University, which has successfully taken Indian higher education abroad. That is why Ghosh would like to see the early birds focussing on enhancing the visibility of the good practices of Indian higher education as a whole, and not just use the opportunity as a brand building exercise for their own entity. “These campuses abroad should become the brand ambassadors of Indian higher education.”

Going

Overseas Difficult Decision Dr Bijendra Jain, Vice Chancellor & Director, BITS Pilani, explains why he would prefer to open a new BITS campus in India rather than start a new campus abroad Opening a campus overseas involves more formalities and adherence to an entire new set of laws. Integrating overseas students with the parent institution also presents challenges. Understanding and adapting to the needs of a collaborator, where the venture is a joint initiative, necessitates one to be continuously on their toes. Overall, starting a campus overseas is a different ballgame vis-à-vis establishing a campus in India. The cost of running an educational institution overseas is higher than in India. Also, when you operate in the international market, the quality benchmarks are different, thereby requiring one to scale a learning curve. It isn’t a challenge that you would blindly jump into—especially when India presents a ready and huge demand for almost every stream of education. A purely need-based location decision would favour opening a campus in India vis-à-vis overseas.

cover story It is also why she advocates that such institutions should have the long-term vision to develop a macro-level strategic association with the host country and build partnerships with the local industry, academia and the community through various academic and research activities that will contribute to both countries. “The bottom line is that the setting up of foreign campuses should not be viewed only as a revenue generating activity,” cautions Ghosh.

cover story

Overseas Campuses

and Kolkata have put their foreign campus expansion plans on hold. They do not want to use the corpus accumulated for the domestic campus to fund their international ambitions—what prudent management dictates. Prof Jain endorses this separation, emphasising that repatriating earnings of overseas campuses to India is not ethical and would not be done by institutions where the ‘service’ aspect carries greater weight than the ‘commercial’ aspect. “When the decision on the Dubai campus was taken, late Shri KK Birla, the former chancellor of BITS Pilani, was guided by the desire to ‘help a friendly country’. Or call it giving back. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology helped us back in 1964, not for money, but to further the cause of higher technical education.”

“Although New York is the key research focus of the CUSP

we at IIT-B, would additionally like to take up collateral developmental work for Indian megacities” Subhasis Chaudhuri Dean, International Relations IIT-B

Two-way Process

Money Matters An inquiry into the reasons behind institutions looking for a place under the strong Middle East sun or in cooler western climes, unleashes a debate about higher earnings being a driver of this trend. This debate intensified after Pune University jumped onto the bandwagon because its overseas foray marked a significant change. Until a few years ago, only private educational institutions were venturing abroad. An international move on the part of public sector institutions was being frowned upon by the authorities, ostensibly because it would take the focus away from India. Now, however, the Indian government is said to be in favour of formulating guidelines to allow government-run institutions to set-up branches abroad. Word has it that the government has changed its stance because it sees in this the opportunity for institutions to earn foreign exchange to fund higher education back home. In other words, they could repatriate the surplus to expand the educational infrastructure here. Prof Ramamani of IIM Indore endorses this view, saying, “The

EduTech June 2012

margins of our postgraduate programmes in Ras Al Khaimah are higher. We incur similar costs vis-à-vis our Indian programmes, and are able to charge higher fees in keeping with the cost of management education in the Gulf.” That said it must be borne in mind that IIM Indore has not invested in a campus infrastructure overseas. It is conducting the courses in rented premises and the local logistics partner, Global Education Mission, has identified a hostel for the use of students and arranges suitable accommodation for the faculty flying over from India. Mathur finds this line of reasoning understandable, even if not entirely plausible. “Though there is scope for charging a premium fee, the difference being as much as 40 per cent, institutes also incur higher expenses overseas.” The fact is that finance is not so simple. Overseas expansion mandates a lot of planning and can drain existing resources, especially the faculty. In Mathur’s opinion, this is the primary reason why the IITs have not yet ventured abroad and why the IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru

As the higher education sector comes of age, just as foreign universities are coming to India, so too, Indian universities will seek their prospects overseas. Futuristic academicians say this is the next logical step in the two-way process of globalisation. Discussing the scope for institutions to tap new horizons, Mathur says, “The top few institutes could take on the high-end market abroad. The rest may seek to address the annual outflow of Indian students. About 500,000 Indian students travel overseas for further studies, spending in the vicinity of US $10 billion. Some may tap foreign students looking for institutions in nearby geographies—East African students may opt to study in the Gulf. Still, many institutions may set-up base in cities boasting of a large expat community, for an added target audience.” That’s why Dr Ballal sees the maximum scope for Indian institutes in West Asian countries, a region inhabited by a large Indian community. Whatever the driving force, may the overseas campuses multiply! Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

strategY

EduTechâ&#x20AC;&#x192; June 2012

University Publishing

We want to

be a India’s Growth part of

Maureen Betses, Vice President, Higher Education, Harvard Business Publishing talks to EDU about the business of university publishing and how her company is engaging with Indian higher education sector By raj verma

by smita polite

June 2012 EduTech

strategy

University Publishing

How and why did Harvard Business School get into the business of publishing? We were established to provide greater reach for Harvard Business School (HBS) content and intellectual property. In the early days, there was always this discussion that the cases were the crown jewels of HBSl. Do we really want to give them to other schools? In the end, the Dean and the faculty decided that the school should be about reach and we would distribute cases in a big way. Informally our cases and the Harvard Business Review were already being distributed. Around 1995, then Dean, McArthur, thought it silly to have three separate activities—cases, HBR and the press which was publishing books—and he decided to bring them all together under one company. It was also decided that we wanted it to be a real publishing company.

We wanted to provide reach for Harvard, but we didn’t want it to be a vanity press. That’s why publishing was established as a separate company and though it’s a subsidiary of HBS, it operates a little separately from HBS. HBR for instance hasn’t just articles by HBS. It is by various subject matter experts from all over the world. It’s the same with the cases. We carry, about 20-25 case collections of other schools. So that academics from all schools can really come to one place and find collections that are vetted by Harvard. What we are trying to do is provide a place where business educators can come and know that they have quality education materials in one place.

The company is not for profit, so how does it sustain itself? Is it supported by endowments ? We are not supported by endowments.

In fact, it is the other way around. We don’t create profits, we create what we call contributions and so anything that is left over after paying the bills goes right back to the school. We see it as a circle of virtue. We are funding the content that we are selling. We like that it works that way and Harvard is able to do a lot more because the extra money that we make goes right back to them. We decided long ago that we are not going to use grants because it is very hard to write a case that is neutral if you have somebody else sponsoring it.

But we constantly hear of losses that university presses suffer. Why? And how does your company do so well? Well, it is really hard to build an infrastructure for publishing. It is especially difficult to build an infrastructure for case writing and publishing. To build the

“We wanted to provide reach for Harvard, but we didn’t want it to be a vanity press. That’s why publishing was established as a separate company” —Maureen Betses

Vice President, Higher Education, Harvard Business Publishing

EduTech June 2012

University Publishing

mechanism that writes the content and the mechanism that distributes the content is very expensive. So if you don’t have that infrastructure, then it is tough to make money. Lots of schools have tried and failed. Harvard was lucky because it already had cases and the HBR business. And then they decided that they would build not just an academic press but a publishing company. It is very different. We are fortunate that we are affiliated with Harvard because we can take advantage of their services. It helps us attract the best employees because Harvard has things like great insurance plans for all their employees and we can take advantage of the infrastructure if required.

their money. It will be interesting to see where text books go.

Where do you see the business of publishing going? We have seen a change and it has only begun. Academia, when it comes to adopting digital models is behind corporate. Businesses start to read and even educate online and then the schools will follow, but it takes a long time to do that. Now this change is happening exponentially. All of a sudden it sort of just takes off. Years ago we sold physical copies of cases and we started a permission order whereby schools could buy a clean copy of the case and make their own copies and they would pay permission pricing for that. Physical copies of cases and permission copies were almost equal parts But you also publish books like of our business. Now we hardly deliver the rest of the university presses. any physical copies. You couldn’t even We publish trade books about busimeasure what portion of the business it ness, not textbooks. I am glad that is. It’s all gone digital. we are not in the textbook All of a sudden you industry right now because just look around and it is not doing well. ProfesHarvard there is no more physisors are no longer using a simulations have cal business there. It full textbook. They still a seat time of will be the same with want the material in the textbooks thanks to textbook; they just don’t the tablets accelerating want it all. Students very everything. often are forced to buy the minutes, whole book and then the which is a typical professor uses half of it. So What should an business students get irritated, proIndian university class length fessors get irritated, schools wanting to get into get irritated. This puts our the business of business in a very good publishing do? position because all the materials that we They will have to research and really sell to education are in bits—a case, an understand what they need because, like article—and it fits into what we call I said earlier, a group publishing com‘course-pack’. Business education is pany requires a lot of infrastructure and done through course-packs. Professors a lot of investments and most universiare able to pick and choose what they ties can’t afford that. Even the endowthink is the best for the course that they ments that you get are for very specific are teaching and students buy materials things. It is not like you can take an from all over the place. Textbooks started endowment and spend it on whatever participating in what we call ‘custom you want. It’s the same at Harvard. A few course-packs’. So if somebody bought a years back during the decline, even Harcustom course-pack they could buy a vard was one of those who saw a real dip chapter.It could still be fairly expensive in endowment. They couldn’t just use but at least the material was being used. what was left to fill the hole. So they had Technology has made it easy to buy in to live through that just like everybody pieces and put it all back together. else. You have to invest and get the This has really given textbooks a run for money somehow to be prepared for such

strategy

eventuality. It takes time, you have to keep going. You have to build content. You have to build a reputation. You have to encourage your faculty to publish.

How are you involved with the higher education sector in India? We are interested in supporting business education in India. India is growing and India’s business is growing and we want to be a part of that. If we can influence that in a good way, then we would like to. When we entered the market four years back, there was a lot of interest in our materials and it was rewarding to know that. The case method is a different way of teaching business. It is a lot about the students and about peer-topeer learning and how a professor facilitates and encourages that. One of the first things that we do when we go into a region like India is make sure that we provide opportunities for professors to learn the case method. So we have a lot of seminars on case method teaching what we call participant-centred learning. It is a very successful programme around the world and we have always fallen short of seats. We haven’t done these seminars a lot in India up till now. Do you have more India-based case studies now? We have certainly created a lot more. Mostly because India has a bigger presence in business than ever before and we have a lot of native born Indians among our own faculty. They feel that it is an area that is impacting the world and we should be there. And they are right. This has really pushed us to participate in India’s business education. Is there any difference between how your offering is received by public and private institutions? Institutions approved by UGC don’t have the freedom to choose their own curriculum as they are bound by regulations. The AICTE approved institutions, don’t have much freedom either, but they can blend their programme with extra content and some of them are including the case teaching June 2012 EduTech

strategy

University Publishing

method. Autonomous institutions like the IIMs, are welcoming this pedagogy route. Private institutions like SP Jain, Narsee Monjee, MDI, Apeejay and Galgotia Business School are very receptive.

