New Delhi: The APAC 6th Global Education & Skill Conclave saw more than 100 speakers from the government, embassies, universities, schools, and industry come together to reshape the educational landscape through collaboration, innovative policies, and technology integration. The inaugural session was titled “Policy, People, Skilling & Innovation – Building Partnerships Between Govt, Global Communities, Academia & Industry for Transforming Education,” where the event’s Guest of honour, Kapil Dev Agarwal, MoS (IC) Vocational Education & Skill Development Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, said, “The skill sector of all governments including UP needs to democratise the skilling system to inculcate new learning across the masses.”
Avichal Kapoor, Joint Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC), outlined the UGC’s blueprint under the National Education Policy (NEP). “1100 universities, 50000 colleges, and 4 crore learners building partnerships at individual and institutional levels is critical,” Kapoor explained. He added that the NEP has set four objectives to make India a global educational superpower, and the UGC is taking steps to enhance employability and 21st-century skills among graduates.
“15 crore of Indians are in the 18-23 age group making it the higher education group while another 55 crore will enter this group in the next 15 years,” noted Dr Shashank Shah, Director (Senior Specialist – Higher Education), NITI Aayog. He highlighted the gender parity that exists in higher education and informed that women getting their higher education has increased by four times. Commenting on the integration of AI in education, he said, “The role of AI will be phenomenal but the role of teachers will remain critical while effectively using digital education.”
Sunita Gandhi, Founder and CEO, Devi Sansthan, criticised current educational methods for not adequately promoting self-learning. “The biggest skill is the skill to learn, but unfortunately, we are not teaching this self-learning to students in schools,” Gandhi remarked.
IAS Amrit Singh, Director, Department of Higher Education & Employment Generation, Skill Development, Government of Punjab, outlined the government’s roles in integrating technology with education. She listed them as, “Developing technology to incorporate into education at a large scale, reaching every citizen the benefits of this technology in even backward and remote districts, involving teachers to inculcate the new methodology of teaching for capacity building, and giving access to children of the online world and therefore having regulations to protect children.”
Michael Houlgate, Deputy Director-India, British Council, spoke about the British Council’s goals to foster productivity and inclusivity in education through Indo-UK partnerships. “UK and India signed an MOU on July 22 for joint recognition of academic qualifications,” Houlgate added. The High Commission of the UK was a Country Partner of the education and skill conclave.
IAS officer P Raja Babu, MD & CEO, AP State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), announced significant developments in local education infrastructure. “We have proposed 2 skill universities in Kadapa district, 26 Skill colleges and 192 skill hubs,” he noted, adding that universities have been mandated in Andhra Pradesh to tie up with a polytechnic, ITI or an engineering college.
“We are looking at how ChatGPT and AI can be used to innovate teaching principles,” Dr Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of All India Universities stated while sharing his insights on the adaptability and future directions of Indian universities.
Victor Gorelykh, Head of Education Cooperation Department, Russian House, expressed his hopes for expanding educational cooperation between India and Russia, particularly in PhD programs.
“India needs to do well in both R&D and Skilling and AI going to transform it,” Prof T G Sitaraman, Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), said, adding that very soon there will be a Wiki of the Indian knowledge system and students should be taught accordingly in that environment.
IAS officer Anju Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour, Skill Development & Employment Department, Government of Gujarat, called for the redesigning of the curriculum by “embedding skills in education, and replacing what with how and why.”
IAS officer Nidhi Choudhari, IAS, Commissioner & CEO Skills, Employment, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Department & Maharashtra State Innovation Society, Government of Maharashtra, informed, “Vocational education was being provided in both schools and higher secondary schools even before NEP in Maharashtra. Every taluka in Maharashtra has got a government ITI and courses have been revamped by DGT with industry 4.0 trades.”
“We are going to set up 2 skill universities, embed value-added courses in emerging technologies in engineering curriculum, tie-up with financial institutions forming a consortium to embed courses,” said Prof. V. Venkata Ramana, Vice Chairman, Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) & Vice-Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, (RGUKT), Basar, Government of Telangana.
Raghuram Iyer, Director, Higher Secondary Education, Government of Odisha, assured that teachers in secondary and higher secondary classes have been exposed to digital technologies in training. G C Ramamurthy, Joint Director (Curriculum Development Division), Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India, said, “Even before NEP came into existence, we had 15000 ITIs involved in 157 trades.” Aaditya Razdan, Enterprise Account Director- India, Coursera, informed, “We have collaborated on courses with Odisha and Tamil Nadu to enable a future-ready workforce.”’
Panel discussion themed “NEP: The New Wave Higher Education Transformation: Challenges & Opportunities” saw directors, deans and vice-chancellors like Kunwar Shekhar Vijendra, Cofounder and Chancellor, Shobhit University; Er. B. S. Yadav, Chancellor, IES University, Bhopal; Prof. (Dr.) Manpreet Singh Manna, Vice Chancellor, Chandigarh University; Sandeep Marwah, Founder & Chancellor, AAFT University; Prof. (Dr.) Balvinder Shukla, Vice Chancellor, Amity University – Noida; Dr. Jayanthi Ranjan, Vice Chancellor Sharda University, Agra; Prof. ( Dr.) Dhowmya Bhatt, Dean IQAC, SRM Institute of Science and Technology; and Mohit Wattal, Executive Director, Sunstone; come together to discuss the need of the hour.
Industry presentations showcased several initiatives taken to align education and technology. Muskeen Singh Makhija, Deputy Manager (Business Development), Meritto, said, “We don’t just build products but we solve for our customers.” Pawan Kumar Sharma, CGM, EdCIL and Karan Shah, CEO & Founder at IIDE- The Digital School were also among the presenters. Vivek Singh, Business Lead, Fibe gave a presentation on “Education for all.”
Other panel discussions took place with the following themes:
- Designing Digital Infrastructure & Outlining Roadmap for New Education Model
- Digital Smart Schools: Role of Emerging Technologies
- Leveraging Innovation to Augment Admissions Process
- Future-Ready Curriculum Design in Universities: Adapting to Evolving Industry Needs
- Changing Pattern of Assessment in a Blended Learning Model
- Future–Ready Curriculum Design with Life Skills & Innovation
The conclave sparked discussions on using technology and innovative policies to position India as a leader in global education. Upon interviewing leaders and policymakers individually, they expressed their hopes that these joint efforts will greatly improve educational methods and results.
