Chennai based Hindustan University is getting ready to live with Covid-19 pandemic as well as for the post-pandemic days with a state-of-the-art teaching process. A revolutionary scheme to bring higher education to the doorsteps of students at affordable cost is on the anvil and the university hopes to establish its commanding presence in the world of education through this system.
Chennai based Hindustan University is the first institution to make use of the opportunity offered by the pandemic and lock down. The on-line classes launched by the University during the pandemic induced lock-down has been extended and more and more degree/post graduate degree courses have been added to the list of courses. “We have graduate and post graduate programmes in management, marketing, humanities and English literature. These courses lead to the award of MBA, MCA and MA in English literature,” Ami Agarwal, head, Centre for Open and Digital Education (CODE), told The Pioneer. The university is offering six graduate and post graduate programmes which would help the students to walk into the world of opportunities with boldness, said Agarwal, a mathematics teacher-turned-educational entrepreneur who has studied the potential of on-line courses.
She said there were 150 new students who have joined for these on-line graduate and post graduate courses and that include many working professionals. “These are all students who are upskilling and re-skilling their talents,” said Agarwal.
She termed the courses revolutionary as it would considerably bring down the cost of education. “The students need not come to the campus at all except for examination. They save money as there is no commutation expenses and no hostel fee. Since they are all matured students who understand the seriousness of life, we do not foresee any problems though we have taken enough measures to tie up them to the courses,” said Agarwal.
The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) awarded 107th position while the A grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) have strengthened the institution’s bid to establish a virtual university. The Hindustan University is in consultation with Sugil Patiam, an educational entrepreneur who is helping educational institutions to set up studios from where the on-line courses would be held. “Our mission is to set up high-tech studios at affordable rates and are capable of disseminating pictures and audio signals without any loss of quality,” said Sugil.
If the reactions of students undergoing on-line courses are any indication, the new mode of teaching is likely to spread all over the country faster than the New Education Policy of the Union Government.
“I find on-line courses beneficial than the physical classes held in college. The chaos in campuses is a distraction and it robs 80 per cent of what is being addressed in class rooms,” said C T Mohan, a law student in Government Law College, Thrissur. He ruled out apprehensions among certain section that the on-line courses would deny students the avenue of peer meetings. “We ourselves could create on-line groups for debates and discussions. Degree and post-graduate programmes are serious business and they are not meant for competitions in light music or fine arts,” said Mohan.