Is the Indian market significantly different? There’s not a whole lot of difference. Everyone understands what Harvard is all about and that it teaches the case method. So we don’t need to position the school. It is more about educating about the case study method and why it is an important pedagogy. Moving from lecture pedagogy to case teaching is a skill that someone has to acquire and when they do that they usually find that it is worth it. What makes the case study method so engaging? Case teaching is very engaging for students because they get to practise what they learn and that’s the best way to learn. It allows you to put yourself in the position of the manager in the case and that’s a little bit different than a lecture as it allows you to learn from your peers. When a teacher has been teaching something for a very long time they forget what it is like to learn it. When a fellow student all of a sudden gets it, he can tell another student how he got it. That’s what peer-to-peer learning does. It has a lot of impact. So a combination of having a subject matter expert and peers talking about the experiences is extremely powerful. And then if you bring it to another level, you can use simulations. Why did you start offering simulations? When we had started we did not make our own products. We took products from HBS and from other parts of our company and offered them to our higher education audience. We did well, but realised that the audience wanted something more and we had to make our own products. When we set out to research on the products that we should

EduTech June 2012

be making two things floated to the top. One was shorter cases as the fastest growing programmes for almost all schools were the part-time Executive MBAs. And of course, who is going to those? Well, it is people that are working. They don’t really have the time to read 30-page cases. The other thing that came up was simulations. Back then they didn’t quite know what simulation was. They just knew that it was electronic and they wanted to dip their toe in electronic products. The market at that time had some very light simulations that had a lot of impact. And then there was another set of simulations that were heavy and would take the entire duration of the course to complete. What was needed was something in between. So when we

tat reaction from the competition and the prices go up. That’s not good. Or you will see some competition hold the price steady. How far can you go if they are holding steady? The professors complained that there were so many things going on in a simulation in the markets at that time that in the end they didn’t learn as much as they should have and the reason that they didn’t was because they couldn’t draw the line between cause and effect. I pull this lever over here and had no idea which one it affected. So, we made sure that cause and effect was very clear in our simulations. That is why the market place likes it because it teaches something that is very compact and it teaches it in a way where students get it. So if they pulled a lever over here and

“ We are fortunate that we are affiliated with Harvard because we can take advantage of their services” Maureen Betses

VP, Higher Education, Harvard Business Publishing started to build simulations, we decided to put in a seat time—the time that a student would actually spend on the simulation. We decided to have a seat time of 90 minutes which is a typical business class and based the simulations on concepts that we felt lent themselves to graphic demonstration. So the simulation brought value and wasn’t just a matter of entertainment. The students get to practise what they are learning.

Could you explain how these simulations work? So for instance the pricing simulation that we built teaches students about what kind of influences affect pricing. It enables them to set pricing in different environments and then see what happens in the market place. You pull a lever and see how customers and the competition react. You may see a tit for

didn’t like the effect, they can do another round and see what happens if they change the strategy? Simulations became a great way to really complement the case method.

Do you think simulations could take over the case study method in the future? I don’t think so. I think that you are always going to see a hybrid. I really do believe that because there are some things that are just learnt better face to face. There are certain nuances that are tough to show through simulations and then there are things that are fun and easy to teach in a case that you want to continue to teach through a case and a student would want to learn it that way. Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters

ADMINISTRATION

Setting-up a University

had heard about Koraput, long before the Centre decided to set up a university there. It was difficult to escape the numerous stories featured on it about droughts, poverty and the Naxals. The Kalahandi-Balangir and Koraput (KBK) region is known for being one of the poorest and most backward regions in the country. Despite several attempts of the government including the Rs 4,544 crore (from 1995 to 2005) spent by the Central government on the region, it hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet got rid of its dubious distinction. The Central University was yet another attempt under the inclusive governance agenda of the government aimed at bringing the region into the national mainstream. So, when EDU got a chance to visit the university, we knew that we had to see

EduTechâ&#x20AC;&#x192; June 2012

Where

Bravehearts

fear tread... to

An insight into the travails of setting up Central University of Orissa in Koraput, through the writer’s reminiscences about a recent trip to the university

By raj verma

by smita polite

June 2012 EduTech

ADMINISTRATION

Setting-up a University

much more than just the university to find out how it is overcoming the challenges of coming up in a place that is not easily accessible. You have to set aside at least a day to just reach Koraput even if you take a flight.

Forest Greens Cover the Turmoil Within On the highway from Vizag to Koraput, I notice several higher education institutions before we cross the Andhra Pradesh Border. Soon the landscape changes to reveal forests and hills. As I take in the greenery, I am struck by how the beauty around us is like a veil on the harsh realities of this area. It is difficult to imagine how so much beauty can co-exist with as much chaos. It is only when the taxi driver starts telling me stories about hold-ups by Naxals and the necessity of reaching Koraput before it gets too dark, that I am able to take my eyes away from the scenery. I ask him what he thinks of the university. “It’s great Madam. I live in Koraput and have been running this taxi for sometime for the university. It has given me a regular source of income.” But, how about the university itself ? Is it meeting the expectations of the local people there? “I really don’t know about that. All I can say is that it has created jobs.” I go back to general chit chat. He had made me pick up bottled water, chips and biscuits in Vizag warning me that I will get nothing on the way for the next four to five hours. I offer him some biscuits, but he refuses, telling me that he has had a full lunch. “Madam why did you not stay in Daspalla? Most guests like you, who come to Koraput, don’t stay there for the night. They stay in Vizag for the night, leave for Koraput in the morning and get back to Vizag at night.” Does that mean there are no hotels in Koraput? “Of course we have Raj Residence, Atithi Bhavan and the HAL guesthouse which the university uses, but they are not good enough for VIPs.” I tell him, I am a journalist, and he smiles. “Oh like Sainath! You know he is also coming.” I am shocked. How does he know about Sainath? “I have heard about him. He has written a lot about

EduTech June 2012

“ The university’s priorities particularly are

healthcare and tribal welfare, which

have naturally generated a lot of expectation”

Surabhi Banerjee

VC, Central University of Orissa, Koraput

Setting-up a University

My advise would be to create a wake up call movement. Make it vibrant eventful and a happening University. Relate to the community. Bring about a change in the ambience. Make the people dream.

this region.” I have no idea how the university managed this. My professor from journalism school, Magsaysay award winner and one of the most renowned journalists in India—here? But, I quickly remind myself that P Sainath spends most of his time roaming around villages in India, and this region, being one of the poorest is also his favourite haunt. I reach the HAL guesthouse at around 7 pm. The room is comfortable, but very basic. It reminds me of government quarters in the small town I grew up in Bihar. I am sent dinner in a plate in the room at 8 pm. After dinner I decide to go for a walk. It’s dark but the lights on the guesthouse ground is enough. There’s not a soul around, and finally when I do see someone as I am stepping out from the guesthouse, I am told that it’s unsafe to go out alone at this hour, and anyway I will not see any lights for more than a kilometre. Better to explore during the day. Well, it’s really like my small town in Bihar, I tell myself and go off to sleep.

Over the past few years, has the university’s presence in Koraput helped in uplifting the local morale and contributed in its development? How?

Trust Still Scores over Terror

“Make the

People Dream” The Vice Chancellor Surabhi Banerjee on how she is dealing with the challenges of setting up a university in a remote location like Koraput and more.

What was a greater challenge: getting quality students or getting quality faculty? Getting quality faculty is always a greater challenge. We have introduced job-oriented and innovative programmes to get quality students.

What advise would you give to another administrator who has to set up an institution in a remote area?

Yes, now the people of Koraput are dreaming big. They foresee rich potential for employment and also for education and research. The university’s priorities particularly are healthcare and tribal welfare, which have naturally generated a lot of expectation. Thus, the university is going to contribute to the economy of the region in many significant ways.

What according to you have been the greatest achievements so far? The first historic Convocation held in July 2011. Degrees were conferred on 126 students. The list of our visitors and invited speakers was of very high quality. It included Sam Pitroda, Prof Kaushik Basu, P Sainath, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Professor MS Swaminathan, Prof NR Madhav Menon, Kiran Karnik, Dr Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission, Dr Srinath Reddy, Justice Asok Ganguly, Supreme Court of India, Prof CS Seshadri, Prof Rajeeva Karandikar, Director, Chennai Mathematical Institute and other distinguished dignitaries like Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of HRD, Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister of India, His Excellency, Shri MC Bhandare, Governor of Orissa and Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa. by subhojit paul

ADMINISTRATION

What are the long-term plans for the university? The university has been conceived as a composite institution which will gradually emerge as a centre of excellence. The underpinning idea is the symbiosis and wholesome fusion of knowledge capital and demanddriven courses.

In the morning, right after breakfast, I meet Sourav Turuk, a young postgraduate student from the Journalism department at the university. His slim frame and simple demeanour could easily make you mistake him for a school going student. The youngest of five brothers, he lives with his family in Koraput. His grandfather was a Tehsildar and they lived in a village around seven kms from Koraput before his father, a policeman, decided to move to the town. “A lot of students, here are from Koraput,” he tells me in English. I did not expect this. His English, though halting, is not bad. “My class of 30 students has 10 students from Koraput,” he says. Most others are from Orissa. They also have one student from Bihar. “The parents were really scared when they came here in the beginning. But now my classmates are in love with this place and some are convinced that it’s more peaceful than their own place.” Really? So are the Naxals not targeting the university? June 2012 EduTech

ADMINISTRATION

Setting-up a University

Challenges and Solutions CHALLENGES According to the Vice Chancellor, Surabhi Banerjee, the top five challenges she faced in setting-up the institution in a place like Koraput were: * Location and setting of the university *Lack of connectivity with the rest of the state and to the rest of the country *Lack of existing infrastructure in terms of material resources like house, road, water, etc *The challenges of obscurantist mindset *Disturbing situations in terms of unforeseen bandhs, roadblocks and incident of violence

SOME SOLUTIONS: The university had to open a camp office in Bhubaneswar to overcome some of these challenges. According to sources, it was a logistical nightmare to get all the executive council and academic council members together for its meetings in Koraput. The camp office has also come in handy for frequent meetings and consultation with the state government. The university has also built a fully-equipped video conferencing facility on its temporary campus at the Silk Board Building at Landiguda. This facility has been used for some guest lectures. The campus also has a wellstocked library and a computer centre with access to the internet. The university built close ties with HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) and uses its guesthouse as well as the auditorium on important occasions. It has also established close networks with the local administration and the police, and seeks its intervention whenever required.

