Written By Dr Himanshu Pawar, Market Research Analyst, QS I-GAUGE

Resilience in a broad sense, is the ability of a system to anticipate, absorb, or recover from the effects of a shock or stress in a timely and efficient manner. Educational institutions in India have shown exemplary resilience in the wake of the pandemic and are now moving towards realising their full potential. However, building resilient institutions requires conscientious leadership who can muster the foresight to develop purpose-driven institutions.

This thought was reiterated by academia and industry leaders at the QS I-GAUGE India Academic Forum, held in Jaipur, 2023. Titled ‘Building Resilient, Conscientious, and purpose-driven Institutions’, the discussion brought to the fore a conscious collaboration on multiple themes such as integrating sustainability measures via green curriculum, understanding the role of academia in policymaking and decoding the conundrum around transformative AI revolution in education.

A green thought for green practices of all sorts

As we move ahead in realising the SDGs, the greening of the curriculum must begin at the fundamental level. Climate change is a reality, and the current state of climate change education is in a predicament. “What must be done? What could we do at large? And what could the educational institutions bring to the front?” were key thoughts that echoed through the panel moderated by Dr Ashwin Fernandes, Executive Director (AMESA), QS.

Right off the back one of the major challenges that educationists agreed upon is the lack of collaboration and a collective mindset that discounts the solitary efforts of institutions. Its importance was highlighted by Dr Trupti, Agarwal, Director Vishwakarma Group of Schools, who said: “Stakeholder collaboration and getting green rating certification from India Green Building Council (IGBC) should be a part of best practices in schools.” Therefore, it is crucial to have solid foundations of practice to nurture the idea of a green curriculum.

Moving on, Karuna Yadav, Director, Sandford High School, reminded the audience of having a collective mindset and added: “Greening the curriculum has to be a multi-directional approach, it has to be a multi-sectoral approach wherein we engage parents and higher authorities as well. We must internalise what we are doing, and we must understand why we are doing it along with long-term repercussions if we don’t do it.” Her statement hinted at the lack of a belief and faith system and its internalisation into an individual's character, which was picked up by Dr Alpana Bavejaa, Principal, Mount Olympus Group of Schools, as a parent-teacher responsibility to create awareness. “We have to imbibe the values; we have to make our children logical thinkers so that they think, and that is where they justify and make informed decisions,” she said.

During the discussion, participating institutions discussed their ingenious approaches towards sustainable practices, such as advocating the use of paper and cloth bags, sensitisation drives, and recycling, etc., but all of them seem to be enacted in isolation and featured as extra-curricular activities. This was when Dr Ashwin inquired deeper about interventions in the school curriculum, wherein the audience lauded two key practices from the panel.

Dr Sunita Vashistha, Principal of the Maheshwari Girls Public School, explained their ‘Go Green Campaign’ as an annual event where 25,000 plants are distributed to students for plantation and care near their household vicinity. She said: “Students are asked to take pictures and upload them over a period of time to measure the growth of the plants for monthly assessment. The final marks are composed of a significant portion from this activity.” According to Dr Sunita, this intervention helps to cultivate a habit and sense of care among students, one which they can easily correlate with the expectations of modern society.

Another green-curriculum-focused intervention came from Mrs Amrita Burman, Deputy Director, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions, who firmly believes in the current generation's relentless responsibility to hand over a healthy planet to the next generation. She said at her institution: “Imbibing inquisitiveness and problem-solving attitudes into children along with aligning SDGs to every discussion, chapter, and classroom assignment is of key priority in developing a green curriculum.”

Thus, by incorporating sustainability-related themes into the curriculum, educators can aim to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of environmental issues and equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future.

The role of Academia CAN not be discounted

Universities are required to play a multifaceted and essential role in policymaking. Their contributions must extend across various stages of policy development, implementation, and evaluation. Nonetheless, it has been established time and again that bureaucratic ways and methods that are more pragmatic differ substantially from the academic approach of objectivity, empirical facts, and ideas. “Is this where the gap lies?” inquired Dr Pankaj Gupta, Executive Director (CESM), O P Jindal Global University”.

Speaking as a moderator, Dr Pankaj kicked off the panel with a brief discussion about issues with the government's attitude towards evidence-based policymaking and the disconnect with academia. He said: “Even though, as vice-chancellors and leaders, if we try to get appointments from the education minister or secretary to share new ideas, it is not possible unless you know somebody in the system.” In this tussle, the role of universities becomes much more trivial in public policy advocacy and in getting their voices heard.

He also made comparisons with Western counterparts in terms of receiving endowments and cultivating a culture of giving back to the community. “What about the lifecycle value of a satisfied student,” he asked, pointing to the lack of collaborations and grants from Alumni settled abroad.

Thereafter, Dr Rahul Singhi, Co-Founder Poornima University, Began the discussion on the role of academia but emphasised that “the focus should be on the development of students at the grassroots level, who can act as policy advocates in their vicinity or local areas and also act as our brand ambassadors for policy creation and changes.” Adding to the point, Mr Joutishman Dutta, Managing trustee, Assam DownTown University, agreed on developing a student mentality aligned with understanding the know-how of policy making in public space. He advocated the role of government in organising internship programmes for students to participate in the policymaking processes so that their understanding and approach towards sensitive issues might change.

