New Zealand Universities struggle to retain rankings

New Zealand University Rankings...

University Rankings - Singapore

Singapore Universities best in Asia...

UK Universities - Seem to Follow Brexit...

UK Universities slip in Global Rankings..

University Rankings- India

Economic Times Reports
Nine of the 10 Indian Universities ranked 700th or above in the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 2016/17 have lost ground compared to last year in terms of both academic reputation and employer reputation. 

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/54026745.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

India's Universities Low Down

Business Standard reports...

A relatively low number of doctoral students coupled with globally insufficient faculty-student ratio have resulted in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, along with six of seven top-ranked Indian Institutes of Technology(IITs), slip in the 13th edition of the QS World University Rankings 2016-17.

Business Standard Report

Global University Rankings

University Rankings -World

Higher Education: International Quality Principles from CHEA

Council for Higher Education Accreditation Washington (CHEA)   International Quality Principles (May 2015)

1 Quality and higher education providers: Assuring and achieving quality in higher education is the primary responsibility of higher education providers and their staff.

 2. Quality and students: The education provided to students must always be of high quality whatever the learning outcomes pursued.

3. Quality and society: The quality of higher education provision is judged by how well it meets the needs of society, engenders public confidence and sustains public trust.

4. Quality and government: Governments have a role in encouraging and supporting quality higher education.

5. Quality and accountability: It is the responsibility of higher education providers and quality assurance and accreditation bodies to sustain a strong commitment to accountability and provide regular evidence of quality.

6. Quality and the role of quality assurance and accreditation bodies: Quality assurance and accreditation bodies, working with higher education providers and their leadership, staff and students, are responsible for the implementation of processes, tools, benchmarks and measures of learning outcomes that help to create a shared understanding of quality.

7. Quality and change: Quality higher education needs to be flexible, creative and innovative; developing and evolving to meet students’ needs, to justify the confidence of society and to maintain diversity

Smart Education and New Skills Thru Internet of Education

Seeking Value in the New Education Model in Emerging Economies

Deriving Value concept in education is what leaders in emerging economies must embrace: Value is adding benefits at lesser costs (V = B-C).  The new educational model must  look to network innovations which are interconnected - connect  to  create value.

Cisco predicts that by 2020 there will be 50 billion “things” connected to the Internet, up from 25 billion in 2015. The future is one of data analytics - the need to mine and draw inferences on student performances. The new order provides an integration of faculty (human ) and the digital elements. The Educational Internet of Things (IoEd) would enable educational institutions to utilize software strengthened sensors, machine-to-machine conversations and learning. It will exploit technologies to harness and analyze data from the student world  and then use those analyses to add value to educational organizations.  

Enhancing value applies to any educational product or service:  An education institution might offer a product like degree/ diploma  or a given service in the form of enhancing knowledge, competency, or skill sets or just plain offer a given social good (churning out model citizens)- in all of these categories, there has to be value generation in the logistic chain. 

Tomorrow's educational entities will be in smart buildings (Smart education city) . There will be smart academic infrastructure. Educational development will be integrated with new smart cities. Such moves will generate value through greater economies of scale.

Steps essential:

·         The psyche build up to usher in innovative change.

·         Thinking  outside the usual framework- thinking technologically right.

·         Looking  beyond current knowledge base of teachers

·         Looking beyond current functional skill sets of teachers

·         Working with a technologically proficient team and partnering with innovative institutions to strengthen the capacity and to induce technological motivation

·         Have a cross disciplinary approach: What works in patient care works in student service. - Tender, loving care (TLC) - So one could borrow from other silos.

Hardware:

The new model has  to draw from the potential well of technology. Technology is time constraining and resource intensive. Technology intervention points are:

·         the use of laptops for elucidation in class rooms,( .ppt presentations)

·         watching videos/ you tube in classrooms,

·         coping with learning management systems,

·         engaging with peers on line for self learning by teachers,

·         engage with students on line, accepting assignments and course work on line.  