“Till now I haven’t heard of any such incident,” he tells me getting into the taxi that’s taking us to the HAL auditorium. I have started off early and decide to go around town, and also visit the construction site of the permanent campus. On the way we are stopped. I see a troop of military guys who look like they are just walking around. “Operation Green Hunt,” I am told, “Nothing to worry.” We are allowed to move on after a while. I soon find out from other sources that the university does face issues once

EduTech June 2012

in a while. Specially when it comes to the construction site where labour issues crop up frequently and local authorities and the police have to be called to intervene. There are just two roads to Koraput, and it’s not uncommon for the trucks carrying construction material to be ambushed. But then it’s not always the Naxals who create the problems. Many a times it’s just a bunch of petty criminals who attack in the garb of Naxals. I am reminded of what the Vice Chancellor, Surabhi Banerjee had told me about dis-

turbing situations in terms of unforeseen bandhs, roadblocks and incidents of violence being a challenge for her. The disturbances have slowed down the construction, yet the 450 acres of undulating land has a sturdy boundary wall around it. We make our way to the construction site and I am taken around by Sourav with a construction worker in tow. Sourav quickly translates the Oriya and tells me that it won’t be long before its ready. They are planning to shift the boys and the girls hostel first. It will probably be ready for the move by December 2012. I wonder what would take them that long? The roof’s there, it’s almost semi-finished and though there is no frenzy, there are enough construction workers. The construction worker smiles and says that the pace varies and though he’s not the actual authority, but he knows enough about these projects to make such predictions, moreover he has heard other more important people talk about when its expected to be ready. The campus is currently being run from the temporary campus at the Silk Board house. The girls and boys hostel is also running from rented premises. I hear about how difficult it was to organise even the mess facilities because of the limitations of a place like Koraput. Students had to initially eat at hotels. I also find out that the faculty have had a tough time looking for rented accommodation in the town. There is a general assumption that all Central University employees are being paid handsomely so houses for which one would not even pay Rs 2,000 are being let out to faculty for Rs 6,000. Thankfully, the housing issue for faculty is being looked at seriously now. There are reports that the second phase of construction will include faculty housing. On the way back from the construction site, I stop for a while to admire the Kerandi—a tributary of Kolab river, which flows quite close to the site. Sourav tells me that as kids they used to go fishing at this spot. “If you have time, you must also see the Dam and the reservoir. It’s really beautiful, though the fish have strangely become fewer in number. It could be an ecological imbalance,” I am told.

Setting-up a University

History Beckons Understanding We make it in time to the auditorium and hear Sainath talk about media education to the students. He starts by telling them a little bit of history about Chikapar, the village land on which the University is coming up to help them understand the region and the context in which they would become media persons. “The HAL land was acquired in the early 1960s when Biju Patnaik was the defence minister and had a grand plan to bring the entire Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to Orissa (Bangalore and Kanpur were also lobbying for it) and thousands of acres of land were acquired for the purpose. Chikapar is perhaps the only village in the history of displacement that has been displaced thrice.

HAL went to Bangalore. Thousands of acres of acquired land have remained fallow for 40 years. This is the land where your magnificent university is coming up. Know it, be sensitive to it.” Sourav is visibly moved when we meet again at lunch. I ask him if he was aware of the facts that Sainath had just shared. “Yes. Partly I was. That is why I want to be a part of the change that I believe this University will bring. After completing postgraduation, I want to stay on in Koraput and probably work at the University.” Sourav graduated from Vikramdev Autonomous College, that was around 20 kms from his home in Koraput. He says that he hardly attended classes there. Not so in the Central University though. Its a close knit class he says. We have all become great friends.

“I want to be part of the change that I believe this University will bring. After completing postgraduation, I want to stay on in Koraput and probably work at theUniversity” Sourav Turuk

Student, Central University of Orissa First, the residents were thrown out for HAL, then it moved to a site from where it was thrown out by Naval Ammunitions Depot and then to another which it had to vacate for Military Engineering Supply Canteen. It’s perhaps the only village in the world that has taken on the Army, Airforce and the Navy and lost. The thousands families include some of the most ancient tribal societies in the world apart from other Dalit groups. Thousands of these families were left destitute. Many of these communities disintegrated. Many ended up in the sex trade and there was no question of any compensation or quota of jobs for them. Those who got jobs, got it on their own. Some of them are working for HAL. But what happened to the HAL land? Biju Babu lost his job at the Centre and

I hear from some other sources that there are some students in the University who have been threatened by Naxals to not take up education, but they have gone ahead in spite of the threats, the desire to achieve and the desire for a better future being much greater than the fear of the threats. When I meet an Assistant Professor Sujit Kumar Mohanty at the University, he tells me that a deep understanding of society that they are living in, is as much a part of other courses as in the department of journalism. Students do a lot of field work among the communities around the district. “Students are given an understanding of the basic problems of the area so that once they pass out they can bring about positive change in society.” Most students in the University are local, and

ADMINISTRATION

that enhances the sensitivity of the class to local problems. While it may be an advantage in some ways, there have been critics who say that this University lacks the national character that a central university needs.

Life Hangs on to Hope I am at the end of my visit and surrounded by students who want a word with a journalist who comes from a similar background as theirs. Growing up in a small town that seems to be cut off from the rest of the world and a hotbed of crime can be challenging and lead to a narrow view of the world. A central university at Koraput, could change that, but the task at hand is truly tough. As Rajaram Satapathy, Special Correspondent at the Times of India, Bhubaneswar tells the students, “Koraput is still like Kalapaani.” Even I give in to the prospect of spending a comfortable night at Vizag, rather than leaving early in the morning the next day for a five hour drive to the airport and then four hours on the plane to Delhi. I justify this need for comfort in various ways in my head. But I know now why it’s difficult to convince people that Koraput is not Kalapaani. Our cab is stopped by the military on the way back and the driver is taken aside for questioning. He comes back in two minutes. Regular checking he says. I heave a sigh of relief and look forward to a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow I will be back in the comfort of my Delhi home writing about this trip, I tell myself. The University may still be miles away from what is expected of a Central University, but I know and have seen the hope that it holds for the people of Koraput. And in spite of all the roadblocks and chakka jams it’s definitely headed in a direction that will hopefully make Koraput well known for something other than the distinction of being one of the poorest and most backward regions of the country. Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters June 2012 EduTech

TECHNOLOGY 09 Tech INTERVIEW: George Siemens, Athabasca University 12 Tech TUTeS: Avoiding Information Overload

By raj verma

14-21 Tech Snippet: Technology News and Tips and Tricks

Made for Education Tailor-made tablets for highereducation will leave you spoilt for choice. Choose wisely by tushar kanwar 38

EduTechâ&#x20AC;&#x192; June 2012

iterally overnight, tablets have captured the public imagination, and tabletmania is here to stay. But what was once viewed as a corporate tool for high-flying executives is slowly but surely making inroads into the education sector, driven not only by valuebased offerings that bring tablets into the buying reach of students, but also (and probably more importantly), the growth of education-focussed apps and content partnerships catering to the needs of the higher education segment. We spoke to leading solution providers who have been readying tablet-based education offerings, to look at the important considerations and choices you have to make.

Tablets

Tech Snippet | Cloud

Apple iCloud due for first major update A recent report by WSJ indicates that Apple is likely to showcase an iCloud update at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which starts on June 11. In the meanwhile, numerous cloud storage and synchronisation competitors, including the new Google Drive have made their appearance. Apple’s due to make its first major update to its iCloud offering since its launch last year. The updated iCloud is expected to get new photo and synchronisation features. Future iCloud users should be able to share photos and albums with other iCloud

Role of Tablets in Education As we looked across the spectrum of competing tablets and service providers, one common viewpoint was repeatedly stressed by all our respondents—that the Indian higher education sector is one of the biggest education systems in the world today, and as a dynamic sector poised for huge growth, the need for an e-learning system was becoming more and more apparent, and value tablets could possibly rise to the occasion as a viable solution. Yet, as Stephan K Thieringer, President and CEO of AcrossWorld Education (the team behind the ATab tablet) puts it, the role of tablets should not be viewed as simply a matter of hardware alone. The relevance and true impact of tablets in countries like India, and in particular in Tier III and IV cities is the way and a means to provide access to a global connection and virtual infrastructure where previously no access was available or even possible. In such situations, the combination of affordability, overall cost effectiveness and transportability, combined with the ability to connect to a WiFi or 3G networks opens up an entirely new spectrum. This can mean the ability to partake in a class in a remote manner through access to materials and web sessions, and even access to collaborative ways of studying and cutting down the barrier for students that excluded them

TECHNOLOGy

users, who will also be able to comment on them. Native video synchronisation across Apple devices is also expected. Notes and Reminders features should get iCloud.com access, no longer limiting them to Apple devices. Apple is likely to announce its new lineup of MacBooks as well, with the latest Intel Ivy Bridge processors. According to reports it may also reveal an Apple TV and the new iOS 6 at WWDC. New Apple iMacs and iPods may just make an appearance as well. The media is rife with speculations on what’s going to fill up the company’s portfolio (don’t get your hopes up on an iPhone 5 though).

from class due to distance, commute and geography. As an example, Thieringer spoke of institutions in Kolkata, which are exploring a mix of remote access to class and physical attendance to save students the daily commute of more than three hours to and from the university. Apart from the benefits of inclusion, of bringing many more students under the fold, tablets can play pivotal roles in the teaching and e-learning process, in much the same manner as computerisation and overhead/digitial projectors took the classroom discussion beyond what was possible with the blackboard. Deepak

Mehrotra, CEO, Micromax, envisions the tablet to be an all-encompassing device, capable of being the focal point of all study materials—textbooks, videos, images, recorded lectures, web research and syndicated content—making it easier for teachers to deliver education and students to consume education in a more unified fashion. Beyond the ability to assimilate and organise study material, connected tablets can serve students in the classroom by allowing them to share resources with their peers in an easier fashion, and instead of merely taking notes like a stenographer, would empower students by

“The relevance of tablets in countries like India is that it’s a means to provide access to a global connection and infrastructure” Stephan K Thieringer

President and CEO, Acrossworld

June 2012 EduTech

TECHNOLOGy

Tablets

Tech Snippet | email

Gmail now has automatic message translation Gmail users can now easily communicate with others who speak a different language, with Google’s automatic translation feature for all Gmail users. Now, Gmail will translate the message in other languages other than your own. Users will need to click on Translate button in the header to see the translated version of the message. It is also possible to now reply to emails in the sender’s native language. It’s notable that the feature has been available in Gmail Labs since 2009. Jeff Chin, Product Manager for Google Translate, revealed automatic message

translation is one of the most popular Labs’ features. “We heard immediately from Google Apps for Business users that this was a killer feature for working with local teams across the world,” Chin wrote in a blog post. “Some people just wanted to easily read newsletters from abroad. Another person wrote in telling us how he set up his mom’s Gmail to translate everything into her native language, thus saving countless explanatory phone calls (he thanked us profusely).” In case you do not want the translate feature, all you need to do is click the turn off button.

