Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) organized the 11th FICCI Higher Education Summit 2015 “Transforming Higher Education: The Asian Imperative”, supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the Planning Commission, Government of India on 3rd -4th November 2015. Mr. Chandra Shekhar Singh, Associate Professor, EEE Department, along with sixty four students from all branches, represented Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon at the Summit.

The objective of the summit was to bring together stakeholders including key policy makers, educationists and industry at both national and international level for deliberations and knowledge sharing. It was very much in line with the current government’s focus on aligning India’s development with the growth of Asia. There were panel discussions around key issues, like:

1. research partnerships

2. entrepreneurship development

3. student and faculty mobility

4. disruptive technologies to new learning outcomes to address opportunities and challenges of 21st century.

Day 1st:

The summit started with the welcoming of the dignitaries by Ms. Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Sr. Director,FICCI. Mr. Mohandas Pai, Chairman,FICCI Higher Education Committee gave the introduction of the theme , explained the purpose for organizing this summit and discussed the Government policies regarding the higher education with reference to contribution of FICCI. Dr. Arvind Pangaria, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog , said that there was an imperative need to link academia, industry and research with the higher education institutes to upgrade the quality of Indian higher education and become competitive in the world market . He also said that the industry could partner with the universities in two ways.

The dignitaries released the FICCI-EY Report 2015; FICCI-EFMD Report 2015; and FICCI-British Council Report 2015. Dr. Jyotsna Suri, President, FICCI, said that higher education and research plays a significant role in the regional trade and policy integration, but provided there is a change in approach. The barriers to the development in the Indian education system are mushrooming of poor quality public and private institutions, huge graduate unemployment. So it is important to build a new narrative for higher education, leverage private sector participation and enhance student-faculty cross mobility.

The first Plenary Session was on “Higher Education Vision of Asia: Few successful case studies (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Middle East, China, Korea, Japan)”. The key dignitaries present during the session were:

1. Dr. Kavita A Sharma, President, South Asian University (Session Moderator)

2. Mrs. Sushma Paul Berlia, President, Apeejay Stya & Svrán Group & Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University

3. Professor Dr A. K. Azad Chowdhury , Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Dhaka
4. Professor Tim White, Professor, School of Material Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
 5. Professor Euiho Suh, Ph.D., VP and Chair, UEMC, POSTECH.

In this session, the discussion was held regarding the contribution of Asia to the higher education system. Representatives from education institutes of South Asian countries shared their vision for Higher Education. The panelists discussed the initiatives that are to be taken by these countries towards developing a synergy, commonality and exchange of best practices between the universities of Asian countries, thereby developing the region into a higher education hub.

The second Plenary Session was on “Role of Networks in promoting Partnerships & Quality in Asia”. The key dignitaries for the session were

1. Professor Rajan Saxena, Co-Chair FICCI Higher Education Committee (Session Moderator)

2. Professor Furqan Qamar, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities, AIU

3. Mr S. Vaitheeswaran, MD & CEO, Manipal Global Education

4. Professor Michael Osbaldeston, Director, Quality Services, EFMD & Emeritus Professor, Cranfield University & Former Director, Cranfield School of Management

5. Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research

6. Dr. C Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, OP Jindal Global university

7. Mr. Utpal Ghosh, CEO & President, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies

8. Dr. C. Ramakrishnan, Executive Director, AMDISA

In this plenary session, the discussion was on the role of Institutional Networks in connecting professional bodies, academic research groups and scientific communities in sharing of knowledge/ good practices and inter-university cooperation. These networks seek to address mutual issues through projects, programs and events that promote quality of education and research supporting excellence. This session explored some such networks committed to providing excellence and delivering unparalleled value to the academic community in Asia.

The topic for the third plenary session was “Research Imperatives”. The key dignitaries present during the session were:

1. Dr. Indira J Parikh, Co-Chair FICCI Higher Education Committee (Session Moderator)

2. Professor Ajeet Mathur, Strategic Management and International Business in the Business Policy Area, IIM Ahmedabad

3. Professor Satish Kulkarni, Former Counselor for Science & Technology, Environment & Health Affairs, US Embassy, New Delhi

4. Professor Sanjay Dhande, Member, University Grants Commission & Former Director, IIT Kanpur

5. Dr. S. N. Balakrishnan, Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University

This plenary session was held to discuss the role of research and its imperatives. The dignitaries opined that the good quality of independent research is the trademark of any university. To create conducive research environment, industry-academia engagement is very important. Further, there is a need to create mechanisms wherein universities are motivated to conduct research as well as to increase their research output. This session focused on the successful research collaboration models in the Asian and other global universities and ways and means to leverage on each other’s strengths.

The day ended with the award ceremony for the 2nd FICCI Awards 2015.

