One Day Workshop On Induction Program, at Aicte Headquarters
7th July 2017
Introduction
One day workshop on "Induction Program" was held at AICTE HeadQuarters, New Delhi on 7th July 2017. Mrs.Sanghamitra V. Arora , Head of Department, Applied Sciences & Humanities, Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the event.
The event was presided over by eminent persons such as Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe(Chairman-AICTE), Dr.M.P.Poonia (Vice Chairman-AICTE) and Prof Rajeev Sangal (Director-IIT BHU). IIT-BHU at Varanasi has reportedly prepared a three-week induction module for all students set to join its first-year B.Tech course with the objective of enhancing their basic language skills and conceptual understanding and has been implementing it successfully since past few years.The workshop was the fifth in the series in the country to be held to help faculty of the AICTE approved institutions to understand and be equipped to impart such training to students.
The sessions were conducted by Dr. B.L. Rama, (Adviser II-AICTE) and the audience comprised of senior members of Management and faculty members from various institutes.
Session 1 :
The inaugural address was given by the Chairman of AICTE, Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe.He stressed on the fact that there is a need to bring a major shift in aspiration and expectations of students. This requires a revamp in academics, making it more hands on and project oriented. He was confident that the model curriculum for Induction Program will not only enable projects but also it will breed professional discipline, bonding within the batch, bonding with teachers (human values) and help build character and imbibe the institutional culture and ethos. There should be more industry inputs in courses and have some courses taught by experienced people from industry.
This was followed by address of Dr. M.P. Poonia ,Vice Chairman-AICTE who shared his experiences as to how a head of institution can mentor the progress and thought process of faculty as well as students. Human values course would also be conducted along with preparatory (crash) course in basic English and Computer familiarity for those who need it. Greater efforts should be put in activities rather than events in such a way that the institute becomes self- sustainable.
Session 2 :
The session was conducted by Prof. Rajeev Sangal, Director-IIT BHU. He was supported by Prof R.K. Mishra and Prof Zaheer Khan who are core members of the team that implements the Induction Program in IIT BHU.It was proposed that during the induction program, the following activities would be carried out from morning till evening every day:- physical activity and games, creative arts (painting, sculpture, music, dance etc.), literary activity, enacting a play, lectures by eminent people etc. This generates a lot of enthusiasm among the students, wherein they take decisions about student life as well as participate in academics decision making. They however need guidance at all levels. The question put up was:What do we want from our graduating students?
- A graduating student must have knowledge of area of study, language, society, relationships and possess character.
- The graduating student should have the following meta-skills, which are not subject specific: critical thinking, creativity, hands-on general skills, communication ability relating to art and culture, as well as self-reflectivity.
- The following values need to be inculcated for learning: recognizing joy of learning moving towards excellence, cooperation, sensitivity to others anddoing larger good (in society and the world). These help set goals of life, which current education fails to do.
- Major shift is needed in aspirations/expectations of incoming UG students. Currently,
even those who come in with a zeal, lose their motivation.
- Bring about the shift through three methods:
- Through studies – courses,curricula, projects,
- Through environment – start with induction program and
- Through self-filtration – right set of students to come in.
- Character building needs to be implemented in this larger framework. Otherwise it is
seen as imposing restriction.
- He/she should have certain dynamic skill sets, such as communication skills, team skilland sense of belongingness to the profession as well.
- He/she is not an isolated person, but a part of society. Hence must be sensible tosocial realities. Advancement of social and human wellbeing remains an integral andinherent objective of education and acquired knowledge has to be used for socialupliftment.
- The way of imparting education should be such that it makes the student "a Good
Engineer, a Good Citizen as well as a Good human being".
In the end, there was a short discussion on topics such as ‘Holistic Development & Role of Education’ and the importance of ‘Train the Trainers’ by Sh. Som Tyagi and Sh. Ankit Pogula.They work actively in every strata of society for encouraging life skills to be included in our lives.
The inclusion of the Induction Program for under graduate students is a very good initiative taken by the concerned authorities. The discussion and case studies of IIT BHU are a standing example about the effectiveness of the program. The program will not be mandatory for the upcoming semester for all the technical institutions. However there was a clear indication of it being implemented with immediate effect in government and autonomous institutes.