Prof PB Sharma is the Past President of the Association of Indian Universities, Founder Vice Chancellor of DTU and RGPV, former Principal of DCE, former Professor of IIT Delhi and Vice Chancellor of Amity University Haryana. In an exclusive conversation with APAC News Network, Prof Sharma outlines the digitization programs at Amity and the future course of academy-industry collaboration.
What is the secret of your path to excellence in higher education and research as India’s longest serving Vice Chancellor?
The pursuit of academic and research excellence demands a focused attention to not only the state of the art but also a vision for the future and unconditional commitment to quality, relevance and innovation. Further, to grow taller in your chosen domain, you must carve out your pathways for R&D and Innovation, supported by funded research from the R&D organizations and industry.
I picked up these traits from my days at the University of Birmingham, UK where I saw great eminence emerging out of engagement in industry relevant research and innovations. I pursued this thrust on quality research and innovations at IIT Delhi during my 12 years of association to demonstrate world quality, industry relevant research outcomes from institutions like IITs.
The challenge, however, was to transplant the culture of research and innovation to Delhi College of Engineering, to which I had moved from IIT Delhi, as the Principal of DCE in December 1990. Being an outsider to the DCE, I had the advantage to try out new ideas and create a culture of research and innovation in otherwise a teaching institution. The freedom to excel is often not so easy in government institutions, but great strides were achieved in improving the quality of education and fostering a culture of research and innovation.
DCE became a leader in attracting MNCs and Global giants and achieved unparalleled success in the employability of its graduates. Innovations were rolled out in good numbers making DCE, a factory of innovation with its maiden entry into the Formula Student Car competition in the UK and winning the FISITA Award for Innovative Design in 2004, the First Hybrid Car of India winning the first prize in Student category in 2005 in international competition in the US, First AUV of India winning the most innovative design award in the US in AUVSI competition in 2006.
All this alongside the culture of research and innovation percolating right down to UG levels made DCE rise to great eminence in the community of engineering and technology institutions both nationally in India and as well as abroad. Strong connection with industry and the global power of DCE alumni made the eminence grow further.
The transformation of DCE to Delhi Technological University, DTU in 2009 and the privilege to head DTU as its Founder and Vice Chancellor provided a great opportunity to build islands of academic quality, globally acclaimed R&D and foster world class innovations. A great expansion of educational and research programs was accomplished with a sustained focus on “Growth with Quality”. Today DTU stands head and shoulder above government and private universities in technical education.
Here at Amity University Haryana too, the culture of research and innovation and focus on funded R&D, regular thrust on patenting of novelty of research and innovations and the advantage of visionary leadership of Founder President of Amity Education Group having global outlook has made AUH rise to eminence in quality education, funded R&D projects, patents and high-quality research publications.
The current tally of 105 funded R&D Projects, 258 patents, 6700 plus publications, NIRF University Ranking 2023 in the top 100 universities in India and H index of AUH rising to 58 has made us feel proud of being part of a research and innovation driven university that AUH is today.
What are the digital initiatives undertaken at Amity University that you would like to highlight?
Amity University Haryana, right from 2013, has ensured that all its academic and research administration is conducted through Amizone, a digital platform of the Amity Education System, to maintain total transparency in our academic and administrative activities. As such the digitization at AUH became a natural transition, more so after Covid-19. Today AUH stands as a fully technology integrated university with digitization of its entire academic and administrative activities.
How are you working with third party Tech Solutions providers?
The University adopted mechanisms to ensure minimum use of papers for official and academic purposes. All working communication and data collection is carried out through e-communication and on the portal Amizone. Recently the university switched to TCS iON for HR management and also for its procurements and inventory.
How do you see the direction in which academia industry collaboration is moving in the future? What are the roles played by Amity University in further fostering this collaboration?
India’s impressive march on economic growth and focused attention to fostering innovations has created a highly favourable environment for industry-academia collaboration both for education as well as for research and innovation. The industry in India is rising to this new paradigm supported by Government of India through variety of scheme and programs. The higher education institutions need to fully utilize this opportunity to foster industry academia collaboration for research and innovation of great value to the industry and to the national missions.
The involvement of industry experts in teaching and curriculum design and development alongside with co-supervising masters and doctoral research is also increasing. The recent thrust on taking professors of practice on board in the universities shall further strengthen the connection with the industry.
While industry-academia collaboration is important, equally important to foster international collaboration for research in areas that demands pooling of research talent for addressing mega challenges such as climate change, development of new and smart materials, sustainability sciences and for path breaking research in areas like semiconductor technology, green hydrogen, life sciences and drug design & drug discovery utilizing the rich herbal and medicinal plant base that India has in plenty.
At AUH we have established research clusters in areas of high national and global relevance and have undertaken a number of consortia R&D projects to foster industry and society relevant research and innovations. Further, AUH believes in leading by example in sustainability and green practices.
I am happy to add that AUH campus has received the LEED Platinum Certification from US Green Building Council in July 2017, making AUH as the first in India to achieve Platinum Grade certification for its university campus.
How would you highlight the technology conferences that Amity organizes and how do they inculcate the spirit of innovation in the students?
Our conferences are designed for tangible outcome and are well participated by the young, inspired minds of students and addressed by leader from industry and leading research institutions in India and abroad. These conferences and seminars create a great learning experience and enhance insight of our students into the rapidly advancing frontiers of knowledge and industry relevant skills. All this results in enhanced employability and create future ready workforce that understands the value of research and innovation in today’s technology integrated workplaces.
How has Amity University looked at digitalization of the admission and assessment processes?
Yes, in fact, all Amity Universities have a fully digitized admission system that allows aspiring candidates to apply online for admission. The entire process of admission is transparently transacted on our online admission portal https://admissions2024.amity.edu/gurugram-admissions.
How does Amity look at its Centers for next gen technologies like AI? What are the key digital initiatives being planned at Amity over the next few semesters?
At AUH, we have established 19 Centres of Excellence in areas of high relevance to national missions. These include CoE for AI and ML, Robotics, Nano Science and Technology, Lipidomics, Cancer research, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Data Analytics, Bio Computing and Clean Energy technologies among others. Further considering all providing nature of AI and its applications, we have provided AI and data science certificate courses to all the UG programs in the university cutting across various disciplines.
Neha Sharma & Rajneesh De, APAC News Network
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