The government formulates policy through pure committees, which consist of experts and academics from different areas. However, Dr Ajit Parulekar, Director, Goa Institute of Management, was tedious in pointing out the government’s lack of ‘trust’ in private institutions when it comes to practice. “They still favour and trust ‘public institutions”, he said.

Zeroing on the remissness of regulatory bodies when it comes to understanding the working modalities of a policy, Prof Raghuvir Singh, Vice Chancellor, Teerthankar Mahaveer University, expressed his dissatisfaction towards the lack of collaboration among such bodies, “They all work in silos,” he said, and the lack of genuine autonomy is hindering all efforts of universities to progress with new ideas and innovation in higher education.

One key focus of the panel was the lack of research in education when it comes to policymaking Dr Akila Muthuramalingam, CEO, KSR Educational Institutions, suggested all institutions must create a centre for research in education that could act as a collaborative space for all departments to work on improving teaching and learning practices at the colleges or universities.

While giving the example of IIM Shillong and their research pact with the local city administration in reducing traffic, Dr Taruna Gautam,  Vice Chancellor, IILM, believes that most of the problems that are there in the society may be economic or environmental; universities can play the role of a catalyst. Proving her point, Prof Sundeep Mishra, Vice Chancellor NIMS University, gave examples of his institution’s resilience in pushing the government to adopt a national policy law on the concentration of fluoride in water and increased awareness among Muslim women to deliver children at hospitals in order to reduce women's mortality rates while giving childbirth.

Therefore, increasing the role of academia in policy formulation is a crucial exercise that can have potentially rewarding effects for society at large. Academics who are part of the government's advisory roles should be free to advocate research findings to all stakeholders so that improvements can be ascertained based on dynamic interaction and mutual trust.

The educational resolution around AI Revolution

In the last decade, the speed of transformation in technologies such as AI, machine learning, AR and VR has been exponential. The results of this advance were discussed at the world’s first ‘Global Summit on AI Safety’ (2023) in Bletchley Park, concluding with adopting the “Bletchley Declaration” heeding to the benefits offered by AI while ensuring safety. The historical narrative behind the selection of Bletchley Park as the venue for the summit was canvassed by Dr Navneet Goyal, HOD - CS, BITS, Pilani, along with the deep-rooted history of AI and its evolution since WWII. Speaking about the present scenario, he said: “We do not have to navigate our role through AI. Rather, we must focus on embracing it.”

Mr Santosh Nair, Managing Director, Global, Parul University, addressed the need for educational institutions to step up and adopt AI in their systems and processes, albeit acting as role models for the industry and society. His statements made it clear that following a pragmatic and proactive approach towards transformative technologies will save time and money for educational institutions invested in redundant processes. Touching upon the ‘now’ utopian idea of a ‘conscious AI’ and how it might replace the Gurus in education, Mr Neeraj Kumar Bedhotiya, Executive Director, Sanskriti The School, painted a grim picture of reality viewing students as ‘lonely individuals’ who spend time with machines seeking constant affirmations and validations. Navigating through the challenges in AI, Ms Pooja Priyamavada, Academic Director, International Institute of Mass Media, asked: “Where are we going in terms of ethical AI?” Citing the example of the US prison system using AI for collecting data on inmates, she said: “It was found that once the inmates were out of the system, American citizens of African descent particularly were provided with menial jobs as a result of the prison reform scheme.” This points to human-induced data bias, which is reflected in generative models and large language processing systems. Even though worried about negative scenarios and doubts, the panellists seemed optimistic about introducing AI courses at the schools and universities so that not only GenZ or Gen Alpha but also the teachers could be apprised of the latest tools and technologies.

The experts recommended that tailor-made courses related to AI should be introduced in all the programmes at the university level, and faculties should go for new and improved transformative programmes on AI. Investment in technology for assessments and international collaborations for research must be prescient. Whilst giving examples of using AI for translating textual information in different languages, the use of ChatGPT and objective AI tutors, Dr M Muruganant, Founder AcadNet introduced a new set of graduate attributes (S, C, R, A, L) where S is solution-centricity and Sensitivity, C is Creativity, R is to be Resilient, A is to be Adaptable, and L is to Learn; which he points are essentials for lifelong learning consistent with any form of technological revolution.

 “The graduates of tomorrow equipped with these attributes must be taught to identify the differences between generative AI and human-generated content,” added Mr Abhishek Bagachi, Director, MIT World Peace School. He said: “To build a conscientious organisation, principals, directors, promoters, and teachers need to have that possible foresight, and if we don't start today, we’re already too late.”

The effect of AI transformations is steadily translating into applications and technologies in a manner that will bring about substantial and positive changes to various aspects of human life, society, and industries. The education landscape is expected to be deeply affected by this transformation, and the response from the Indian education system must be timely and non-partisan. However, the ripple effect of such transformations will not be instant, and institutions should leverage this opportunity for favourable outcomes and planning for long-term orientation.