Platform in Focus: Attano

s a rising player in the education content and delivery space, Attano innovates in the e-learning game by providing supplementary education content, with upto 150 titles in the higher education (BCom, Engineering and MBA) space across a variety of platforms—PCs, iPads, android tablets and mobile phones. Purchased content can be downloaded directly to the app—once downloaded, you can read them without an internet connection. What’s interesting is that the Attano Reader application has built-in intelligence which learns from data trends over a period of time—based on which Attano can recommend to the students what they should study/review, and via which medium—e-books, assessment papers or video text books—and benchmark themselves against peers across the country.

“MyEduTabHigher Education Version bundles multimedia content and apps to make students more industry ready” —Anand Ekambaram, Head, HCL Learning

EduTech June 2012

allowing them to annotate lecture notes on top of lecture material. You may well ask, laptops have been doing this for a while now, haven’t they? Yes, except the very nature of the laptop design introduces a barrier between student and teacher with the laptop screens impeding face-to-face communication. Tablets, on the other hand, sit flat (or slightly raised) on the desk, with the user typing directly on the screen. Students are still able to take notes, check web pages, and (in some cases where enabled) follow along in class with digital textbooks. This allows the student to utilise technology in the classroom while fully participating in classroom activities and discussions.

Apps and Content Partnerships Most tablets competing in the higher education space feature some basic table stake capabilities, as Wishtel CEO Milind Shah puts it. These include the ability to download and read books from a virtual library, access social networking sites and use the internet for research and sharing notes. Local language support, a feature of the Wishtel IRA tablet, is a bonus. But as Thieringer rightly pointed out, hardware alone does not make a good education tablet. It’s the critical ecosystem of applications and content partnerships with providers such as Pearson and Attano, to name a few, that will make the difference. The ATab for

Tablets

Tech Snippet | Digest

Twitter introduces weekly email digest feature Twitter has announced rolling out a new weekly email digest that features the “most relevant” tweets and stories shared by the people you follow on the micro-blogging website. The new feature comes a few months after the social networking company took over Summify, a start-up that compiled news from a user’s various social networks in daily emails. After acquisition, Summify’s team moved from Vancouver to Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco. Announcing the new feature, Twitter in a blog post said that the stories in the email digest will be showcased much like

example offers a two-pronged approachfirst make a wide variety of open content and Open Educational Resources available via content from MIT-OCW, Rice University, California State University, Stanford, Yale—a total of more than 230 institutions providing content across the world. In addition, they have tied-up with companies like Sanako and others for addressing certificate programmes, for example, in the apparel industry, as well as life skill development. HCL Infosystems goes a step further and offers a specialised higher education focussed tablet called the MyEduTab-Higher Education (HE) Version which, according to Anand Ekambaram, Senior Vice President, HCL Infosystems Ltd and Head HCL Learning, bundles in rich multimedia content on technical and professional skills, assessments and apps towards preparing students to become more industry ready. Deepak Mehrotra brings in some additional perspective to the discussion. As CEO of Micromax, he is at the forefront of promoting the concept of an education tablet in India with the Micromax Funbook. The Funbook ships with its own e-learning app, which allows users to get study materials, videos, multimedia, tests, assessment, and even references from leading content brands like Pearson, Everonn, GK Publishers, Scholarshub, Vidyalankar, Universal Tutorials, CAPS, Zion, etc.

TECHNOLOGy

they are under the Discover tab on the website—that has a headline, summary and then followed by a row of thumbnail images of the tweeter. To read the story, users need to click the headline. Moreover, users can also go through related tweets from the people they are following. Users can directly tweet a post from email digest as well. “This new email digest also features the most engaging tweets seen by the people you follow, even if you don’t follow those who wrote them,” adds Twitter. The new email will be available for users across globe over the next few weeks.

“Most tablets in higher-ed have the ability to download and read books, access social networking and surf the internet” Milind Shah CEO, Wishtel

Guidelines for Adoption

Why Not the iPad?

Much like any revolutionary educational initiative, tablets require a lot of groundwork to be in place before any institution makes the large investment required. First and foremost, administrators and faculty should identify the content needs and evaluate which service providers meet the said needs. Another key consideration is the backbone wireless infrastructure to allow always-on internet connectivity for these tablets—is that in place in your campus? Only after closing the scope on these points should leaders in institution invite the first proposal from tablet makers.

If budgets were no constraints, the iPad represents an exceptional tablet experience, but when universities are battling dwindling budgets and economic cutbacks, a Rs 20,000 plus iPad may not represent the best buy for a student. This key economic reason may keep the iPad from gaining the kind of marketshare in the education sector that it sees in the consumer marketplace. Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters June 2012 EduTech

TECHNOLOGy

Social Media

Tech Snippet | Survey

Indians use smartphones more than Americans A survey conducted by Google in partnership with research firm Ipsos, has revealed that Indian smartphone users are more active online than their US counterparts. According to the survey, 56 per cent Indian smartphone users access internet on their phones as compared to 53 per cent in the US. The survey, however, points out that India has less than 50 per cent of 245 million smartphone users in the United States. Highlighting the rising popularity of social networking sites in the country, the survey reveals that more than 75 per cent of

the Indian smartphone users access social networking sites, as compared to 54 per cent in the US. Around 81 per cent Indians access emails through their smartphones, while only 73 per cent Americans do the same. “Smartphones, being powerful devices can act as a pocket supercomputer as well and can do a lot more than just navigate through social networking pages,” the survey said. The survey also reveals that of the 56 per cent usage of internet through smartphones in India, 59 per cent are males and 48 per cent females. It further says, smartphones are not just used for calling and texting but watching TV, listening to music, browsing online and checking emails too.

Tech TUTES

Avoiding Information Overload

Go Clutter Free

aken to your Facebook and it’s best to come to terms with that. account a lot to keep up Not just that, you should be downright with old school friends, selective about the number of social netand find yourself spending works where you will be active–two to too much time on it as a three at most, no more. Next, you should result? Or do you now habitually check routinely prune your friends list of folks your twitter and email every hour, just to who you may have casually met years see if you’ve got mail? If you are sufferago and don’t really need to hear their ing any of these symptoms, everyday updates, in here are some tips to save essence, folks who add you from the information noise to your life. READER ROI overload from social media Use the Tools: If technol Staying connected without becoming and the email. ogy creates a problem, a social media chances are technology can addict help solve it as well. Use Social Media the right tools and you can Fatigue Keeping a control get more done with the Mi n i m i s e t h e N o i s e : on your inbox same amount of time Remember, unless you U sing tech tools to invested—especially plan on staying awake 24/7, solve tech important if you use social you will miss great content problems media to promote your and updates occasionally,

EduTech June 2012

Be Selective: You don’t need to be active on all networks. Choose where and when and stick to it

institution or your own personal brand. TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com, available for your desktop and smartphone) for example lets you stay connected to updates from friends from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Buzz and more, all at once place. You can also prioritise what you read here by creating groups and lists that you would like to pay special attention to, which makes it easier for you to keep up with the conversation and pay attention to those you are truly interested in. Time-Out: And when your Facebook or Twitter time gets to be a problem, take a break from social media and switch off the computer, laptop, phone and other connected devices after a predetermined time in the evening.

Social Media

Tech Snippet | Mobile

Nokia Reading app for Lumia devices Nokia’s Reading e-book reader app, will finally be available on Nokia Lumia devices, designed for the Windows Phone platform and the ClearBlack display. The Nokia Reading app was first unveiled at MWC 2012. Nokia has reportedly partnered with publishers like Hachette, Pearson, and Penguin for exclusive e-book and audio book

Email Overload No Spam Policy: It may well be the essential evil of our digital age, but no one likes spam. And it’s reasonably easy to not get too much spam, as long as you protect your primary email addresses– your institution’s official ID and one for personal use—zealously and use an alternative email address which you don’t check often to sign up for mailing lists, free services like greeting card companies, online memberships or any other services online which ask for your email solely to give you access to some content. Banish Forwards: If all you seem to be reading is forwards from your friends all day and can’t manage your email as a result, consider asking your friends to stop sending you jokes, prayers, thoughts for the day, chain letters, etc or ask them to direct them to your other spam account so you can look at them once in every two weeks. Your main inbox will be cleaner and you will thank yourself for it at the end of every work day. Use Filters: Most email services give you some filtering or rules capabilities, and you can filter messages based on subject into a folder of their own. So if there are folks who you can’t ask to reduce the frequency of their emails, consider adding them to a filter which will take the email away from your inbox and out of your sight, letting you focus on the emails that matter.

TECHNOLOGy

experiences for the Lumia devices. Users will be able to read sample pages before they buy the book, and will also be easily able to find top books in local languages. Thousands of free classical literature e-books will also be available. A night mode is also present, turning white pages black, and text white, apart from resizable type. Additions to the Nokia Reading app are expected to be available soon via the marketplace, bringing a News Stream news aggregating feature and audio book functionality,

Use Technology: Tools like TweetDeck can help you stay connected to updates on various networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and many more

Clean Up: You don’t need a messy inbox. Use filters and get into the habit of cleaning up regularly

Do-Not-Disturb: Have you set Outlook or Gmail to notify you on the PC/Phone the moment you have new email? At least for a few hours a day, turn off new email notifications—few messages are truly that urgent and in most cases, if someone needs an immediate response, they’ll know how to reach you by phone or other methods. Clean Regularly: Much like our houses, our email inboxes also need regular attention, or else you will be faced with an unread count going into three digits, if not more. A few times a day or week, based on the volume of email you get, attack your inbox and do at least one

thing to each mail— delete it, forward it, add to a to-do list, or reply to it. Move all the emails you have attacked thus to a folder out of your view. (Outlook has all these features, and you can achieve this in Gmail as well). This and more is prescribed by David Allen in his pioneering work on time management called ‘GTD’ or Getting Things Done, and there are many tools that let you set up GTD actions on your email client like Outlook or Gmail. Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters June 2012 EduTech

TECHNOLOGy

Interview

George Siemens Associate Director of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University Educator and researcher on learning, networks, analytics and visualisation, openness, and organisational effectiveness in digital environments Author of Knowing Knowledge and the Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning

Tech INTERVIEW George Siemens

The Game Changers In conversation with Radhika Haswani, George Siemens, educator and researcher on learning and networks, says networks are essential to make sense of our complex world What is connectivism and collective knowledge? It’s actually a very simple idea—when people are connected to each other, they have the ability to distribute their knowledge. When you’re facing complex issues, such as what we confront today in the shape of global problems, opportunities and challenges,

EduTech June 2012

then through our networks we are able to make sense of the world. When the world is as complex as it is today, where no single person can understand it, we need to connect to each other in order to make sense of it and bring about the kind of changes that we desire.

