Building Universities of the 21st Century in the Post-Covid World

 


PRESENTATION by Akshai Aggarwal at the International Education Summit for Digital Transformation*, Geneva, 10th July 2020



Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU and Prof N K Goyal, President CMAI,

It is a privilege for me to present before this distinguished audience, the work done by the  Research Project, led by me, on working out the structure of Universities of the 21st century. My consulting work also pertains to the short-term changes required to cope with Covid-19  and I am working on the Post-Covid Universities. This is a UNIQUE work, which can help the University systems both
  • ·         in the developing world as well as
  • ·         in the developed world.

The objectives are:
  • ·         to provide quality higher education to the young on an inclusive and equitable basis
  • ·         to promote life-long learning
  • ·         to ensure that the 4th industrial revolution does not flounder due to scarcity of properly trained and skilled technologists,
  • ·         to inculcate non-cognitive skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, teamwork & communication skills required by a technologist, who caters to world’s markets
  • ·         to foster knowledge, skills, values and attitudes required by RESPONSIBLE GLOBAL CITIZENS, living in a world which respects and appreciates the contributions by the cultural diversity of our world 

·        
I believe that a University is a public institution with a responsibility to the community and to the whole of the world.

India had developed great universities by the 5th century BC and these served the world of the whole of Asia till the 12th century. The universities used to have Halls of residence for students from Tibet & China, Sri Lanka, Thailand & other places, besides common Halls for students from India. Our research draws from the work done at great universities of today as well as the lessons from the ancient universities of India.

Besides research on IOT, 5G, Blockchain, AI, Big Data, VR, Quantum Computing etc,  Universities have also to work on research for
  • ·         providing clean water and pollution-free environment,
  • ·         affordable healthy food, housing and mass transport for all,
  • ·         governance which treats every citizen with respect   and
  • ·         an equitable international system.    

I had brought together university students for Hackathons to find solutions for SOCIAL problems, defined by the villages of two districts of Ahmedabad and Sabarkantha. I found that our young can think of innovative solutions for intractable problems.

I shall be glad to help educational administrators or universities navigate through the challenges of the 21st century and of the Post-Covid world.

At the end, I thank Professor N.K. Goyal for organizing the International Education Summit for Digital Transformation for discussing digital transformation, innovations, new technologies, relevant to International Education for Skilling, employability and technological development and for inviting me as a Panelist.


*The International Education Summit for Digital Transformation was a part of the World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2020. WSIS represents the world's largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community. The WSIS Forum is co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD. At the Summit, the 5th International Education Excellence Awards 2020 were also presented. Dr. Akshai Aggarwal was honoured with an   International Education Excellence Award.

Brief Resume from the WSIS web-site:

Dr. Akshai Aggarwal
Professor Emeritus; Former Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Tech University, formerly Director, School of Computer Science at University of Windsor, Canada

At present, Dr. Akshai Aggarwal is working as Professor Emeritus. At GTU he had led a research project on ‘Designing the Structure of a Technological University’ for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality higher education to the young and to promote life-long learning. He is at present working on the structure of ‘Post-Covid Universities of the 21st century’, that can provide affordable and high quality technical and general education.  The research focuses on the strategies required for ensuring that the fourth industrial revolution does not flounder due to scarcity of properly trained and skilled technologists, who are culturally in tune with the idea of a global citizenship and who appreciate the contribution of cultural diversity to progress during the last few decades.

Dr. Akshai Aggarwal had served Gujarat Technological University as its Vice Chancellor for two successive terms. In his career spanning over 45 years, he has served at universities in India & Canada such as the prestigious Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat University, Gujarat Technological University and University of Windsor. Dr. Akshai Aggarwal, a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering, has taught and guided research work in the areas of computer networking, digital communication and cyber security . At EE Department at M.S. University, more than 35 years back, he established the first general purpose Digital Computing and Microprocessor Research Laboratories. At University of Windsor, he had set up and led the High Performance and Grid Computing Research Group. HPGC had three Centres. These were the Centre for Studies in Security and Privacy, Centre for Health Information Systems and Centre for Studies in Social Networks.

He has also held membership of renowned institutions such as IEEE, IETE, CSI and ISTE. He was Chairman of IEEE India Council for two years. He was the founder Chairman of IEEE Gujarat Section, the IEEE Computer Society Chapter and the IEEE Joint Chapter of Industry Applications.

At University of Windsor, Professor Aggarwal was recognized as both a passionate teacher and researcher in his field. He earned numerous awards, including several teaching and research awards from his Faculty. He was also honoured with the OPUS Faculty Award 2005, the Alumni Award for Distinguished Contributions to University Teaching 2006 and the OCUFA Teaching Award 2007, which recognized him as one of the outstanding university teachers in Ontario, Canada. At Windsor, he founded Softech Alliance and chaired it till September 2009 so that University researchers and the ICT industry and businesses could work together with the government to help generate new jobs in the knowledge sector.

 He has been honored with a number of Awards including the Governor’s Award, IEEE Millennium Medal and Fellowships of IETE. He has served on the Senates of  M.S. University, Gujarat  University and University of Windsor. He has been invited to be on the Board and to be the Advisor of universities for helping make them world-class institutions.

Professor Aggarwal has been contributing to both the professional as well as the local community organizations since he believes that a University is a public institution with a responsibility to the community.
  

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