SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, July 11: A week-long Online Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on Research & Skill Development: National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, an initiative of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Amity University Jharkhand commenced on Monday.
Keynote Speaker of the inaugural ceremony was Dr Dev Vrat Singh, Former Dean and Head, Department of Mass Communication, School of Mass Communication and Media Technologies, Central University of Jharkhand.
Addressing the participants, he gave a detailed presentation on ‘NEP 2020′ and ‘Research for the Humanity’ and referred to misinformation and disinformation. He suggested a thorough research would tell us on how to tackle it. “Both computer and media people are working on dissemination of misinformation,” he quoted.
Explaining NEP, he mentioned that it emphasizes all Indian languages including law and medical sciences. Government has started translating study materials in local languages. Another advantage of NEP is its multi-disciplinary approach. Also, it is the four plus one model i.e four year’s bachelors’ course. Interestingly, even after four years of under graduation, a student can opt for Ph.D.
On how to use research for nation building, he discussed the broad scenario of higher education in India. Presently, there are over 1000 universities and over 42,000 colleges and as many as 12,000 standalone functions in India.
“There is no debate on qualitative and quantitative approaches and now we are speaking on a mixed approach. Taylor and Francis as well as Elsevier are coming up in India, but India doesn’t have its own journal or research platform,” he stated.
“Bigger question is how to cultivate research. Are we a knowledge consumer or knowledge creator? Knowledge creation will be a bigger question in future. In India, we have demographic demarcations where youngsters are making half the population,” he added.
Prof. (Dr.) Raman Kumar Jha, Vice-Chancellor, Amity University, Jharkhand appreciated the elaborated efforts of Dr. Dev Vrat Singh in NEP. “Are we knowledgeable consumers or creators?” is a tagline I would like to take up from the programme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attended not less than 25 meetings for NEP, and is rigorously working on it,” he said.
He further stressed on adapting the suggestions of NEP giving equal emphasis on various areas such as collaboration between two varsities.
Prof. (Dr.) Ajit Kumar Pandey, Director, Amity University, highlighted the benefits of FDP. The relevance of Vedic age and NEP’s inter-disciplinary research as well as innovation were elaborated by him. He recalled his Ph.D. days when there was hue and cry for interdisciplinary research.
Dr. S. Arvind Pandey, Director, Law, Amity University, Jharkhand said, “Research means to be inter-disciplinary and cross-referential so that the research output can reach as wide an audience as possible.”
Prabhakar Tripathi, Registrar, Amity University stressed on security, health and education, stating that these are the three most important aspects of human life.