How is a network-directed programme different from a selfdirected programme? There are some similarities between the two because even traditional directive instructions encourage people to participate in different ways. The main difference is that when you are selfdirected in a network setting, specially online, you interact with different types of individuals. Often your interaction is global and in some cases these interac-

Interview

tions are also across multiple disciplines. But in a regular physical space, you spend time with the same group of people and your interactions are influenced by people directly around you. In an online setting, you can jump across different networks more rapidly, so you have people with different knowledge areas and disciplines coming in to contribute and interact. The biggest difference is that in self-directed learning you are actually able to define for yourself what you want. If you have 30 people in a regular classroom, all of them will have the same basic information that they will be instructed to learn. But with 30 people learning in an open manner online, all of them may have completely different set of goals and priorities for which they are working.

So it works across disciplines? Or is it specific to any course? I wouldn’t say so, but it is important to recognise that a lot of what we have done with open online courses has been to emphasise disciplines such as education, educational technology, social science or the humanities. I am not aware of many open online courses being offered in the hard sciences field but now that’s changing because there are open courses in traditional subject areas like computer science. If I want to pursue a course online, do I need a specific set of skills for that or is there an eligibility criteria? I wouldn’t say eligibilty criteria. Rather, what happens is that when you take up a course online, you really decide what you want to do, and if you don’t have certain skills then they are easy enough to develop by taking someone’s help. People are generally good at sharing and teaching each other, it’s like a group of students teaching and explaining each other. One of the courses I did online was to analyse how long it takes for the questions of the students to be answered. It varied a bit, but people replied in a few hours. The network was around 2,000 students. So they are no longer

TECHNOLOGy

“In an online setting, you can jump across different networks more rapidly, so you have people with different knowledge areas and disciplines coming in to contribute and interact...(with) different set of goals” —George Siemens

Associate Director, Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute dependent only on the educators, students help each other. When you are connected, you don’t have to rely on the educator as the only source of information, or to get your doubts clarified or questions answered.

What kind of reforms are these online courses bringing in the education system? At this stage, I don’t think they are bringing in any reform. But I think there is hope that down the road there will be a change in how universities and even schools view the ability to teach a large group of people when they stop looking at the educator as the only source of information. In this context, universities can start thinking about not teaching everything themselves, but could connect students to the various online courses or maybe start working together in collaboration with one another, to emphasise on the ability to be connected to each other, which should be a global learning experience and not just the local classroom learning. So, in the long term if things go well it will have an impact on the view of education—the goal I think is universities will think differently about—what it does to teach and what it does to learn. The one significant aspect of the internet is that it has changed who has power and control. In the past the

educator would decide the readings or tell the activities you were to involve with, but today even when you’re teacher is lecturing in a class you might be googling concepts for better understanding, maybe you get videos which teach better than the faculty member did, you have options and the reason you have options is because internet redistributes control, so in the long term, this might be one of the biggest impacts.

Will the traditional system of education be replaced? Replaced is probably too strong a word. I think it will be blended, which means there will be somethings online and somethings face to face. I do a lot of interviews on skype but it is a different experience when you sit down, face to face, as you have a better sense of identity. With online courses, I get to talk without having to travel a lot—there are definitely positives in online courses. Maybe universities or schools could start face to face courses and then take it online, making sure that people are comfortable. So you can try and blend them—combination is a better way to go about it. Subscribe to the daily electronic newsletter from EDU at http://edu-leaders.com/content/newsletters June 2012 EduTech

the global perspective From

o f h i g h e r ed u c a t i o n

INSIDE 48 | Harvard and MIT Host Free Online Courses 50 | Open Education’s Wide World of Possibilities

Europe’s Austerity Measures Take Their Toll on Academe When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, it looked at first as if many European universities were going to escape the worst By Aisha Labi

by photos.com

Demoralised: Academia has been the worst hit in the aftermath of recession

EduTech June 2012

our years in, that is no longer the case. With governments facing unyielding international pressure to reduce deficits by curbing public spending, universities in Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal are suffering from their most painful cuts in decades. European universities, which on average rely on public money for nearly 75 per cent of their finances, are wrestling with hiring freezes, rising tuition, and declines in campus services. Greece, which has been subjected to stringent fiscal requirements by international lenders to qualify for bailout money, has become emblematic of the worst of the crisis. And universities, along with the entire public sector, are on the receiving end of biting national austerity measures. New faculty appointments have been almost completely halted, and there are growing worries of a brain drain. “We are losing younger colleagues and the more qualified of the older generation,” says Panos Tsakloglou, an associate professor of economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business, who has seen his effective income decline by around a third in the past couple of years. Academics with established reputations who can command higher salaries abroad are increasingly succumbing to the temptation, while others are leaving academe altogether and turning to potentially more lucrative fields, he says. The prevailing mood at universities and throughout the country, he says, is one of “demoralisation”. A similar sentiment has gripped Spain, where youth unemployment levels are above 50 per cent and some 300,000 recent

Global.Chronicle.Com spending on a selective basis. Summer temuniversity graduates emigrated last year in peratures in Barcelona can reach the 90s and, what the labour minister called a “dramatic without proper care for the materials, the exodus” without parallel in the country’s modsweltering humidity can be especially damagern history. The new conservative government ing. In a cost-cutting measure, most of the elected in December is pushing through buduniversity’s 16 libraries were closed over the get cuts resulting in reductions of between five Sign up for a free weekly Easter break, leaving only two open at a time, and 15 per cent in universities’ allocations and electronic newsletter from The Chronicle of Higher Education at and subscriptions to some 500 of the library’s has issued an executive order freezing publicChronicle.Com/Globalnewsletter 15,000 publications have been cancelled. sector hiring for 2012. Responsibility for highThe Chronicle of Higher Education is Andreu Mas-Collel is Finance Minister of er education falls largely to the 17 autonomous a US-based company with a weekly Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital. regions, akin to states, but the national direcnewspaper and a website updated A former regional minister for higher educative has meant that tenure-track faculty at unidaily, at Global.Chronicle.com, that cover all aspects of university life. tion and research, he is a renowned economist versities across the country are mired in With over 90 writers, editors, and who has taught at Berkeley and Harvard. administrative limbo, with institutions unable correspondents stationed around He calls the arguments by some in the univerto commit to hiring decisions. the globe, The Chronicle provides sity sector that the country should be investing John Stone, a native Canadian who received timely news and analysis of academmore in higher education to stimulate his doctorate from the University of Barcelona, ic ideas, developments and trends. economic growth “wishful thinking”. Univerwhere he teaches English literature, has fulsities should instead be seeking increased filled the requirements for tenure but, because private contributions and exploring other of the hiring moratorium, has “jumped means of generating revenue, he says. “I tell my colleagues, through all the prescribed hoops only to find that there’s ‘If the only option is to rely on the public budget, you are nowhere to land after the last jump,” he says. Academic salaries condemning yourselves.’” at the university have been cut twice in the past two years, even Last year undergraduate tuition across Spain rose to around as class sizes and workloads have increased. 1,000 euros, an increase of around 15 per cent. Last month the Mr Stone teaches two courses of two sections each, lecturing national education minister met with regional officials to disfor six hours a week, and the nearly 90 students in each class are cuss a possible increase of an additional 50 to 65 per cent by roughly twice the number he had just four or five years ago, he September. Tuition now generates 15 per cent of universities’ says. Retiring professors are not being replaced, and “we correct budgets, and the extra income from the increase helped offset all our papers ourselves,” he says, adding that “there’s now talk cuts by regional governments. of increasing courseloads by up to 50 per cent, depending on Universities elsewhere in Europe are looking to students to your output as a researcher.” bear a greater share of the cost of their educations as well. “The question of tuition fees is being discussed in almost all counShuttered Libraries tries in Europe,” says Thomas Estermann, who leads the unit Institutions are trimming costs wherever they can. The Univerfor governance, autonomy, and finance at the Brussels-based sity of Barcelona has eliminated budget allocations for the presEuropean University Association, which has been monitoring ervation of old books and manuscripts, although Adelaida Ferthe impact of the economic crisis since 2009. rer, the university’s head librarian, says she is able to authorise The latest data gathered by Mr Estermann’s unit, to be published next month, show declines in public financing even in some systems where politicians had pledged to keep levels constant. Hungary has cut public financing for universities by 18 per cent since 2011, for example, and Portugal, once lauded for its commitment to maintain higher-education spending, has joined the growing group of countries that have cut such spending by at least 10 per cent. The impact of the cuts has varied from system to system and among institutions, says Mr Estermann, but there are common themes. “It has hit universities where it’s most painful, in human resources,” he says.

