 |
|
| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
|
Towards new horizons
of knowledge Campus
Notes
|
|
|
Towards new horizons of knowledge OUR universities are a blatant example of the same old sluggish attitude towards research and teaching and, more so, towards the exercise of making a syllabus that carelessly throws international standards to the wind. I have seen it over years. Back in the sixties, only the few who were interested, pursued research. At that time, the university had not become a conveyer belt manufacturing dozens of below-mediocrity dissertations simply because the UGC directs supervisors to have at least eight research candidates. In the same reckless manner, new syllabi are introduced in faculty meetings as “current agendas”, and sadly the various syllabi are ratified without discussion. As for teaching and use of a new provocative pedagogy, the less said the better. It is clear that teachers are no longer asked to be creative or think critically. On the contrary, they have become followers of received methodologies, keepers of an audit culture, and ‘clerks’ (to use Chomsky’s word for present-day intellectuals) who have no autonomy in the classroom. To compete at the high international level, universities must run the race as well as each one can. To achieve this, the need is to grow, change and ensure that the onward march is driven by the introduction of the practice of inducting postdoctoral researchers so as to have a ready reservoir of qualified and talented teachers, which at the moment is rather abysmal. The commitment to independent scholarship and academic freedom and to nurturing talent in research and education has to stand the challenges of a changing society that demands inputs from the education system. We can realise this vision by evolving into a system that throws up continually transformative approaches to research, teaching and more important than all, the deep-seated engagement and dialogue with society. This would be its backbone and the source of its strength. An academic environment that is completely supportive of the teaching community and students is vital to the final aim of building a sense of a well-knit community. Within this context of striving for excellence, there is the requirement for understanding education as an act of determining the world in which we live through more progressive teaching practices whereby our education becomes a political and moral project. It shouldn’t remain a method to finish the surface understanding of prescribed texts without the inculcation of a critical habit that delves into the inherent link between the state apparatus, knowledge and power as produced within the matrix of social relations. The main motivation is towards the production of knowledge always with the relevance it has to our immediate needs and in what direction we plan to move our scholarship. As Henry A. Giroux, one of the most prominent educationists of the last century after Paulo Freire emphasises, “Most importantly, it takes seriously what it means to understand the relationship between how we learn and how we act as individual and social agents; that is, it is concerned with teaching students how not only to think but to come to grips with a sense of individual and social responsibility, and what it means to be responsible for one’s actions as part of a broader attempt to be an engaged citizen who can expand and deepen the possibilities of democratic public life. Finally, what has to be acknowledged is that critical pedagogy is not about an a priori method that simply can be applied regardless of context. It is the outcome of particular struggles and is always related to the specificity of particular contexts, students, communities, available resources, the histories that students bring with them to the classroom, and the diverse experiences and identities they inhabit.” In this context Giroux goes on to argue that we live in a world of corporate culture in which the neoliberal ideology becomes the guiding factor for what is taught in the classroom: “Everyone is now a customer or client, and every relationship is ultimately judged in bottom-line, cost-effective terms. Freedom is no longer about equality, social justice, or the public welfare, but about the trade in goods, financial capital, and commodities. The production of knowledge at the heart of this market-driven regime is a form of instrumental rationality that quantifies all forms of meaning, privatises social relations, dehistoricises memory, and substitutes training for education while reducing the obligations of citizenship to the act of consuming. … Knowledge is the new privileged form of capital and at least in the schools is increasing coming under the control of policies set by the ultra-rich, religious fundamentalists, and major corporate elites.” What is required therefore is a distinctive structure that endeavours to offer an environment not only supportive to the individual, but also one that helps to promote a sense of community life and a shared experience, enabling the academic to have a personal sense of identity. The university’s continuing strength would depend principally on the continuing quality of scholarship and the richness of its resources. Just the building of infrastructures is not enough if we have to forge ahead towards some semblance of excellence. We need to invest in a vision keeping this in view. Mere talk about enhancement of standards will not do as perceptibly individual departments continue to retain their complacency and lack of will to experiment. Proper coordination is what is missing. To achieve this objective, the university must first have a think tank or a task force with scholars and pedagogues invited from other universities who lay down the strategy for improvement. To begin with, the objectives in a nutshell could be: I can only add in the end that our most important challenge, keeping in view the quality of research and teaching as primary as well as basic, is to see how we can generate and distribute knowledge globally and regionally in a world, where we are living increasingly in a socially, economically and culturally integrated environment. The university, if it has to make headway, must develop its position as a global forum for intellectual engagement. This is one area where we are lacking. A proactive dialogue with other centres of higher learning will go a long way in having a deep impact on major areas of innovative teaching practices, research and curriculum designing which are imperative for our onward march towards new horizons of knowledge. |
