Page 34 - EducationWorld June 2020

Cover Story

Atul Chauhan this activity has taken their minds footprint, our goal is to provide high
Chancellor, Amity University off the stressful situation around quality education to students around
them. Moreover during the past two
the world.
months, 1,300 globally renowned in-
tellectuals including Nobel laureates, Ashish Dhawan
CXOs and leading scientists have Chairman, Central Square Foundation
interacted with our students. Many
of the lectures they delivered on our n Yale and Harvard graduate,
campuses are available at amity.edu/ Ashish Dhawan is the found-
guestlectures. Aing-chairman of the Delhi-
What are the major challenges confront- based Central Square Foundation
ing higher education in the new Covid-19
era?
Getting students back to campus
safely will be — and should be — the
first priority of universities, though
in the near future, it seems classes
will continue online. Moreover, chal-
lenges such as writing exams and
lab/practical classes require intel-
ligent solutions. We are working on
them.
Several state governments have issued
n alumnus of University Col-
lege London and the London fees waiver/deferment circulars to pri-
ASchool of Economics, Atul vate school and college managements.
Chauhan is the chancellor of Amity What’s your comment?
University and chief executive of It’s a hard time and an unprecedent-
the Amity Group (estb.1994) which ed situation for everybody. Under-
comprises ten universities, 26 K-12 standing the economic impact on the
schools and 30 other education large number of people this pan- (estb.2012), prior to which he served
institutions in India and abroad. Ag- demic has adversely affected, in Am- as a highly successful investment
gregate enrolment: 175,000 students ity Group institutions we ourselves banker (Chrys Capital). Dhawan is
mentored by 15,000 teachers and issued circulars to parents to come also a trustee and prime mover of
faculty. forward and inform the management the crowd-funded blue-chip Ashoka
in case they were experiencing fees University, Sonipat, (Haryana).
How has Amity University responded to payment difficulties. We are interact-
the Covid-19 pandemic challenge? ing with our parent communities on The Covid-19 crisis has hit government
In Amity University, we took the a one-on-one basis and supporting and budget private schools hard. How
challenge posed by the national lock- those in financial difficulties with well are they responding to this chal-
down head on to ensure that our stu- fees reduction, deferment and instal- lenge?
dents get the education they deserve. ment facilities. The current situation is very chal-
Our campuses in Dubai were the first What are your Top 3 proposals for reviv- lenging for the education sector.
to close down. Within two days, we ing and reforming higher education in Regardless of the type of school —
had our systems running to teach India? government or private — there has
remotely. Within a few weeks, as Government should establish a been major disruption in education
other countries locked down, we had and this will hurt students’ learning
120,000 students learning from the transparent outcomes-based fund- outcomes and overall development.
ing model for public universities;
safety of their homes. In the past two In the short run, state govern-
months, our faculty have held over increase availability of student loans ments are attempting to address
to enhance access, and reduce regu-
200,000 live online classes. And to this challenge, at least partially, by
support working professionals sitting latory constraints on private univer- turning to online learning while
sities and well-performing public
at home, we provided free-of-charge schools are shut, and managing the
career-upgradation courses on our universities. logistics of board exams. Edtech al-
website amityfutureacademy.com. Future plans... lows students to access content and
Over 90,000 people in 70 countries Amity University has already es- continue learning. The Union HRD
have benefited. tablished campuses in 12 countries ministry and state governments are
The Amity Youth Forum also around the world. We intend to be- promoting various digital initiatives
went online and over 10,000 come operational in 20 over the next such as DIKSHA, e-PATHSHALA,
students from 200 universities decade. Moreover, Amity is the first SWAYAM and the TopParent app
around the world participated in university in India to be granted gov- to ensure that the learning process
over 80 competitions. The feedback ernment approval to provide online of children does not suffer. To help
from our students is amazing as all degree programmes. With our global address the lack of high-quality

34 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2020