Academic salaries at the university have been cut twice in the past two years, even as class sizes and workloads have increased

Burdensome Regulations António Rendas, rector of the New University of Lisbon and president of the Council of Rectors of the Portuguese Universities, says institutions there are regressing in other ways as well. “We are now coming back to very tight regulation” after a period June 2012 EduTech

THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE of increasing independence for universities, says Mr Rendas. Universities cannot commit to long-term agreements for hiring faculty and staff, to research agreements with universities in other countries, or even to pay for operating expenses like technical support, without seeking government dispensation. “It’s not just the effect of the cuts, it is the increasing weight of the regulation procedures that are imposed on the whole Portuguese system,” says Mr Rendas. António Costa Pinto, a political scientist and a research professor at Lisbon’s Institute of Social Sciences, says that throughout Portugal, professors have endured salary cuts amounting to 30 per cent of their net income over the past two years. Faculty are resorting to tactics that academics in Latin America employed some 20 years ago in order to survive, when “the average university professor had two positions, one in the state system and one in the private sector,” he says. The slashing of public support also means that Portugal is losing hard-won gains in research performance and scientific output. Two years ago the government awarded financing to 1,000 postdoctoral science fellows. This year it has money for just 80. All postdoctoral and doctoral grants that were supposed to be paid out at the start of the year have yet to be paid, although the posts have been occupied. Grants to support financially needy undergraduates were cut by about 50 per cent this year, leaving thousands of students across the country in the lurch. Academics at Irish universities have also had their salaries cut and teaching burdens increased, while retiring staff are not

being replaced and fixed-term contracts are not being renewed. Still, says Brian Norton, President of the Dublin Institute of Technology, “the impact on front-level teaching is less than one would imagine, and higher productivity is emerging out of the system.” He notes that higher education there has not been battered as much as some other fields. Michael J Delargey, a lecturer in education at University College Cork, is grateful for what he calls the “safety valve” of the agreement, but says it has also imposed stringent new requirements, including productivity targets. For some researchers, the combination of cuts and restructuring offers a prime opportunity to study the lasting effects of the global crisis on higher education. “The big question is, ‘Are we seeing a paradigm shift or is this just a downward turn in the business cycle?’” says Ellen Hazelkorn, Vice President for research and enterprise at the Dublin Institute of Technology, who is embarking on such a study. Equally important, she says: “How do we know quality is being affected?” As salary freezes continue and class sizes go up, many academics would say the answer is obvious. Universities cannot afford to be complacent about the effects of the cuts, says Mr Estermann. While the money taken from universities does little to reduce national deficits, the sums in question do “a lot of damage” when removed from institutional budgets, he says. Subscribe to a free weekly electronic newsletter from the Chronicle of Higher Education at http://chronicle.com/globalnewsletter

Harvard & MIT Host Free Online Courses The group of elite universities offering free online courses just got bigger By Nick DeSantis

arvard University and t h e Ma s s a c h u s e t t s Institute of Technology recently announced a partnership that will host free online courses from both institutions. The platform, its creators say, has the potential to improve face-toface classes on the home campuses while giving students around the world

EduTech June 2012

access to a blue-ribbon education. The new venture, called edX, grew out of MIT’s announcement last year that it would offer free online courses on a platform called MITx. The combined effort will be overseen by a non-profit organisation governed equally by both universities, each of which has committed $30-million to the project. Anant Agarwal, Director of MIT’s Computer Sci-

ence and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, who led the development of MITx, will serve as edX’s first president. Students who complete the courses on the edX platform will not receive university credit, although they could earn certificates. At a news conference, the leaders of edX described it as a tool that colleges can use to experiment with online cours-

es and study how students learn. For example, Mr Agarwal said, in the prototype MITx course “Circuits and Electronics,” researchers “gather huge amounts of data” on students’ use of the platform. Since edX courses have the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of students, the data sets could be “very statistically significant in a very short amount of time,” he said. edX plans to host its first courses this fall, across an array of disciplines. Mr Agarwal said the platform would allow colleges to join Harvard and MIT in creating brands with the “x” signifier, also would be offered as open-source software for institutions that want to build on it. It will be distinct from the continuing distance-education programmes at Harvard and MIT, including Harvard’s Extension School and MIT’s OpenCourseWare, which has been putting course materials online for a decade. L Rafael Reif, MIT’s provost, said the driving force behind the partnership was “not to make money” but to improve learning for both the universities’ traditional students and the public at large. But, he added, the project will need to find a way to support itself, and its leaders are exploring ways to help it be self-sustaining. “Clearly, we want to make sure that this does not become a drain on the budgets of Harvard and MIT,” Mr Reif said. Other elite universities have attempted online-education programmes that were closed after experiencing financial woes. Those efforts included Fathom, a project led by Columbia University that ended in 2003; and AllLearn, a collaboration that closed its doors in 2006. The partnership between Harvard and MIT is one piece of an online-education revival among elite universities that has emerged in the past year. The edX announcement comes after four toptier institutions teamed up last month with a for-profit company led by two Stanford computer-science professors to offer a similar array of free online courses. Stanford University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor announced the partner-

by photos.com

Global.Chronicle.Com

Reaching Out: With edX, students across the globe can access blue-ribbon education from Harvard (in pic) and MIT

ships with Coursera, a company that s p r o u t e d f r o m S t a n f o r d’ s e a r l y experiments with massive open online courses. George Siemens, associate director of Athabasca University’s Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute and a pioneer of Massive Open Online Courses, as they are known, said the creation of edX represents in part an attempt by two universities to reclaim space in open online education, where venture capitalists have recently gained a foothold. While Coursera plans eventually to profit from its course offerings, he noted, it’s not yet clear how edX will support itself, and the model its leaders choose will dictate its longevity. “Is there a sustainability model in place for these initiatives?” he asked. “Otherwise, it will end up being what happened with Fathom and others.”

Depending on how edX develops, Mr Siemens said, the project may even begin to affect the basis for colleges’ accreditation. In a decade, he speculated, campus administrators may view this recent period of college investment in online-education projects as the moment when the alternative-credential model took off. “It’s a natural progression of the internet influencing and impacting what we thought was a pretty stable field,” he said. “But all it takes is six months of pretty surprising announcements in terms of open-course initiatives, and all of a sudden you can start to picture that education seems to be at the threshold of a very dramatic change.” Subscribe to a free weekly electronic newsletter from the Chronicle of Higher Education at http://chronicle.com/globalnewsletter June 2012 EduTech

THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Open Education’s Wide World of Possibilities Langdon Hammer is flooded with emails from students after they take up his modern-poetry course online By Katherine Mangan

EduTech June 2012

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very week or so I get a message from someone somewhere who’s listening to the lectures and wants to get in touch,” Mr Hammer says. There was the man who downloaded his lectures onto a DVD so his father could listen while he jogged on the treadmill, the poet in Iran who said the lectures inspired her own teaching, and the friends who thanked him for making their morning commutes a little less stressful. Then one day an email arrived with a subject line that read “yak herder in Tibet.” “That one really stood out,” Mr Hammer says. It was from Skal Bzang Tse Brtan, who grew up herding yaks in a nomadic Tibetan community. The 26-year-old, who goes by “Gago,” composed poetry in his native language during the hours spent crisscrossing the alpine grasslands that swayed in the springtime and froze in the winter. When he was 14, his parents sold their herd so he could attend school, but he missed the nomadic way of life that was becoming threatened as the grasslands disappeared. Now he leads cultural-preservation and education projects in the region where he grew up. He stumbled on Yale’s open classes after seeing a reference on a Chinese website, and before long he was spending his evenings poring over lessons in “Philosophy of Love in the Western World,” basic HTML, and modern poetry. “I can read and write a little bit in Tibetan before I went to school, so I read stories, poems, and love songs while I was herding yaks. I had a lot fun but of course I couldn’t get many books. I started to write poems and love songs in the middle school,” he wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “In my home area, it is very difficult to study English with native speakers, but I am so happy that I can study modern poetry online with Prof Langdon Hammer through the Yale’s open course.” At a time when higher-education costs are soaring beyond the reach of many people, millions of students worldwide are tapping into free courses offered by such institutions as Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley, and start-ups like Peer 2 Peer University and Saylor.org. MIT, which started making its course materials available online in 2002 and now offers lecture notes, exams, and videos from 2,100 undergraduate and graduate classes, estimates that 125 million people have looked at its course content since 2003.

Breaking Boundaries: Online poetry lectures inspire Skal Bzang Brtan, a yak herder

While it’s tough to pin down how many actually complete a course, about 20 per cent of the viewers who responded to a recent MIT survey said they had finished at least one, according to Stephen E Carson, a spokesman for MIT OpenCourseWare. Meanwhile, Apple’s free iTunes U program, through which much of the OpenCourseWare available today is posted, has logged 700 million downloads of course material since 2007, according to a company spokesman. A new iTunes U application that Apple introduced in January to make it easier to take open courses was downloaded three million times in the first month.

Global.Chronicle.Com Stanford, one of the universities that posts courses on iTunes U, reported last month that its audio and video course lectures had been downloaded 50 million times from the Apple site, and that engineering courses are the most popular. Open courses offered through iTunes or directly by universities often remain online for five or six years. As the courses, and the technology that supports them, have become more sophisticated, materials have expanded from simple audio podcasts to include videotaped lectures, assigned readings, computer-graded tests, and optional study groups. MIT’s newest platform, MITx, and Udacity, a new company founded by a Stanford professor to offer free online courses, are both taking the OpenCourseWare movement a step further, offering credentials to students who successfully complete courses. “This is a big leap forward this model of education is taking,” says Dan Colman, Director of Stanford’s Continuing Studies Programme and lead editor of an online archive called Open Culture. “For the first time, students are getting a holistic experience that comes close to matching what they would get in a traditional classroom,” he says. Julius J Davis turned to OpenCourseWare because he was floundering in physics during his freshman year at George Washington University. A friend suggested he seek help online. “My professor would put equations on the board or shove a PowerPoint in your face, but he wouldn’t explain things,” says Mr Davis, now a sophomore engineering major. “I passed the course, but I wasn’t satisfied with the amount I had learned.” He went to the internet, plugged classical mechanics and physics into the search engine, “and I ended up at MIT in Walter Lewin’s classical-mechanics class. That’s where I had some ‘aha!’ moments when it started to make sense,” he says. Mr Davis took the course during the summer after his freshman year, squeezing in video lectures during breaks in his internship with a non-profit foundation. “What makes OpenCourseWare so easy is that if I don’t catch something, I can go back and rewind it until I understand.” Neil D’Souza, a Cisco engineer turned social entrepreneur, has perhaps the most ambitious use of open courseware. He’s been bringing lessons from Khan Academy and other OpenCourseWare companies to orphanages and soup kitchens in Mongolia through a group he founded, Teach A Class. Working with local volunteers who translate the lessons, he makes the material available through portable servers that are small enough to fit in backpacks. These “education hot spots” allow people to see materials hosted on the server even in areas where the internet isn’t available. Among the beneficiaries is a woman who runs a soup kitchen in Ulaanbaatar for children who don’t go to school. The 25 donated computers were gathering dust because no one knew what to do with them and no internet access was available. “Now she asks every kid who comes in for warm soup to sit down at a computer for 30 minutes and learn something,” Mr D’Souza says. His group has also introduced OpenCourseWare in math, science, and English to children living in two Mongolian orphanages, as well as in other developing countries.

