The EduMeet – 2019 & Education Excellence Awards
FORE School of Management, New Delhi in association with the ASSOCHAM organised summit on “The EduMeet 2019 & Education Excellence Awards” on July 12, 2019 at Hotel Hyatt Regency, Kolkata. More than 200 delegates from industry and academia participated in this summit. FORE was the academic partner for this event.
The special guest at the inaugural session of the summit was Mr. Anil Swarup, IAS (Retd.)
Former Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India and Guest of Honour was Ms. Soso Shaiza, Member, National Commission for Women.
Dr. Jitendra K. Das, Director, FORE School of Management, New Delhi was the Session Chair for the Plenary I - Decision Makers Session on “Innovation & Employability”. The focus areas of this session was Quality Education, Infrastructure, Foreign Collaboration at Higher Education, and Creating Centre of Excellence & Industry Academia Partnership.
Dr. Jitendra K. Das was accompanied by the following prominent panelists:
- Marisha McAuliff, Chief, Academics & Quality Systems, NSHM Knowledge Campus, Kolkata
- (Dr.) Sanjay Gupta, Vice-Chancellor, World University of Design, Haryana
- Rakesh D Vanzara, Dean & Faculty, Engineering & Technology, Ganpat University, Gujarat
- Dilip Shah, Dean of Student Affairs, The Bhawanipur Education Society College
- Ms Alexandra Gnuskina, Entrepreneur, Mentor, Consultant, Moderator, Creator Youth Education Lead, iExpert (Russia)
Plenary Session II – Leaders Vision 2020 deliberated issues like Curriculum relevance to changing Market needs, Learner Centric Approach at School level for Education Sector in India, Holistic development & significance of Pre-School and Technological intervention. Plenary III focused on India as Education Hub & building Ecosystem of Quality Educational.
FORE School of Management, collaborates with global leader in Finance and Risk Management education
FORE School of Management, New Delhi has collaborated with a global leader in Finance and Risk Management education – Risk Management Institute of National University of Singapore – to offer ‘Specialist Diploma in Credit Risk Management’. The NUS Risk Management Institute was established as a premier research institute at NUS dedicated to the area of financial risk management. The establishment of RMI was supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under its program on Risk Management and Financial Innovation. The MOU has been signed with an objective to impart in depth Credit Risk Management insights to students pursuing Financial Management (PGDM-FM) programme.
FORE School has been consistently building the widest possible global network of partner institutions to provide an international perspective to its students. The broad-based Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and bilateral agreement with foreign institutes cover diverse aspects of international exposure, including exchange of cstudents that corporates look for while recruiting young talent.
In itself, the PGDM-FM programme provides structured coverage of core finance courses including Financial Accounting, Corporate Finance, Financial Reporting and Analysis and Spreadsheet Modelling, which set ground for students to absorb into advanced, practice oriented, and corporate ready courses like Equity Valuation & Portfolio Management, Fixed Income Securities & Structured Products, Investment Banking, Commercial Banking Practices and Treasury Management, Wealth Management and Alternative Investments, Multinational Finance and Risk Management, Financial Derivatives, Project Finance, Management of Financial Services, and Financial Econometrics.
The partnership with Risk Management Institute of National University of Singapore will enable students pursuing the PGDM-FM programme at FORE School of Management to imbibe skills required to evaluate and effectively manage credit risk of corporate clients at banking and financial institutions. In effect, students will gain essential knowledge, skills, and abilities to meet their career aspirations in Risk Consulting, Credit Rating, and Credit Risk Modelling.
Lack of infrastructure a hindrance for higher education among the lower economic class
A seminar on “Education and Skills Development” was jointly organized by Canada India Foundation, Seneca College and PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry at PHD House. President of Seneca College, Mr David Agnew who visited India as part of a Canadian delegation led by Canada India Foundation, an organization actively involved in fostering stronger bilateral relations between Canada and India, welcomed participants in his key note address and set up the context of the session with reference to the gap in school level education and the drop in number of University graduates. “High school level education is not enough when the demand is for highly skilled people”, he said. Offering education that matches skills and technology, essential for the professional world and adopting an academic approach to increase experiential learning opportunities is the focus both in Canada and India, stated Mr Agnew.
Dr Jitendra K Das, Director, FORE School of Management, New Delhi, touched upon the proliferation which happens in education system in India from primary education level to higher education level and said, “The Government has a big role to play here as a large chunk of the Indian population is either from below-the-poverty-line (BPL) or from lower economic class”.
Dr. Das who has been the founder Dean of IIM Lucknow, (Noida Campus), further stated that while education is a fundamental right for all and the Government acknowledges the same, it is unable to offer enough of infrastructure and facilities for this section of the society.
Also present were Mr Pankaj Dave, Co- convener, Canada India Foundation; Mr Prashant Srivastava, Director, South Asia, Seneca College ; Dr S.K. Salwan, Vice President Apeejay Stya University; Dr Jatinder Singh, Director, PHD Chamber; Ms Neeta Bali, Director and Head of G D Goenka World School, Gurugram; Prof KS Gopinath Narayan, IA&AS, faculty National Institute of Finance Management among others.
