Minister for Information Technology Ponnala Lakshmaiah has predicted that smart phone technology will play an important role in delivery of higher education in the future, so the academia should prepare and mould its teaching methodologies accordingly.
Mr. Lakshmaiah said that with the advent of MIT Open courseware, NPTEL, Khan Academy and others, all the coursework is available over the web.
Educational software and content is available on iPhones and Android platforms and these developments could not be ignored as they would dictate how education was delivered for the coming generations.
The Minister was sharing his views at the inauguration of Indo-Global Education summit in which representatives of educational institutions from over 40 countries were participating.
He said universities and colleges had to differentiate themselves from “Googles and Facebooks” and provide a layer above the knowledge foundation.
This should help students think creatively, be enterprising and know how to utilise the information for their benefit.
Global perspective
He said students should also have global perspective and cross-culture learning was very important.
Emerging markets such as India, Brazil, Russia and China had huge potential for newer business opportunities and foreign students would benefit if they had an Indian component to their university education. In that context, summits like this would help students and educational institutions.
A.P. High Court Judge, Gode Raghuram, felt education must provide employment opportunities and employability was a serious issue that the government had to deal with. S.B. Anumolu, Managing Trustee of the Indus Foundation, and C.D. Arha, former Chief Information Commissioner, spoke.
Education Fair from today
An international educational expo explaining opportunities abroad for Indian students will be held simultaneously at Taj Krishna on September 8 & 9. Entry is free for students and they can get details of educational opportunities abroad, admission criteria and other details from the participating institutions from over 40 countries.
The Hindu is the media partner for the summit.
Meanwhile, several Left and democratic organisations staged a protest at the summit venue (Hotel Taj Deccan) against the participation of three Israeli universities.
They raised slogans like ‘End blockade of Palestine’ and ‘No to Israeli universities’. They were taken into custody by the police.
