Upcoming UGC Frameworks

It so appears that the University Grants Commission #UGC is coming up with several #frameworks for undergraduate programmes. While the #newspaper articles reveal that the UGC is likely to provide these frameworks for #public #evaluation and #feedback, it is #imperative to understand that the #principal #stakeholder of these are the #students, and any #omission of them in the policy would cause major #damages to the next #generation. In this regard, here are my two cents on what could also be #integrated into the frameworks (#suggestions)

(a) All undergraduate programmes should promote the spirit of #scientific #inquiry , #criticalthinking and #social #innovation, in the light of #human #values and #social #welfare.

(b) Undergraduate programmes in the domains of #Engineering and #Technology shall #reinforce the requirement of a #strong #foundation in the domains of #mathematics and #basic #sciences. Further, in order to deal with stochasticity/uncertainty in #engineering systems, #statistics shall be a must in the curriculum.

(c) The UGC shall provide a framework on who can recommend the #modifications in the contents of the syllabus or pedagogy. It has come to light that certain organisations are engaging non-achievers either in industry and / or academics to recommend modifications in the #curricular contents.

(d) The UGC shall make sure that the entire built-up floor-space, the #approved numbers of each of the #programmes, and the total numbers of the programmes are #commensurate with each other. In this regard, the UGC shall appoint a state-wise watchdog/watch committee which shall monitor all universities whether #public or #private.

(e) The UGC shall ensure that online #commercial #MOOC platforms are NOT used as a #partial or #full #academic #credit #transfer mechanisms, OR shall provide a list of approved and #pedagogically standardised MOOC platforms (like #NPTEL), with quality markers.

#university #pedagogy #universities #quality #highereducation #highered

Geospatial education and awareness in India

 I was a part of a team at #IIRS #Dehradun, which developed the #Biodiversity #Information #System #BIS. During my stay, I #collaborated with several #researchers and came up with a #few #publications which do have some #citations according to my #Google #Scholar profile.

During my stay at #IIRS Dehradun, I learnt that #ISRO has always been taking the #leading #position in #geospatial #research and #training, and #applying the same on the #field for #cartography and #decision #support. Further, the #Indian #Institutes of #Technology #IIT were also maintaining a constant and healthy competition in the research, mostly at #masters and #doctoral #levels.

In the year 2007, I was on a #train #journey to Hyderabad and was reading a #book titled "Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation" by #Lillesand and #Kiefer. A couple of #passengers asked me as to what my #occupation was. I told them that I was a PhD scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur #iitkanpur #IITK. To their inquiry as to what was the domain of my research, I told them it was #geoinformatics . They probed a bit more, and I told them that I worked with #aerialsurvey #techniques such as #LiDAR and before IITK, I was working with #remotely #sensed images from #satellites (#remotesensing). Incidentally, the responses of the passengers told me that they had no idea that such kinds of research was going on in India. I was pretty much #disappointed with their #reactions. "Perhaps there is less #awareness!", I thought so to myself and continued reading.

It is 2022 now. India is discussing its #Geospatial #Policy. At the same time, I came to know about a #comment made by a pretty #senior #academic, that "#Geology is the same as Geoinformatics". Therefore the question "from 2007 to 2022, did the public awareness about Geospatial Technology change?" Essentially such comments are pretty #dangerous, too #generic and #irresponsible. It is imperative that #geospatial #researchers in India, organise a #large #awareness programme pan India to spread the knowledge about geospatial technology and its large scale benefits.

Before ending, I would like to stress that Geoinformatics and any of #geology, #geometry, #differentialgeometry, #geotechnicalengineering, #geostatistics, #geophone, #geodesy, #geographicinformationsystems, #geodesics are NOT the same, albeit that they may have mutual overlaps at some places!

#education #change #india