Impact of Social Media on the values of Future Generation
A Round Table Conference was organized by FORE School of Management in association with Federation of World Academics(FWA). The theme for the conference was ‘Impact of Social Media on the values of Future Generation’. Sixteen Eminent speakers from Higher Education Institutions have participated as Panelists of this event. The session started with the introduction of all the speakers by Prof. Mahesh Gandhi, President, Federation of World Academics.
Dr. Jitendra Das, Director, FORE School of Management has moderated the entire Round Table Discussion. He initiated the discussion by introducing the topic. He compared the internet era from its launch in 1995 in India to the current scenario where information is flowing freely via technology. He also shed light on the present Social Media scenario with respect to sharing of fake information, usage of social media by political parties and the current issues of data selling. He declared the floor open for the speakers to share their views on the positive or negative impact of social media that could occur on future generations.
Prof. Ajay Kumar Jain, Director, IMS Ghaziabad recounted his own experience with his child regarding the misuse of social media and added a. He talked about materialistic culture which is understood through artefacts and non-materialistic cultures which is based on values and beliefs of the society. With changing values in our society and impact of egoistic motive on the society, he stressed that parents and teachers should be accessible to children in regards to the undesirable information available on social media.
Dr. Vijay Vancheshwar, Professor (Communications, General Management and Marketing), IMI Delhi discussed about the younger generation being addicted to social media in such a way that technology has enslaved them. The extensive usage of technology has given them a ‘Fear of Missing Out’ and a ‘Fear of Being Offline’, if not in touch with it. Social media has taken over personal interaction. He also quoted that technology is affecting people more than physical illness.
The next speaker, Prof. Pria Warrick, President-cum-Executive Director, Pria Warrick Finishing Academy emphasized on the peer pressure faced by the younger generation in the way of doing things in a particular manner. Social Media fills the gap which is created when the children are isolated while their parents are busy. There is no role model at home which leads to vulnerability at a very young age as a result of which children pick up values from social media. She also put forward the fact that Indians and Chinese have so much intellect but they lack social skills leading them to use social media more extensively, giving an impression that everyone is having fun while in reality no one is.
Quoting social media as a double edged sword, Dr. Madhu Vij, Professor in Finance, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi reasoned that social media is a tool and its usage is up to us. There is a need to understand and navigate the best way to use this tool. She showed a positive side of social media by sharing her personal experiences in regards to accessibility to certain useful applications for the younger generation. She always quoted the example of Airbnb which rose to success by a wise usage of social media. She also gave instances about the regulations followed by schools these days in regard to the monitoring of screen time of a student.
Dr. Sriparna Basu, Professor (Communication), FORE School of Management spoke about the transformation of internet by citing examples from the Internet Galaxy and Gutenberg Galaxy to Digital Galaxy. She emphasized on the escalation of Freedom of Expression through social media while previously there were no channels to provide thoughts. She also quoted that social media is a source of collective learning. A generation is not characterized just by the age group but also through some characteristics. She also cited stats from a study conducted in North America where only 8 percent of the people use social media for job opportunities which is disturbing.
Prof. Saroj Kumar Dutta, Director General, Accurate Institute of Management & Technology (AIMT), Greater Noida talked about values being deep rooted in an individual and gave several humorous examples to describe changes in behaviour due to social media. He also differentiated between the values of Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry by giving the example of the recent Tata feud. He concluded by saying that social media will always affect people but how much will it affect values is a question since they are deeper rooted.
The floor was then taken by Prof. Nimit Gupta, Associate Professor, Fortune Institute of International Business (FIIB), New Delhi who analysed the use of social media through three lenses, the first being, why do people go to social media, second, what will happen when people go to social media and third, how to eradicate something negative on social media. He supported Prof. Vijay Vancheshwar’s point about increased social media usage by youngsters due to ‘Fear of Missing Out’ by citing stats from a research done by Tata Consultancy Services on the vitality of social media usage among youngsters in India. He also explained the concept of ‘Socially Accepted Decision Making’ which shows that people value a product not because they need it but because someone owns it.
Prof. Irfan A. Rizvi, Professor of Leadership and Chain Management, IMI Delhi brought attention to the fact that while focussing on future generation, it is also necessary to analyse the effect of social media on the values of current generation. He quoted that it is not guns that kill people but the person holding the gun. In a similar way, social media is just a channel, however, the content creators are responsible for the adverse effect on values of people using social media. He established that there should be methods to filter content on social media so that it does not harm any generation.
Dr. Ashish Joshi, Senior Associate Dean, City University of New York established that the purpose of social media was to connect the disconnected, however, its negative side has come out more prominently. He gave an instance of a WhatsApp service providing personalized dietary services in slums to show the positive side of social media. He also stated that despite the boons, data selling and cyber bullying are major concerns of using social media.
