03 Feb 2015|Noida | Radisson Blu Hotel, Noida
“Indian Universities need to brand themselves and showcase their achievements on International platforms for global positioning”, suggests Ms Mandy Mok- CEO, QS Asia Quacquarelli Symonds, Singapore during Higher Education Seminar- QS in conversation with India”
QS Quacquarelli Symonds Asia, in association with Amity University organized Higher Education Seminar “QS in conversation with India” on the theme “Research and Innovation – Global Best Practices” at Radisson Blu Hotel, Noida.
QS Asia is the regional subsidiary of QS Quacquarelli Symonds, which is the world’s leading network for top careers and education. Founded in 1990, QS is the producer of the widely respected QS World University Rankings and QS University Rankings: Asia, and is well recognized as an independent education organization that is truly raising the bar of global higher education standards.
Welcoming the distinguished gathering, Ms Mandy Mok- CEO, QS Asia Quacquarelli Symonds, Singapore eulogized India’s glorious past and said,“India is the cradle of world’s smartest software, the birthplace of innovative new medicines, the grandmother of Mathematics and Astronomy and the great grandmother of Philosophy. The first and second generation of Indian immigrantsis widely represented at elite universities and amongst C-level executives in North America. In Asia, from UAE to Malaysia, Indian entrepreneurs are trailblazers, setting up new industries from scratch.” She remarked, “While Indians are global, India itself appears to be relatively isolated and lagging behind, which is more evident in higher education. Only a few Indian universities appear in the top tiers of global rankings. This is the paradox of Indian Higher Education”
Suggesting panacea to the maladies afflicting Indian Higher Education,Ms Mandy Mok said, “Indian Industry and society need universities to be more research intensive. Research is not just a key driver of a University’s success, it is also essential for social and economic development of a country.” She opined that Indian Universities are doing a great job but their academic excellence needs to spread; they need to talk about what they are doing and highlight their achievements on global platforms.She stressed that Indian Universities have to “brand” and position themselves right and rest everything will fall in its own place- global intellectual capital and institutes would initiate collaborations and best of students and faculty would associate themselves with Indian education institutions.
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity Group highlighted the importance of research and innovation in the development of a country and appreciated the relevance of the theme of Seminar- “Research and Innovation –Global Best Practices” in global context. He stressed that open mind,persuasion and motivation are very important for an innovation to take a concrete shape. He remarked that a galaxy of eminent experts and academicians from Universities across the world are attending QS Seminar and their talks and deliberations, he expressed, would immensely help in accelerating the R&D initiatives in academic institutions across the world.
Sharing his views, Mr.John O’Leary-Chair, QS in conversation, Member of QS World University Ranking International Advisory Board said that off late there has been a growing national interest in Indian Universities worldwide; research is no more restricted to few elite Universities across the world. Private and Public Universities both are coming up with excellent research initiatives. He stressed that it is commendable that a global ranking organization- QS is not just ranking Colleges and Universities but also, provides them know- how to conduct research, at the same time, trying to share with them best practices in R&D that are followed worldwide.
Addressing the gathering, Dr.S K Shivkumar, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre briefed the participants on satellite technology and challenges faced during Mars Orbiter Mission and said that ISRO believes that the outcome of each of its project should be beneficial to the country. He talked about various Satellite missions of ISRO such as Remote Sensing Satellites, Communication and Meteorological Satellites, Space Sciences and Interplanetary Satellite. Dr. Shivkumar added that Mars Orbiter Mission is ISRO’s first inter-planery mission with the scientific objective to explore theMars surface features, its morphology, mineralogy and atmosphere through indigenous scientific instruments. He commended Amity for been awarded as the best Research driven University that has filed great number of patents. He invited various organizations and institutions for collaborating with ISRO for progress and development of the country.
Sharing her thoughts through video-conferencing on the importance of research in developing Government economies in Saudi Arabia, HRH Princess Lolowah Al Faisal, Vice Chair, Board of Founders & Board of Trustees, and General Supervisor, Effat University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said, “Saudi Arabia is prepared to play an important role in international competition for excellence in the field of innovation and research”. She further added that the development of knowledge economies is very important in 21st century and the pace of change in the present competitive world is increasing in view of Science and Technology as it has direct consequences on the growth of the nation. She mentioned that the developed society adapt and benefit from change with relative ease, however,less developed societies face difficulty as they commence from lower level and consequently, the need of change gets faster and as an affect, the gap becomes greater. She outlined that the present scenario highlights that the importance of knowledge economies is fundamentally significant but the solution is not easy to find since the technologies, skills, resources and necessary social conditions for development are not evenly distributed. She opined that for a nation’s development, it is not the number of books or papers published that matter but the impact of researches conducted by the scientific fraternity of that nation.
Enlightening the participants on India emerging as a cradle of innovation,Dr. W Selvamurthy, President, Amity Science Technology and Innovation Foundation, Amity University said that India has tremendous advantage of being a nation with one of the largest and youngest population, which is helping it to emerge as cradle of frugal innovation. He added that patents filing trend in India is on increase and the nation stands at 7th position in the global race. He mentioned that Amity has a vision to emerge as a centre of excellence in many domains of Science and Technology. Dr. Selvamurthy shared the strategic framework of 12th Five Year Plan of the Government of India and said that for the development of nation, the Government has its focus on teaching and research and is extensively working to expand the reach of higher education. He outlined that the ingredients for growth of knowledge economy are research and innovation,Partnership of Government, Public and Private players, broad and diversified infrastructure for Science and Technology and emphasis on commercialization of technology. Dr. Selvamurthy commended QS as an igniter for higher education providers to raise their bar in teaching, research and innovation.
Also present during the event were Dr. (Mrs.) Amita Chauhan-Chairperson, Amity International Schools; Mr. Atul Chauhan- Chancellor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh; Mr. Aseem Chauhan- Chancellor, Amity University Rajasthan and other senior officials from Amity.
During the day, three technical sessions unfolded- “Setting the context for global research and innovation”,“The research challenge in different types of Universities” and“Commercializing University research” wherein global experts and academicians including Prof.Timothy John White- Research Director, Research Director, Research Strategy and Coordination Unit, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Amin Jalaludin- Vice Chancellor, University of Malaya, Malaysia; Prof.Nesreen Ghaddar- Associate Provost, American University of Beirut, Lebanon;Prof H.C. Man- Dean, Faculty of Engineering & Director of Studies, IGDS,The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; Prof. Alejandro Hernandez,Ph.D. Provost ITAM (Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology), Mexico amongst others shared their views.