Team up, share knowledge, UGC chief tells institutes

Team up, share knowledge, UGC chief tells institutes 

TNN | Oct 23, 2018, 12.04 AM IST

Trichy: There was a need for greater collaboration between institutions for mutual knowledge sharing in the larger interests of the country, chairman of University Grants Commission, D P Singh, has said. He was speaking after inaugurating the two-day vice-chancellors’ conclave on “redefining the role of universities in the era of industry 4.0” at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Trichy.

Industry 4.0, which is commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing. “Institutions cannot afford to work in isolation in the era of global competitiveness,” Singh said adding that it was time for greater connectivity and collaboration in the technology-driven world. He stressed on the need to identify major thrust areas of each educational institution and contribute to addressing socio-economic, environmental and climate change issues based on their strengths. Focus should be on original research work, which must be socially relevant, nationally important and globally significant, he said.

“The country’s favourable demographic dividend is the greatest advantage we have but training this population poses a greater challenge. Therefore, expectation from the Indian teacher is too high. To make them realise what’s expected of them, UGC has come out with induction training for newly-joined teachers,” he said adding that education should be a connecting force for people to their roots. But that was not the case as people were moving out of their place forgetting their roots. Director of IIM Trichy, Bhimaraya Metri, said Trichy was chosen as the location for the conclave as it was a hub of several intellectuals and leaders from India. Metri stressed the need for educational institutions to manage their curriculum and administration in such a way as to cope with the fast changing and dynamic world.

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