Dr. Jitendra Das talked about the change in the quantum and speed of the flow of information available with the evolution of the society. He quoted several instances from recent events including those from US Presidential Elections where the Russians interfered by influencing Hillary Clinton’s supporters through fake news. He also quoted an example from German Election campaign where the candidate won because of fake news of supporting refugees was circulated on social media. The power of social media cannot be undermined as can be witnessed from such global events.
Prof. Shiva Ram from Taxila Business School, Jaipur explained that social media is not a lion which needs to be tamed. Social Media based companies like Uber make life easier. There are several educational resources available through social media. He stated that the boons of social media outweigh its banes and the main objective lies in finding ways to control the negative use. He also mentioned that not using social media makes one uninformed while its overuse makes one misinformed.
The next speaker, Dr. Rakhi Tripathi, Associate Professor (IT), FORE School of Management stated that device and connectivity are two important tools for social media. Information was always available but the medium has changed. Moreover, social media is the only channel where two-way communication is possible.
Dr. Sivakumar Palaniswamy, Director, EMPI Business School stated that India ranks first in total downloads of inappropriate content. The students frequently use social media apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, however, they do not use or mention LinkedIn very often which is an important social media app for students. He showed the negative aspect of social media by giving instances of children being handed over mobile phones with social media content in order to engage them.
Prof. Mahesh Gandhi shared his views on the alarming situation that is occurring in every home with the overuse of social media leading to loss of values among youngsters. Most youngsters are victims of depression or anxiety. In addition to this, the attention span and patience level have also reduced. Thus, there is a need to start bringing change in our homes first.
The session proceeded to the discussion on the practical approach of using social media. Dr. Ashish Joshi explained that there is an urgent need to regulate what kids are watching. He also stated an example about schools in USA where a computer is provided to every student where they get an opportunity to connect, however with close monitoring. Educational institutions must take responsibility in teaching several aspects of social media.
The session was concluded with Dr. Jitendra Das stating that self-regulation is extremely essential for the proper use of social media. At the society level, government should take necessary steps to maintain privacy of people. The focus should be on adaptive learning from social media. The session ended with a vote of thanks by Prof. Mahesh Gandhi to all the speakers who participated in the conference by contributing their views on such an important issue.
“Intelligent Apps loaded with Digital Twin will drive people and industry” - Dr. Jitendra K. Das
“Intelligent applications or Apps will impact the lives and drive people at both personal and industrial level. These apps will no longer be the apps which we use today, but will be much more intelligent, advanced and loaded with AI and Digital Twin”, said Dr. Jitendra K. Das, Director FORE School of Management, New Delhi.
Dr. Das was the Chairperson of the session themed – Role of Robotics, AI and Automations to Make In India at the recently held "8th Manufacturing Innovation Conclave" – Building manufacturing, Building India, organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with co-panelists - Harish Mehra, Business & Solutions Head, Tata Consultancy Services; Kush Mishra, Chief Technology Officer, SenRa; Prabhakar K Chaudhary, Managing Director, HAL Robotics.
Talking about the manufacturing industry which is undergoing a paradigm shift centered around technologies like the Machine Learning, IoT, Autonomous or Assistive AI, Dr. Das mentioned how India needs to seriously think of investing on developing resources in these technologies, which promises better quality, greater efficiency, higher speed while enabling the per unit manufacturing cost to be lower. To achieve this goal, China is increasingly building capabilities in AI-based solutions.
Gartner predicts that by 2021, "50 percent of large industrial companies will use digital twins, resulting in those organizations gaining a 10 percent improvement in effectiveness”.
Harish Mehra, Business & Solutions Head, Tata Consultancy Services, explaining how even a small change in design, can impact productivity in any manufacturing unit and how the advance robotics technology shall do wonders in such scenario, spoke about Industry 4.0 and how Robotics, AI & Automation shall play critical role in the success of the “Make in India” programme. The applications of Advanced Robotics where a robot is not just performing a task but also is capable to take decisions, is something the industry will take help from. The digital twin technology shall record how things are working in the factory in real time and autonomous or assistive AI will analyze and take control of the machines accordingly and in case of a potential failure will shut down a particular machine unit.
“Robotics has to be of assistance to the human kind and to be used by the humans rather being replacements for human beings”, said Prabhakar K Chaudhary, MD, HAL Robotics. “India missed the opportunity during PC revolution and the Smart Phone hardware industry. Manufacturing has to be the core area of opportunity and employment and hence India has to gear up to be a key player by adapting to newer technologies faster”, he added.
Kush Mishra, touched upon AI technology used in Tesla cars, equipped with sensors to prevent loss of lives by precisely averting accidents acquiring real time information from the streets, providing critical inputs to the driver and taking control of the braking system, if required.
The session focused on understanding Industry 4.0 trends those are driving manufacturing Innovation like the Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality and Digital Twin and analyzing the challenges which manufacturing industry may face. When looking at AI, decision makers however must distinguish between autonomous and assistive/augmented solutions as it pertains to accelerating the demonstration of business value for optimizing operations and not for negative impacts on the mankind.
~By Nirmalya Pal