While many people turn to OpenCourseWare to learn new skills, others rely on the lessons to keep their jobs Wendy Ermold has used OpenCourseWare to study in one of the world’s most remote locations—in her case, during threeweek research trips to Ellesmere Island, off the northern tip of Canada near the Arctic Circle. Ms Ermold, a scientific programmer at the University of Washington’s Polar Science Centre, spends about five hours a week tuning in to lectures in quantum physics, machine learning, and computational science and engineering on her iPad. “I don’t have time to sit down and read through a textbook, but watching these videos is amazingly helpful,” she says. Instructional videos posted by the University of Michigan School of Dentistry have helped dentists halfway around the world brush up on their dental procedures. Lt Raymond Tinucci, a dentist assigned with the US Navy to a medical-training team in Afghanistan, had some of the videos translated into Dari, a dialect of Persian spoken in Afghanistan. The videos, distributed to Kabul Medical University and the Afghan National Army, were used to help start a training programme for dental assistants working in rural areas. While many people turn to OpenCourseWare to learn new skills or fill their free time, others rely on the lessons to keep their jobs. Charles Reynes is an elementary-school science teacher in California’s Castro Valley Unified School District who has won national and state awards for his teaching. But Mr Reynes, a former accountant, wasn’t formally certified to teach science. “The school board made an exception for me every year, but after winning those awards, I thought I should become legit,” he says. After hearing that the state science test was tough for someone who hadn’t majored in the subject, he browsed the internet and came across a free course, offered by the University of California at Irvine, that prepares teachers to pass the credential test. “I plowed through the lectures, and when there was something I didn’t completely understand, I looked it up at the Khan Academy site,” says Mr Reynes. He passed the test in his first try. Subscribe to a free weekly electronic newsletter from the Chronicle of Higher Education at http://chronicle.com/globalnewsletter June 2012 EduTech

A Man for Innovation Vice Chancellor of Symbiosis International University, Bhushan Patwardhan, believes in innovation everywhere By padmaja shastri

EduTech June 2012

t a time when the research world was rife with the turmeric patent controversy, Bhushan Patwardhan’s novel composition to treat musculoskeletal disorders which had turmeric as one of its ingredients received a US patent. More recently, he is experimenting with a far reaching innovation—the university curriculum. He conducted a competition among MBA students to design their own curriculum and after a similar competition nationwide, Patwardhan now plans to take the winning entry to his university’s Board of Studies. The idea is to get it implemented. Be it research or academic governance, everything that Dr Patwardhan, Vice Chancellor of Symbiosis International University (SIU) does smacks of innovation. “Curricula are usually designed to suit teachers’ requirements and not on what students need to learn. So, there is a lot of junk burdening students that kills their innovative capabilities,” says Patwardhan.

Bhushan Patwardhan

fact file Name: Bhushan Patwardhan DOB: March 9, 1959 Current engagement: Vice Chancellor, Symbiosis International University, Pune things he likes: Book: ‘Freedom from the Known’ by Jiddu Krishnamurti Movie: African Safari Holiday Destination: Yercaud, Tamil Nadu Pastime: Writing articles on popular science Quote: “Keep your windows open for all the breezes, but don’t be swept off your feet.” By Mahatma Gandhi Cuisine: Vegetarian Konkani cuisine MUSIC: Light music, especially songs sung by Kishore Kumar HIS LITTLE SECRET: Reads Indian philosophy to find the connection between science and spirituality and is writing a book on it

Shastra to Science In fact, Patwardhan’s first initial research ideas were as innovative, rooted as they were in a childhood incident. He was hardly nine or 10 years old when his aunt, Indumati, cured a deep wound in his foot using oil dripping from a heated black nut that dhobis (washermen) use for marking clothes. That incident became the inspiration for his PhD thesis—Chemistry and Pharmacology of Semecarpus Anacardium (scientific name of black nut, also called Bibba/ Bhallataka). The research was aimed at finding evidence to support the traditional claims that Bhallataka is analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial. His research also made him realise the significance of India’s traditional knowledge and the need to understand it more

fully using modern science. “For Ayurveda to gain global acceptance, India needs to generate sufficient evidence base with the help of modern science and experimental rigour,” says Patwardhan, who has made this quest his life’s mission. He began with studying the immunity boosting and anti-stress properties of a few rasayanas, including Ashwagandha, Shatavari and Amalaki. Then, in a first of its kind of study, he developed vaccine adjuvants (packing material vaccines require for better immune response) with rasayanas, which not only improved delivery of the vaccine but also increased its efficacy. This might be the answer to vaccine manufacturers looking for a better alternative for alum, which they have been traditionally using as an adjuvant, despite its toxicity. The drugs he developed for arthritis are available in the market under the brand names Artrex and Articulin Forte. The former is manufactured by BioVed, a San Jose-based company, while the latter is made by Eisen Pharmaceuticals, Pune. He is now in the process of commercialising a drug for Type II diabetes. While working on his MSc dissertation at Ahmednagar College, he learnt experimental microbiology and natural product chemistry. After that, he got a research fellowship to do his PhD from Haffkine Institute, Mumbai, a multi-disciplinary biomedical institute, where he learnt anaerobic bacteriology, animal pharmacology, toxicology, immunology and basics of pharmaceutical drug development. All of this helped him get an overview of modern research methods.

Family Man His worldview was shaped by his family. Born in a middle class joint family of 24 people in Pune, Patwardhan learnt the importance of caring, sharing and respecting another viewpoint. He carried these values to the workplace. Wherever he worked, he became known for creating a kinship among co-workers, a carryforward of the mohalla culture he grew up in. “The idea is to connect and make everyone own the place,” he says.

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Even today, his students have free access to his home who can walk into his kitchen anytime and rustle up a meal. This practice comes from the community kitchen his family used to have, where all the women in the family, including his wife Bhagyada, took turns to cook. “Despite coming from a smaller family, she adjusted to a joint family very well. It is her simplicity that I liked best,” says Patwardhan, who was introduced to Bhagyada through his elder brother’s friend in 1984. “My work involved travelling. I could do that peacefully as I never had to worry about anything on the home-front, thanks to her,” he says. While Bhagyada, who is into share trading business, has been the primary caregiver for their daughters, Gayatri and Ketaki, Patwardhan has been more of a friend to them and gave them quality time and freedom to choose their careers. Elder daughter Gayatri has done MS in Environmental Architecture from the University of Arizona, while Ketaki is a PhD student in Pharmaceuticals at the University of Mississippi. His enthusiasm for table tennis, chess and fitness comes from his sportsman father Keshav (popular as Raya Kaka), while his inspiration to become a teacher is inherited from his mother Sunita, who taught Marathi at Lonavala College.

Coming of Age After his BSc from Fergusson College, he moved to School of Biological Studies, Ahmednagar for his MSc in Biochemistry. For the first time, Patwardhan was outside the secure environment of his joint family. Those two years proved to be transformative for him. “I used to be an introvert earlier. But as I did not know anybody in Ahmednagar, I had to make an effort to talk to people. Finally, when I was leaving, a large number of people came to see me off at the station,” says Patwardhan, who is known for his networking skills.

Networking to Lead These skills came in handy when he led a large herbal drug network project under the New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative of June 2012 EduTech

PROFILE

Bhushan Patwardhan

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where he had to work together with 14 research institutions and industry players like All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Dabur and Nicholas Piramal. Having worked with the industry (Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL) and Serum Institute) during his MSc days and at Eisen Pharmaceuticals and LiTaka Pharmaceuticals after his PhD, he learnt how to get scientific work done at industry level. Naturally, he initiated industryacademia collaborations wherever he went. While at Pune University, he got many pharmaceutical companies like Wockhardt, Lupin, Torrent, HAL, Emcure and Serum Institute recognised as research centres of the Pune University, which resulted in the scientists at these companies and the teachers at the university also collaborating. Later, as chief of academics at Manipal Education Group, he was instrumental in establishing one of the most successful industry-academia collaborations in the country—the ICICI Manipal Academy. He was also responsible for global cosmetic company Loreal’s tie-up with IIM, Bangalore, while he was doing his MBA there. “In the first board meeting of Manipal Education, I could not understand even simple terms like top line and bottom line. That’s when I decided to study management. Educators have to manage institutions and yet we do not get any training for it,” says Patwardhan, who has begun implementing corporate concepts like performance-based pay and 360 degree evaluation of the faculty and students at SIU.

Pushing New Pedagogy His students never get readymade notes. As a teacher, Patwardhan empowers students to ask questions. He believes in participatory learning and interactive sessions. “I like to make students think,” he says. He follows the traditional sequence of pedagogy adhidi, bodha, acharana and pracharana (absorbing information, analysing it, practising and preaching), along with wiki and moodle. “Mere information dissemination is not

EduTech June 2012

opinions “I have known Dr Patwardhan for a long time—as a mentee and as a colleague. He is a bold thinker, an astute performer and a visionary leader, which I closely observed when he worked as the organising secretary of Indian Science Congress in 2000 when I was its president” Dr RA Mashelkar, Former DG, CSIR & CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow, NCL

“He joined us just a year ago and in this time, he started the Dept of Biomedical Sciences inculcating a research culture among faculty and students. He has a special relationship with me as he was my student at Fergusson College. I was delighted when he joined us” Prof Dr SB Mujumdar Founder& President, Symbiosis

“At home he is a normal dad. The quality I adore most about him is his modest nature. As a kid, I did not even know that he has done such great research, published books and has got patents in his name! He is also a great friend! He is my idol” Gayatri Patwardhan Pune-based entrepreneur (Patwardhan’s daughter)

teaching anymore. With internet and 4G mobile telephony, students can download information anytime, anywhere. The new role of a teacher is that of a facilitator and mentor, who shares his/ her experiences and helps in a deeper understanding of the information. Unless we change with the changing times, we will not progress,” says Patwardhan, who begins every course with forming a google group, on which assignments are given and submitted and information exchanged. He loves teaching and research and despite his busy schedule, spends 12 hours a week on the two. He teaches ethnopharmacology, drug discovery and development, pharmacognosy to MSc, MPharm and PhD students at Symbiosis. At SIU, he introduced floating credits, whereby students can take 10 per cent of their credits from any stream. For instance, an MBA student can take a credit in photography. In fact, it was Patwardhan who was responsible for conceptualising and implementing credit system at Pune University, earlier. He also prepared the Vision 2020 Document for University of Pune and led the initiative, resulting in its being recognised as a ‘University with Potential for Excellence’ by the UGC.

Administrator Au Naturel As a UGC nominee on Governing Boards (2003-08), he closely watched the functioning of various universities and is also on the boards of DY Patil University and Bharati Vidyapeeth. His vast experience in academic governance and administration of Pune University helped him understand the intricacies and nuances of governing an academic institution. He was on its senate, management council, academic council, executive council, board of studies and made significant contribution to every committee he was a member of. When he chaired the grievances committee, he ensured that all the 100 odd staff stuck for years without promotions and increments got their rightful dues in two years time—something he is remembered for even today.