|
|
Campus
Notes OVER 250 outstanding players, including 150 women, who brought laurels to Guru Nanak Dev University in various sports disciplines at international, national and all-India inter-university levels were honoured with cash prizes worth Rs 35 lakh and trophies during the 43rd Annual Sports Prize Distribution Function held here recently. Professor A.S. Brar, Vice-Chancellor, presided over the function and presented prizes to the winners. Dr H.S. Randhawa, Deputy Director, Sports, read out the Annual Sports Achievements Report for the year 2012-13. All-India Inter-University winners were honored with Rs 1,2000 each, second position holders got Rs 10,000 each and third position holders Rs 8,000 each. Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, lifted the Guru Nanak Dev University Inter-College ‘A’ Division Overall General Championship Trophy (Men) by securing 19,900 points, while DAV College, Amritsar, remained runners-up with 16,677 points. In the women’s section, BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar, lifted the Guru Nanak Dev University Inter-College ‘A’ Division Overall General Championship Trophy with 24,224 points, while HMV, Jalandhar, remained runners-up with 15,287 points. Seminar on cancer research A national seminar on “Recent Advances in Cancer Research” was organised by the Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences of the university recently. The seminar was sponsored by UGC-CPEPA. Dr M.S. Hundal, Dean, Academic Affairs, was the chief guest. The Dean briefed the audience about the theme and relevance of the seminar with special reference to the spreading tentacles of cancer in Malwa belt of Punjab. Dr Navdeep Singh, MD, DM, Oncologist, Fortis-Escorts Hospital, Amritsar, in his keynote address stressed upon the present and future prospects of cancer in India, while Dr Sameer Bakshi, Additional Professor, Dr BRA Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS, New Delhi, talked about the alternative forms of therapy in cancer such as use of anti-cancer plant extracts and efficacy of the drug “taxol” obtained from the bark of yew tree.
Energy management The Department of Food Science and Technology organised a seminar on “Technicalities and Recent Developments in Ethanol and Energy Management by Sugar Industry”. Dr G.S.C. Rao, president, Sugar Technology Association of India, explained the importance of sugar industry, which is now turning into ‘sugar complexes’, where the molasses are being diverted towards alcohol production and bagasse for the production of electricity. “Sugar industry has the potential to produce 10,000 MW of energy through co-generation. Brazil is an example for India, which has not only set its economy right by bringing the flexible fuel vehicles but also helped in reducing the global warming,” he said. Prof. Satindar Kaur, convenor of the seminar, was honoured with the Life Time Achievement Award on the occasion.
Symposium on chemistry A national symposium on “Recent Trends in Chemistry” was organised under the UGC-CAS Programme by the Department of Chemistry of the university recently. The symposium was inaugurated by Prof. A.S. Brar, Vice-Chancellor, who stressed on the active role of chemistry for the welfare of society. Prof. Sankararaman from IIT, Madras; Prof. S.K. Mehta, Head, Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh; and Prof. Gurmeet Singh from Delhi University, Delhi, delivered their talks on various aspects of chemical sciences. — Contributed by G. S. Paul
|
|
|
Studyscape LONDON: King’s College London, one of Britain’s premier universities, launched its 2013 International Summer School Programme in Mumbai recently. It will run a similar programme in Delhi this year. “I am pleased that we have been able to expand the range of Summer School courses on offer for students in India, giving them the opportunity to learn and thrive from the expertise we have built over the past 180 years at a location convenient for them,” said Professor Keith Hoggart, vice-principal (international) at King’s College London. The college launched its International Summer School Programme at an event held at Jai Hind College in Mumbai, which was attended by faculty from King’s and the principals of the city’s leading undergraduate colleges. King’s will run its first Summer School Programme in Delhi in June, to be hosted at Miranda House College, University of Delhi.
US helping India to set up 100 community colleges
KEELAKARAI (TN): The US is helping India realise one of its goals of establishing 100 community colleges under a new area of collaboration, Consul General of US Consulate, Chennai, Jennifer McIntyre, said. Participating in the founders' day celebrations of Mohamed Sathak College of Engineering here, she said the US also supports India’s launch of a high education Web portal to disseminate information on education collaboration and exchanges. She said she expects the number of college and university representatives visiting India to increase manifold in future. The US representatives were seeking to increase international student enrolment to prepare their graduates for better leadership in the new global economy. McIntyre said about a year ago, eight grants were awarded for joint studies in the fields of energy, sustainable community development, environment, education and public health, of which three were given to South Indian institutions. — PTI
|
research and teaching and, more so, towards the exercise of making a
syllabus that carelessly throws international standards to the wind. I
have seen it over years. Back in the sixties, only the few who were
interested, pursued research. At that time, the university had not
become a conveyer belt manufacturing dozens of below-mediocrity
dissertations simply because the UGC directs supervisors to have at
least eight research candidates.
Seminar
on cancer research