Amity students are industry-ready with a plethora of critical skills, say Dr Prakash

Dr Nirupama Prakash, Director at Amity Institute of Social Sciences in Noida, talks about the MOOCs system and four-quadrant approach followed by the university at length. She goes into detail talking about industry readiness as the most crucial skill for students. Amity University equips students with critical thinking skills which are interdisciplinary in nature. They are encouraged to develop important soft skills like adaptability, problem-solving, creativity, empathy and collaboration via their curriculum structure and activities like volunteering and extracurriculars.

Dr Prakash is a scholar, consultant, guest speaker and a visiting faculty at many national and international forums.

Read the complete interview below.

Q: What is the difference between the teaching methodology in your institute and others?

A: At Amity, the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) system is fully utilised. These are online courses that are developed as per the pedagogy of Credit and Non-Credit courses and follow the four-quadrant approach consisting of video lecture, specially prepared reading material that can be downloaded/Printed, and suitable for self-assessment and an Online Discussion for clearing doubts. These allow professors to improve lectures and create a dynamic content archive. The MOOCs system followed at Amity also helps students to keep up with their learning via tests and grades, such as multiple-choice questions and discussions based on text comprehension, and thus maximises teaching time. The teaching methodology favors an interdisciplinary approach with a focus on building critical skills.

Q: How are you preparing your students to be Industry ready?

A: At Amity, students are offered a variety of interdisciplinary and industry-oriented courses. They are further supported by various innovation and placement cells that cater to current students as well as alumni; and also, regular Management Development Programmes (MDPs), Seminars, Consultancy, Quiz Contests, Research & Resource Sharing and interaction with industry and leadership giants are conducted.

Q: What quality do your students have which other college students lack?

A: Amity students are industry-ready with a plethora of critical thinking skills which are interdisciplinary in nature. They are encouraged to develop important soft skills like adaptability, problem-solving, creativity, empathy and collaboration via their curriculum structure and activities like volunteering and extracurriculars. This is followed with the development of hard skills such as knowledge and skills which allow them to be up to date and technically ready in their chosen fields.

Q: Do you think the curriculum of the courses taught in your institute fits in the requirement of the industry?

A: Amity University follows the course and curriculum guidelines as mentioned in the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) and the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) system. This has ensured that the curriculum at Amity is India-centric and teaches innovation, critical thinking skills, sustainability, collaboration, technical knowledge and skills, adaptability and creativity. Coupled with global exposure, students from Amity are industry-ready with a plethora of hard and soft skills which make them sought after in the job market.

Q: Is your college receptive to innovation, technology, science & entrepreneurship?

A: Amity University is technologically ahead, with its own mobile apps for student interaction and feedback, along with one of the most hi-tech university intranet portals in the world called Amizone. Amity students can also access various electronic information resources for online databases, journals, case studies, research materials, etc. To further ensure that students don’t miss out on their learning experience, Amizone also offers an archive of Recorded Classes. Along with this, Amity Innovation Incubator which is a registered 'not for profit' society supported by an advisory body consisting of industrialists, venture capitalists, technical specialists and managers works to help entrepreneurs and students realize their dreams through a range of infrastructure, business advisory, mentoring and financial services. Amity is at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies and scientific research. There is a setup of a strong R&D infrastructure and numerous facilities and labs with modern state of the art equipment. Today, Amity is the hub of scientific learning and high-end research.