Bhushan Patwardhan

PROFILE

(Clockwise) 1. Common Ground: Catching up with Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Innovation Council on the sides of a conference 2.Friend Philosopher and Guide: Playing Table Tennis with a student at Symbiosis 3.Family Man: With wife and daughters

Sometimes heading various committees at a young age was also a challenge. “I had to sit on the confirmation committees of my own teachers. That was tough,” he says.

Leading from the Front His special interest in the administration and governance of Pune University dates back to his school days. “I stayed on the campus during my summer holidays and met many of the senior professors today, when they were graduate and postgraduate students, in the university canteens,” says Patwardhan. His maternal grandfather Nanasaheb Vaishampayan was the favourite driver of the first VC of Pune University, Dr MR Jayakar.

It is because of this attachment that after spending around nine years in the industry, he returned full-time to Pune University in 1994. Inspired by noted statistician, Late Prof PV Sukhatme, he led the foundation of Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences (ISHS) at the university, where he worked for the next 12 years. Within a year of joining, he was made a full professor and director at the young age of 36 years. Under him, the school taught everything that medical schools usually do not teach—nutrition, genetics, environment and lifestyle among others. “Prof Sukhatme said that what we do in science has to be relevant to society,” he says. So, he saw to it that all research done at ISHS had social relevance. In fact, it

was the air monitoring study done by his team at ISHS that led to the banning of the six-seater diesel rickshaws in Pune as their presence increased the risk of cardiovascular mortality. A chance visit to tribal areas made him change the curriculum of the school to include social sciences to the extent of 30 per cent, perhaps a first for any school under the faculty o f s c i e n c e s a t Pu n e U n i v e r s i t y. Patwardhan believes that it is really important to break the walls of disciplines for holistic learning. He conceputalised many innovative programmes including masters in public health, open to even non-medical students, which received the UGC innovation grant award. June 2012 EduTech

PROFILE

Bhushan Patwardhan

In 2006, he joined Manipal, where he oversaw the development of India’s most innovative open learning source EduNxt, which mimics a classroom experience with real teachers, set timetables and gives the students flexibility to attend a virtual class or to record it to watch later. Soon after, on the advice of technocrat Sam Pitroda, he led the establishment of Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine in Bangalore. It was a 17-yearold NGO, which he had to institutionalise, right from its branding, building a vision, new collaborations and creating a team and professionalising the governance structure. He completed it in a year and set up India’s first integrative hospital, before joining Symbiosis. “Symbiosis has so many autonomous institutions. It was functioning like a conglomerate of silos. My endeavour is to integrate them and create a confluence of faculties, that is, create a sonata out of the silos,” says Patwardhan, who is also giving a large thrust for inculcating a culture of research and innovation at the university. In just a year, he set up three schools—liberal arts, biomedical sciences and photography. In order to create its own pipeline of teachers, Patwardhan has introduced an integrated masters programme leading to a PhD.

Rich Research His research over the last 30 years led to some outstanding work in the field of Ayurveda, Genomics, Ethnopharmacology, herbal drug technology and drug discovery. He follows reverse pharmacology, where research goes from clinic to lab, a new strategy to cut short the drug discovery pipeline and thereby, costs. Patwardhan has eight patents, 10 books and over 100 research publications to his credit. He coined the word AyuGenomics, a new study to establish a genetic basis for the Ayurvedic concept of Prakruti (body constitution), paving way for customised drugs and treatment. Not only has he attracted research funding to the tune of Rs 150 million from agencies like WHO, Ford Foundation, CSIR and Department of Science & Technology, but 18 PhD students also

EduTech June 2012

got degrees under his guidance. No wonder, he was invited to be on the boards and research councils of many organisations like National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow; National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and National AIDS Research Institute, Pune.

Knowledge for A Cause As a consultant to World Health Organisation, he created an exhaustive report on the existent evidence for how traditional medicine can be used for affordable healthcare. WHO published it as a special issue, Ancient Science of Life. It was his report, brought out as the Con-

“The new role of a teacher is that of a facilitator and mentor, who shares his/her experiences and helps in a deeper understanding of the information” Bhushan Patwardhan VC, Symbiosis International University venor of the UGC’s national committee for promotion of Indian Higher Education abroad that became the precursor to the Foreign Education Bill 2010. Not just education and health issues, Patwardhan has also been involved in many social and environmental issues. Despite being just one of the two government nominees on the Developmental Plan committee for Pune (rest were elected representatives), he managed to create enough public outcry that helped in saving the hills of Pune from commercial exploitation. He is also associated with Make-a-Wish Foundation, dedicated to fulfilling wishes of terminally-ill children and the elderly. A driving force behind many innovative academic and research initiatives, Patwardhan successfully brought

together India’s top universities, to form Emerging Directions in Global Education (EDGE) Forum, as a quality league to promote highest standards of education and governance by sharing best practices. “This forum emerged from the concern that not a single Indian university ranks among the world’s top 100 universities. The idea is to create an Indian version of the Ivy League,” says Patwardhan. His sustained advocacy in the steering committee (on AYUSH) of the 12th Plan of Planning Commission that AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) should be part of the mainstream bore fruits recently when a joint meeting of AYUSH and biomedical research was held, a sign of traditional medicine being integrated into the national health priorities along with bio-medical research. He drove the development of AyuSoft, an intelligent software system based on Ayurvedic knowledge, with the assistance of CDAC and Jnana Prabodhini, to help in the diagnosis and treatment decisions. As a champion of Ayurveda, he took its flag to many countries including US, Canada, UK, Malaysia, Germany and Korea and conducted talks at international institutions such as John Hopkins University, National Institute of Health, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Medical School, Columbia University and Massachusetts General Hospital, King’s College, London and Heidelberg University, Germany. The inspiration to study Indian traditional medicine came from his paternal grandfather Ramchandra Bhave who had considerable knowledge of traditional medicine and people would come to him every Sunday seeking a cure. Patwardhan is presently working on drugs that boost the immune system and slowdown the degenerative processes, thereby aging. This innovation could very well change the future of mankind! As I get set to leave, my eyes fall on the book on his table—The Innovative University by Clayton Christensen and Henry Eyring. Bhushan Patwardhan is surely serious about innovation!

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EduTech June 2012

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gADGETS Tech Insider | Tushar

Behind the Hype–Ultrabooks Look around you, and it’s quite likely a lot of familiar terms—laptop, notebook, and netbook—have been replaced by one word: ultrabooks. The term by itself is pure marketing, propagated by Intel as a catchall term for a new generation of thinand-light laptops that feature its technology and adhere to its specifications. The best way to think of an ultrabook is by what it is not—it is like the ultrasleek MacBook Air, but it is NOT made by Apple, or something with netbook dimensions that is NOT underpowered. Not only do they pack in the latest “Core i” processors from Intel and fast storage drives, they also come with ultracapabilities virtually unheard of in laptops of today—security features, long battery life, and tablet-like instant-on capabilities. According to Intel, they provide a lightweight alternative to tablet devices for folks who just can’t work without a full keyboard and desktop software. But possibly what was the most audacious feature of these ultrabooks was that unlike the Rs 1-lakh-plus pricing of ultraportables of yore, Intel set a target price of a 1,000 US$/Rs 50,000 for ultrabooks! If this seems like the holy grail of portable computing, it isn’t—Intel had last year announced a massive $300 million fund to help develop Ultrabook hardware and software, and the first ultrabooks have hit the market in the recent months. So which is the ultrabook of choice at the moment? Here’s my pick—Dell XPS 13 and HP Folio 13. But with the new breed of ultrabooks featuring next generation (codenamed Ivy Bridge) Intel processors right around the corner, you’d do well by waiting a couple of months and watching the action unfold!

A self-confessed gizmo-holic, Tushar Kanwar is a technology columnist with the Telegraph and Business World, and contributes to a variety of technology and lifestyle publications. Tushar’s interests lie at the intersection of consumer technology, internet trends and products that change the world.

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February June 2012 2011 EduTech

Perspective Rajeev Sangal Director,IIIT,Hyderabad

IT has Place, can’t Replace Technology has brought beneficial innovations in the classroom. But in the final analysis its great benefits will depend on the students’ will to learn

echnology’s place in education starts with the course in which students are registered. By course, I mean the subject. The subject has its own resources— there maybe lectures, home assignments, blogs, discussion groups. The data of the registered students is uploaded on the college/university portal. All this information then becomes available online. In this case, the data is made available from the institution to the students. On the reverse side, students can upload their assignments or term papers on the same portal and these then can be accessed by the faculty for grading or marks. Admissions are mostly centralised through universities. In our case, we have our own admission’s portal that has been an enormous help for any kind of admission related work. People register on the portal and everything is done electronically now, except for the ID cards which are sent electronically and can then be printed for use.

Tech-tonic Shift In IIIT, we started e-learning quite early, about 10 years ago. A special programme was begun wherein there were no lectures—all recorded lectures. Books, home assignments, everything was electronic, but it was not a distance education programme. It was still a face-toface programme. There was a mentor who would solve all the problems. Nor-

EduTech June 2012

mally our classrooms or our education is teacher-centric or lecture-centric. In the case of recorded lecture, learning is problem-centric. You pose a problem and then the student thinks about that and how this lecture is helping him solve the problem. If there are any questions or queries, the mentor is there to help. The mentor is not lecturing any more and is open to discussions to clear doubts/problems. The students work on a common problem as a group, at their own pace, where they need time and the right kind of guidance. This methodology is very different as you have to work at the thought and action levels. Initially, we had a lot of difficulties with this programme. It took us three years to sort things out because the mentors didn’t understand it and the students didn’t quite know what it is to work at their own pace and so on. But after the mentors were trained, it has been running quite successfully.

How can technology play a role in education, in supporting the courses? How can it play a role in instruction?

I feel that e-learning can only enhance the learning experience and discussions will not replace the classroom experience.

Joining the Dots In the area of research, of course, you can’t create lectures for every research paper. But we do get presentations and other resource materials online. When you work on a research problem you frequently find that there are only six people in the world who are working on the same problem. Technology can play a role in connecting these different groups working on a similar research problem or field. It can connect you with them and together you can find solutions.

Building Trust One role technology brings with it, is transparency, which has to be used with strength. Students, faculty and administration can be partners in solving common problems. It requires the process of building trust, leading to transparency and then working together. I refuse to accept that students are consumers. No, they are partners. Education is about learning. No amount of technology can replace the fact that a student has to learn. You can have all kinds of technologies in place, but the final question is whether s/he learns. This is an extract from Dr Sangal’s keynote at EDU Tech 2012, at ISB Hyderabad

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