·         conducting on line tests

·         declaring results on line

There could be a host of devices deployed to facilitate e studies:

·         Laptops,

·         Chrome books,

·         Macs,

·         iPads,

·         Windows machines

For data analytics and predictive usage, centralization of data and of accompanying software is of essence.

Balancing between costs and mass drives at technology accessed 'in to' schools is essential to ensure the preparedness of students for tomorrow's jobs. Drawing in support from corporate entities to  usher in greater technological value build up in education is the challenge as resources are a constraint. .

Cisco identifies the following Skills in the times of Internet of Things 

Cisco - 21st Century Skills

•         Collaboration

•         Communication

•         Creativity

•         Problem solving

•         ICT proficiency

•         Critical thinking

Cisco - Global leadership skills

•         Global mindset

•         Languages proficiency

•         Cultural awareness

•         Team player

•         Professionalism

•         Work ethics

Cisco - Entrepreneurial Skills

•         Opportunity recognition

•         Self-direction

•         Persuasion

•         Planning skills

•         Risk taking

•         Resourcefulness

Cisco quotes top 10 skills for the future workforce

•         Sense making

•         Social intelligence

•         Novel and adaptive thinking

•         Cross-cultural competency

•         Computational thinking

•         New-media literacy

•         Transdisciplinarity

•         Design mindset

•         Cognitive load management

•         Virtual collaboration.

 The new model is about getting the people and process  in the act .

This is a part of the research work on the Internet of Education by the author. He can be contacted  at jaynayar@gmail.com.

Best Universities In Brics and Emerg. Economies

Chief Innovation Officer : University Appointment

Good Universities need to  have the infrastructure and protocols in place to pursue a scientific  innovation strategy. This would include internal and external innovation through start-up partnership, investment and co-development of innovative projects. The emphasis must be on the Internet of Things. The technology industry is abuzz with the IoT, with IoT equated to the industrial revolution. A  profound transformation lies ahead in ways humans and machines interact with each other. Universities have a facilitator role here.

Universities need to  appoint a qualified Chief Innovation Officer for facilitating the Internet of Things. 

Towards Quality: Role and Responsibility of Lecturers

Towards Quality: Role and Responsibility of Lecturers

  

The purpose of this rudimentary Paper is merely to facilitate discussions on the subject matter and to attempt to understand and appreciate the expectations in regard to the role and the constraints testing a lecturer at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Some issues are raised here with the objective of provoking discussions and seeking solutions through collective wisdom.

The paper tries to set out the following:

a)      To identify the role and responsibility of a lecturer;

b)      For internalization of the context in which the lecturers are working ;

c)      To place the subject in its proper perspective with a view to initiating a discussion on the subject.

The Context:

A student remains with a school for long years. All the time, in school, he or she is receiving knowledge and ideas. Education at this pre-College stage has a special importance because in these years when the human mind is most impressionable, and also because most of the students will leave off formal education after completing class XII. The students are under the care and influence of the pre-primary, primary, and secondary school teachers during the most formative years of their lives. The learning there is of considerable significance to lecturers but is an exogenous and uncontrollable variable.

While education in the school level is primarily national and value-oriented, the education at the Professional College like ours is internationally biased and attempts to make the student a global citizen adding value to the business community who are our direct sponsors. The transition from the school to a professional mould is quite a challenge. The international targeting makes education quite different from what the students have been used to in the past.

Lecturers endeavour to train and mould the minds of the young people so as to make them worthy financial and / or information technology keen citizens. The training that we impart is supposed to accelerate the pace of growth of the nation. That change must make for a better and healthier nation. That means that a tremendous responsibility rests upon the lecturer to mould young minds into valuable assets in economic building.

