Global Education Summit at Chandigarh University commenced with focus on international academic collaborations

NEW DELHI: Leaders from more than 50 top universities and 27 countries including United States of America, Malaysia, Russia, Ireland, among others will be participating in the Global Education Summit at Chandigarh University. The two-day long summit will have top world education leaders discuss on educational models, new policies and future employability.

The theme of the summit is 'International academic collaboration in education for global sustainability and innovation.' The leaders shared skills, resources and ideas to improve the quality of education all over the world. The summit was inaugurated by Sibrandes Poppema, President, Sunway University, Malaysia.

Sibrandes Poppema said: "This Global Education Summit is a great opportunity for the participating universities to discuss the challenges they all have been facing. The education institutions world over have learnt the importance of collaborations, in recent times. Partnerships between universities will allow all of us to make a better offering to our students, as we can share ours and implement from other universities, the strong areas and resources,"

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Agenda

Covid-19 has been a challenge for multiple institutions all around the world, but, it has taught them adaptability. The summit aims to further the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that stresses on the internationalisation of education by improving the standards of higher education in Indian universities. India has to put in innovation and effort to match the global standards by establishing partnerships with the best international institutions in the world. The Global Education Summit is a stepping stone in boosting such goals.

The vice-chancellor, Kumasi Technical University, Osei-Wusu Achaw, sharing his thoughts about Blended learning said, "Students' numbers are increasing every year, and with limited education infrastructure, blended learning is a great way out. Besides, not every student has the luxury to afford the best place for his or her education. The blended learning must continue even after Covid-19 pandemic ends,"

Two agreements were signed with Nemia H Mabaquiao, vice president for external affairs, Iloilo Science & Technology University, Philippines, and Paul Katamba, vice-chancellor, Bugema University, Uganda. Over the two days, leaders will be holding various discussions on 'Using Innovation For Improving Quality of Life', 'Sustainable Models for Blended Learning in the Post Covid Era', 'Using Partnerships to Develop Models to Meet Future Aspirations of the Students', 'Defining Universal Skills for Employability Without Borders', and 'Creating Research Oriented Teaching Learning Model', among others on the agenda.

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First Deliberation Session

In the first deliberation session chaired by Issac Ipara Odei, vice-chancellor, Kibabii University, Kenya, dyz Orozobek Kyzy, Head of International Relations Office, Naryn State University, Kyrgyzstan talked about looking for sustainable ways to reel from the pandemic. She suggested that institutions ought to make policies for fostering innovation and inclusive ways as it is more important now than ever. "We need to create new as well as diffuse older into new processes and methods in the education world to create the possibilities of a better tomorrow, accelerated by educational accessibility." she said. She also emphasized the need to embed technological advancements into education, citing from the New World Economic Forum report that nearly 133 million jobs will be created by 2022 while 75 million of those will be replaced by Artificial intelligence and Automation and Robotics.

Luciano Saso, Vice-Rector, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy agreed and said that Digitisation was the best outcome of Covid-19 to get rid of the older education models and join hands in innovation with universities worldwide. "We have to be ready to adopt, to change the curriculum basis the changing times, and regulate the courses. We need to try to add new things and also to remove the redundant things," he added.