National Education Policy will be a game-changer for education sector: Dr. Yaj Medury

Dr. Yaj Medury, Vice Chancellor, Mahindra University talks about how university changed its teaching-learning pedagogy during COVID and lauch of new age courses in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

Q. The higher education sector is going through a transformation phase in the post-Covid era. What have been major changes brought in by Mahindra University in its academic process in the past two years?

A. The pandemic created greater long-term challenges and significant disruptions across sectors globally, especially the education sector. This led to a significant surge in transition to online learning aided by technology and learning tools.

To ensure a smooth and streamlined experience for the students, we took swift actions to adapt ourselves to the challenge thrown in by the pandemic as early as March 2020. We quickly resumed online classes using Zoom & MS Teams to ensure continuity and shared the recordings so that students could learn at their pace and reach out in case of any queries. For practical and lab classes, the faculty members video recorded these sessions and shared them followed by live interactions with students online.

Mahindra University focuses on multi-disciplinary learning, with special emphasis on Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry as fundamental building blocks for developing design skills in Engineering. Students can register for elective courses available outside their core domain across the schools, 3rd and 4th year onwards to supplement skillsets across multi-disciplinary subjects as varied as documentary filmmaking, photography, liberal arts, English literature, economics, philosophy, and world history. Students are encouraged to participate in ongoing research projects worldwide and joint publication(s) with faculty mentors as co-author in international journals.

Q. Going by the latest trends in the Industry. Is Mahindra looking at starting new programs in the area of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning.?

A. There is a need to bridge the skill gap and ensure that education is in sync with the cognitive and interdisciplinary skillset requirement of the future workplace. Keeping in sync with the ubiquity of new-age technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Data Science across the industry sector, we have started a 4-year undergrad programs in AI, Computer Engineering, Computation & Mathematics. At the PG level, from 2022, we are starting the 2-year M. Tech program in AI & Data Science. Besides these engineering-oriented programs, we also offer a 3-year program in Computational Business Analytics in the School of Management. A 4-year UG program in Computation & Media under the School of Media is also in the pipeline.

Q. Is Mahindra University working on starting courses in line with the National Education Policy 2020? Kindly elaborate on that.

A. National Education Policy 2020 will be a game-changer for the education sector ensuring far-reaching benefits. The emphasis on multidisciplinary learning, flexible curriculum, and improved pedagogical methods will facilitate starting programs of study that will help address the current requirements and future employment opportunities.

We are also exploring various initiatives in a planned and strategic manner. As a part of our multidisciplinary approach, students are allowed to register for elective courses available outside their core domain across the schools.

Q. How has the pandemic affected teaching-learning at MU? How is the University looking to improve that scenario? 

A. Initially, a few of our faculty members faced some hick-ups with the sudden transition from physically conducting classes to virtually conducting them, but these were short-lived, and our entire faculty even started taking large classes online.

We made our way through these difficulties and started functioning with the same efficiency as we used to do during the pre-pandemic era. Probably one of the most important lessons that the pandemic taught us was to provide students with ample exposure and opportunities as a result students at MU are encouraged to participate in national-level hackathons, competitions and sports events under the guidance of faculty or in the case of sports a full-time sports coordinator/coach.

Q. Do you think academic exchange programs can help students in the post-Covid scenario? How do you look at it?

A. Any exposure of a student to an external higher education environment is always positive and helps enhances their skills. It also aids in improving their overall employability and provides them with opportunities to learn new languages and experience different cultures and their way of life. At Mahindra University, we have students undertaking exchange programs globally with renowned universities and at national level with top industrial organizations. For instance, we have our students from management and engineering undertaking the Summer Immersion Program at the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, USA and Summer Internship Program at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA and other parts of the World.

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