DU ex-V-C to launch 2 colleges for better standards of education

NEW DELHI: Delhi University’s former vice-chancellor Professor Dinesh Singh announced on Monday that he plans to open a trans-disciplinary Internet College and a

NEW DELHI: Delhi University’s former vice-chancellor Professor Dinesh Singh announced on Monday that he plans to open a trans-disciplinary Internet College and a college of startups, as a way to combat the deteriorating standards of higher education in India. The ventures are expected to be launched in January.

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Speaking at a public lecture titled “Redefining Education: Enabling India” at the India International Centre on Monday, Singh said, “In the past, India was a highly enabled society.”

He cited India’s historical excellence in the fields of medicine, metallurgy, economics, trigonometry, and even calculus, but stated that over the years the Indian education system has lost its way.

“A lot of students that are coming out of our current education system do not have real-world skills. Only 14% of all engineering graduates are employable. An IIT student once said that ‘the only thing I have learned is how to give exams’,” he said.

“The pedagogy itself needs to be changed. The teacher has to be a mentor and exams should be used to enable students, not disable them,” the professor added.

He has proposed trans-disciplinary courses, skill-based learning, and entrepreneurial skills to secure the future of India. At his Internet College, which is expected to have collaborations with multiple international institutions, he hopes to harness the power of technology to allow students to widen their paradigms.

“India is in danger, unless we become a knowledge-based economy. It will work in perfect tandem with the ‘Digital India’ initiative,” he explained.

The college of start-ups, similarly, will empower students with the skills needed to establish their own entrepreneurial ventures. “At universities, we talk about getting a job. We need to start talking about creating jobs. We need to tie skills and knowledge together.”

Melba Pria, the Mexican ambassador to India, and Professor Adele Martial, the French Embassy’s attaché for science and technology, also spoke about the education systems in their respective countries, and ways they could learn from each other.