The missing backbone of innovation

Q. Indian universities do not have a prominent presence on the global scale. What is lacking and what can be done?

A. What is lacking is quality research. Indian universities have a long way to go in terms of quality research. In the United States and Europe, a large number of universities have acquired stature and recognition, as they have produced Nobel laureates through years of research. Indian universities too need to deploy meaningful resources in quality research for global recognition.

Q. In India, the focus is more on placements and less on innovation in education. What reasons do you attribute to it?

A. Yes, in India the orientation is to go for well-paying jobs. Research and innovation needs a State support system that is unfortunately lacking. The population is large and stipend for research and innovation is either not there or is woefully inadequate than what a job could get.

Q. What are the areas where university and industry can interface for the benefit of students?

A. Both complement each other. Training and research at the universities in India help the industry grow and the practical experiences gained in the corporate sector help in fine-tuning the courses at the institutes. The areas of interface therefore straddle all the functions.

Q. How do you attract the best talent in academia and encourage teachers to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship?

A. At our institution, the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship is highly valued. Our faculty is involved in several innovative projects. They are part of National Entrepreneurship Network and have also initiated the activities with TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and CSBE (Council for Small Business & Entrepreneurship).

Further, we are doing a major project in collaboration with the University of Wales. This project has been funded by the British Council and is aimed at driving innovation in the SMEs; our faculty is attempting path-breaking work on enhancing their productivity. Click here to read more...

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The factors keep changing at different levels of education.

Prof. Parvin Sinclair (Director, NCERT) says if one aspires to be a school teacher, one needs to empathise with children

 

Q. What will be the teacher-development methods?

A. National Council Of Educational Research And Training (NCERT) has formed National Council For Teacher Education (NCTE). It is a regulatory body that has created a set of norms in accordance to which it regulates and advises. It has also developed a curriculum framework for teachers, which is slowly being put in place. We have developed a BEd programme and offer a two-year internship, which is well-monitored without being intrusive. We are also starting an online teacher training programme.

As there are many untrained teachers – recruited to fill vacant posts – in-service education training has been in focus. Every state government is trying to deal with the demand of in-service teacher training.

We also find there are different people with different calibre in different states. Hence, teacher eligibility test (TET) was brought in; central teacher eligibility test (CTET) is for the central level and state-level teacher eligibility test (STET). Surprisingly, most people failed it. But, hopefully something better will come out of the experiments that have been frequently done over the years.

Q. What is the difference between India and the top-performing nations in the education sector ?

A. There can be no comparison with any country that has a population 1/100th of of India, spread out differently and has huge monetary resources. We cannot simply implement their best practices because the economical, social and geographic conditions are different. Instead, we can only try to customise and adapt those practices according to our requirements.

National Human Resource Developement (NHRD) has formed a national advisory committee council that has groups looking into curriculum in context of the RTE Act and how to get them in place with the states. The prime minister has his own advisory council that has a constant focus on education. Along with the SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan) is also being developed. Click here to read more...

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The readers’ guide

Mark Sanborn is an international bestselling author and noted authority on leadership and customer service. He has served as the president of the National Speakers Association and is one of the youngest speakers ever to be inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame. Sanborn has authored eight books and nearly two dozen audio and video training programs including the bestselling books ‘The Fred Factor’, ‘You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader’ and ‘The Encore Effect’. In 2007, Sanborn was awarded the Ambassador of Free Enterprise Award by Sales & Marketing Executives International.

Q. You delivered your first speech at the age of 10 and failed. While most people give up after their first failure, you took it as a challenge and turned your failure in to a success story. What was the inspiration behind this?

A. How we frame what happens to us in life matters. The difference between opportunity and obligation is perspective. I hate to lose. In the case of the speech competition, I saw losing as a challenge to improve, rather than a discouragement to quit. Interestingly, some people hide their disappointment in a setback or failure by saying “it doesn’t matter”. They pretend they do not care when in reality they care deeply. I think it is important to be clear on what is important to us personally and professionally and to use mistakes and disappointments to make us better.

Q. Many are convinced that leaders are born, not made. How true is this? With time how has this idea changed?

A. Leadership is a skill, and any skill must be learned and developed. Some people are born with a greater disposition to learn certain skills, but there is no automatic or effortless achievement of mastery of a skill. Think about field hockey. Anyone can learn to play the game, but some are born with a greater physical potential than others to play well, and only a few become superstars. Anyone can learn to lead, whether or not they have a title. Some people may have genetics that make leadership an easier skill to learn and excel at and a few become leadership superstars through a combination of hard work and their natural predisposition. Read more...

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The people’s advocate

Bharti AXA General Insurance was undergoing a major change last year and there was a possibility of reshuffle in shareholders. Instead of being made aware by the company, the staff came to know about it through press reports. This could have raised quite a few challenges if not handled well. The first thing we did was to communicate openly about this to the staff, giving them all the details required. In addition, we set up regular communication and meetings with the staff on a pan-India basis to address any query from them and ensured normal execution of all operations. This had a positive impact on the staff and at the end of the year we had not just managed to meet all business targets but also saw an increase in employee satisfaction that we measure every year.

During economic slowdown or market turns, it is important that HR is involved during all boardroom discussions so that they are abreast of the situation and people become the integral part during the decision-making process. As a chief people’s officer, it is his or her responsibility to ensure and lead all employee communication for the organisation, be available 24/7 for answering queries and concerns, and to motivate during times of change.Communication is one important strategy during turnarounds and it should be transparent, factual and employee centric. This will ensure that there is no ambiguity and uncertainty in the minds of the employees. Also, the HR head needs to make sure the communication is factual and pragmatic – neither alarmist nor too optimistic for the organisation to maintain credibility in the eyes of its employees. Read more..

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