 The Lecturer Perspective: The Limits to the Discharge of the Responsibilities:

The Need For An Attitudinal Change

There is an emergent need to be a catalyst for change: the transformation from a lighter syllabus to a heavy, voluminous, technical vocabulary driven context is a tremendous challenge before the lecturer. The difficulties of expressiveness and communication in the student tend to be impediments. They even appear to give the student a certain restraining complex even as he sets out for this great journey of learning.

The Lecturer is aware that he is a change agent here. Instilling an attitudinal change requires a conviction in the catalyst.   There has to be an attitudinal change manifest in the individual lecturer concerned; he (or she) needs to be galvanized with certain dynamism and a spirit of dedication that transcends the ordinary. There has to be a powerful motivation.  

The Need to Inspire as much as to Instruct

Educators are often called instructors, but the student seeks inspiration more than instruction perhaps in greater measure. The task is daunting when weighed against the background of the fact that at least some of the students tend to be working long hours before attending classes.  By the time they reach the lecturer, they are tired if not fatigued. This is an exogenous, uncontrollable variable. The lecturer has a motivational element to facilitate the absorption of complex tasks.

Need to Arouse a Scientific Temper

The need to balance between an exam driven student and the need to instill deep abiding knowledge in him (which his sponsor and our Management expects) is a challenge. To make the student mind dedicated to an evidence adducing learning is a cumbersome task. Given that reading habits are weak in the formative years, and that the influence of the visual media is pronounced, this is a daunting task. Despite attempts, sometimes, students still expect lecturers to coach rather than facilitate. The lecturer’s efforts to challenge the student to higher responsibilities of independent reading are fraught with mental obstacles in the recipient himself.

The need to post him for examination

This is what the student expects most in the lecturer. The student’s singular worry is how to pass the examination. The benchmark for the performance has also gradually turned to be the performance of the student as a group in the examination. This requires a certain re-orientation on the part of the lecturer by consciously driving towards exam focus rather than knowledge imparting. Are lecturers fully examination technique driven? Most lecturers would think so; but then are there reflections of such a belief in the ground reality?

The need to cover vast portions in given time frames.

In a given Semester (trimester) time frame, the balance between the occasional weak comprehensive abilities of at least a segment of the students and the short time frame is a matter of time pressure[1]. Given that students do complain about non- availability of time after class and office hours, over the last few years there has been a stretching of contact hours in all specializations: from MBA to Diplomas. This has to be viewed against the backdrop of profit motivation that is being suggested in the business development context.

The need for effective Faculty time

Sometimes faculty are burdened with correspondence and administrative duties at least indirectly. Faculty has to think, read and write to improve.

The need for Unanimity of Approach

The lecturers need to present a coherent approach with regard to the approach to the student community, particularly in regard to discipline. The Team View strengthens the students to respond positively.

The need for Coordinated Approach to Learning

Often, lecturers are seen to be working in departmentalized islands with a willingness but no-opportunity to share with colleagues. This is manifest sometimes even to the student. Lecturers may be observed not to move in tandem, but as departmentalized bureaucracies. Experience sharing is a regular event or a semi-annual event, which needs to be institutionalized. There has to be organizational memory and collective wisdom.

  

Need for Long Termism rather than Ad-Hocism

Gradually, there appears to be a short ‘termism’ in our approach to solutions and people. This has a brought about incertitude in the minds of the affected. As organizations are permanent, even if individuals are transient, there appears to be conscious need for institutionalizing long ‘termism’ particularly with the younger stakeholders. There is a need for identification with the institution in totality in case there has to be longer-term research orientation.

The Perspective Shift:

Lecturers need to move over to be a place of ‘excellence in knowledge’, to ensure personal development of both the students and the staff and bring in more confidence in themselves.  How exactly do we do that?

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[1] Selectivism in subjects / modules/ chapters may often misfire. So there is need for comprehensive coverage.