Day 2nd :

The second day of the summit started with keynote address by Mr. Anthony Salcito, VP Microsoft Education Worldwide, Seattle to discuss the role of Microsoft education and the contributions to the society. He added that India is credited with having the world's second largest population and with more than 50% below 35 years of age; the country has the potential to become a hub of trained manpower provided this young population is given the right education and training.

The day’s first plenary session was on “FICCI Vision 2030 on Higher Education to Indian States”.

This session was to discuss on taking the Vision 2030 to various Indian states with special focus to North East. The key dignitaries present during the session were:

1. Mr. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, FICCI Higher Education Committee (Moderator)

2. Mr. P. Vaiphei, Commissioner, Higher & Technical Education, Govt. of Manipur

3. Mr. Vijai Vardhan, Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, Govt. of Haryana

4. Ms. Sumita Dawra, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Govt of Andhra Pradesh

5. Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder & Trustee, Ashoka University

The discussion focused on the states in the country that worked towards developing a progressive State higher education policy. The panelists highlighted on the current and envisioned macro environment of the States, identifying and addressing the key gaps in the performance of state higher education and the current initiatives taken by the State higher education Plan.

Mr. Rudraksh Mitra, Consultant from World Bank on “FICCI - World Bank Employer Satisfaction Survey 2014-15” presented a short presentation regarding the survey held by world bank for employer and employee satisfaction in the various institutions in the world. Mr. Tim Askew Freng, Director, ATS Consultants & former Group Executive Board Director & Managing Director - Middle East & India, WS Atkins PLC announced the names of twenty five shortlisted institutions for Newton Bhabha Innovation Fund”.

In the plenary session on “Entrepreneurship and Graduate Employability: Learnings from Asia and beyond” the discussion was on the ways and means to create an ecosystem that could lead to creation and development of the universities. The discussion was also held to talk on how various countries could partner to further the cause of ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem’ everywhere. The key dignitaries present during the session was Session

1. Professor M. Anandakrishnan, Former Chair-BoG, IIT Kanpur Session Moderator

2. Mr. Anand Sudarshan, Founder & Director, Sylvant Advisors Panelists

3. Mr. Pawan Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Govt. of India

4. Professor David Richardson, Vice Chancellor, University of East Anglia

5. Dr. Pavel Luksha, Professor of Practice, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, Member of the Expert Council, Agency for Strategic Initiatives

6. Professor Debashish Sanyal, Dean, NMIMS

7. Mr. Sanjay Vijay Kumar, Chairman, Startup Village

It was inferred from this session that that Entrepreneurship education is at a nascent stage of development not only in India but in many of the sub-continent countries. However, it is a widely accepted fact that in order to achieve all round economic development and to address the global challenges there is a need to foster entrepreneurship ecosystem for innovative products and services and creation of additional jobs. Further, Un-employability of graduates and lack of appropriately skilled workforce is pretty high in India. The job market is increasingly being redefined by specific skills and higher education system cannot afford to overlook the new realities of the 21st century.

The session on “Faculty and Student Mobility” was held to discuss pertinent issues and the best practices related to faculty and student mobility in Asia and beyond. These included student funding mechanisms, entry policy barriers, Visa norms, potential specialized courses for collaborations, etc. The key dignitaries present during the session were

1. Professor Furqan Qamar, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities, AIU Panelists

2. Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Symbiosis University, Pune

3. Professor N. V. Varghese, Director, Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, NUEPA

4. Dr. Pankaj Mittal, Additional Secretary, University Grants Commission

5. Dr. Ulrich Podewils, Representative to India, Freie Universität Berlin

6. Mr. Ratnesh Jha, Managing Director, Cambridge University Press India

It came up from the discussion that there is a shortage of quality faculty in the country. There is a need attract top talent, while providing effective motivating to retain existing resources. The movement of faculties and students across borders is extremely important as it shall help in strengthening the quality of higher education institutions of the countries.

In the last session of the day the topic of discussion was “The New Learning Models through Disruptive Technologies”. The panelists deliberated on the new models of learning that is growing at a rapid pace with the advent of disruptive technologies. The panelists were as:

1. Mr. Anand Sudarshan, Founder & Director, Sylvant Advisors Panelists

2. Mr. Pankaj Jalote, Director, IIIT Delhi

3. Mr. Rahul Patwardhan, CEO, NIIT Limited

4. Mr. Ishan Gupta, CEO, Edukart

5. Mr. Johnny Lin, Global Business Development / Partnerships, Udemy

6. Mr. Krishna Srinivasan, Chairman & Managing Director, QEDQuest

The conclusion derived from the session was that in the Indian education system regulatory structure, curriculum, etc, have remained static. Now a days there are customized learning with wider access to easily available multimedia content.

The two day summit ended with vote of thanks by Mr. Mohandas Pai, to the dignitaries and all concerned. The Summit provided a platform for discussions of best practices and knowledge sharing on higher education policies and strategies to boost this growth.