LPU Chancellor addresses Oxford students, faculty
Jalandhar, November 10
Coming as a proud moment for Punjabis, Lovely Professional University (LPU) Chancellor and Rajya Sabha member Dr Ashok Kumar Mittal recently got a chance to address the students and faculty of University of Oxford’s prestigious Oxford Town Hall.
Dr Mittal touched on the topic: “Will universities be disrupted by 2030?” He spoke, “Education has not changed in tens of thousands years. It’s still about a teacher speaking in front of students, students taking notes and then getting tested on it. While the medium may have changed from in person to online, the basics remain the same. The need of the hour is to change education not just in terms of medium, but also in terms of how it is delivered. Education needs to be immersive. Many skills are better learnt at work than at school. Education needs to be ‘gamified’. Kids spend hours playing games online.”
Further questioning all attendees, Dr Mittal continued: “Can we make education as fun-oriented as Angry Birds? Don’t we learn more about British history from Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ than from history books? We are at the MySpace of education. There will be a Facebook of education. Will that come from Oxford or India?”
Dr Mittal, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, is on a 10-day foreign tour. He has also visited Ireland to sign an MoU with a university. He will also be speaking at the House of Lords and will be meeting UK business house owners at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).
Addressing a gathering at the University of Oxford was a momentous occasion not only for Dr Mittal, but also for India as the University of Oxford has a history of inviting only the world’s distinguished visionaries to address its students and staff.