Comments on this paper may be sent to Dr. Jayaram Nayar at  jaynayar@gmail.com

The Internet of Things- in Education (IoEd)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term used to refer to  internet based connectivity  by bringing men and machines together. Such connectivity will harness people, processes, data and  machines in a path breaking manner.  It will utilize  information and apply intelligence  to data to enable informed decisions. The Internet of Things is the next step in the evolution of the internet. This concept suggests augmented "smart" 'things', which are networked effectively among themselves and with  operating men over advanced  connections.

The Internet of Things would result in an increase of networked devices which are in common use. Such devices may include desktops, laptops, smart phones, etc. Their numbers are  to increase  from the current 4.5 billion to 30 billion by 2020 to over 50 billion  by 2050. As the world becomes tech savy, personal implants could aid  technological connectivity. As such a technological techntonic shift occurs,  education sector cannot lag behind. In fact, education should be in the forefront of things as education is the biggest influence on the minds of future citizens. The Internet of Things should reach schools and Universities as the Internet of Education (IoEd) . 

Internet of Education (IoEd) is about integrating technology with learning. IoEd is about being student-centric with technological support. IoEd is about creating smarter educational products; facilitating a new educational experience through use of  technological skills.These technological  skills and mechanical devices have to establish connectivity  to delivery platforms. 

IoEd requires conceptual clarity among mass base of teachers/ faculty. This calls for  training teachers / higher education faculty to sophisticated levels so that IoEd reaches out through key partners to the most important stakeholder in education : the student from a platform of technology.

To lay the foundations of IoEd, one has to comprehend the fundamentals of the infrastructure.

IoEd infrastructure

a) Device connectivity.  Network and network programming which will serve as the focal point;

b) Cloud architecture;

c) Data analytics;

d) Cyber security;

e) Mobile application development;

f) Other device application development.

Pre-Requisites for IofEd

      

• Education sector has to understand and appreciate the changing technological world order;
• Educators have to become tech- based and operations management obsessed rather than being just knowledge givers; ( teaching to be seen as operational deliverables rather than just services rendered ) 
• Education industry has to work with both hardware and software firms so as to deliver student value;
• Students have to be instilled with network management and integrating technological connections;
• Networking and network programming have to be an in-alienable part of school education;
• IT companies should work with educators, schools and universities as partners;
• There should evolve a technology-education partnership which will re-design curricula in both schools and higher educational institutions.

The focus in this curriculum should be:

o   Network

o   Mathematical and programming skills;

o   Problem solving skills ranging from simple to complex;

o   Thinking and critical thinking skills;

o   Data anlytics skills;

o   Communication skills: oral, and written;

o   Group and collaborative skills;

o   Learning skills  for knowedge assimilation;

o   Research skills;

o   Learning Skills to co-exist with men and machines.

Every teaching programme must be a blended learning model insisting on 60 % hands on practice and just about 40 % of traditional style teaching (classroom learning) .

This 60 % component must be sub divided to cover:

·         web labs;

·         web based researching;

·         web helped simulator styled studies;

·         access to digital libraries with earmarked library hours;

·         inducing self learning through virtual classroom sessions;

·         industry focusing on learning games;

·         webinars;

·         depending on Podcasts;

·         Video learning; (using Youtube effectively)  

All core learning must be imparted through the medium of technology so that human intervention is minimized. The student must be encouraged to seek and learn rather than hear and learn.

IoEd devices that would be connected for optimal education delivery:

1.      Laptops

2.      Mobile Smart phones

3.      Tablets

4.      Desktop PC

5.      Televisions

6.      Ordinary Cell phones

7.      Radios

Learner preferences  and parental/ stakeholder affordability have both to be studied and would have to be contextualized for delivery to each geographical area. Socio-economic segmentation should be the basis for adapting  delivery software to the available order of devices.

IOEd is futuristic. It should be the disruptive technique to lead education into the future.

Copyright of this article and its contents vests with the author of this blog: Jayaram Nayar. 

He can be contacted at email: jaynayar@gmail.com