With the changing business scene and the disturbance brought about by headways in innovation, students must be outfitted with the right abilities that set them up to be future-prepared. Students must know and master abilities that will help them in their areas of interest and instill a strong sense of self-awareness. Perhaps, this is the reason why educational hubs around the world and especially India are showing abilities that will permit them to be gifted forever, pushing students to conquer vulnerabilities. Thereby, talking about one such entity that portrays itself as a focused university for upskilling, striving on the lines of experience based teaching and practice-based learning – Sharda University, progresses each day on this very pursuit, giving back to society – capable leaders.
A leading Educational institution based out of Greater Noida, Delhi NCR, Sharda University is a venture of the renowned Sharda Group of Institutions (SGI). Having established itself as a high quality education provider with prime focus on holistic learning and imbibing competitive abilities in students, at the University research has always been an integral part. The University is approved by UGC and prides itself in being the only multi-discipline campus in the NCR, spread over 63 acres and equipped with world class facilities. Sharda University promises to become one of India’s leading universities with an acknowledged reputation for excellence in research and teaching. With its outstanding faculty, world class teaching standards, and innovative academic programmes, Sharda intends to set a new benchmark in the Indian education system.
The name of the University – ‘Sharda’ is synonymous to ‘Goddess of knowledge and learning – Saraswati’. She is identified with ‘veena’ an Indian musical instrument and the ‘lotus’ where she resides. And thus, the University clearly operates as a hub of a collaborative ethos between students and teachers of different programmes, nationality, creed and color all working towards creating new knowledge, focused towards a better tomorrow.
Aiding a Smooth Transition into the Industry
Sharda follows Outcome-Based Education (OBE), which is a student-centric teaching and learning methodology in which the course delivery and assessment is planned to achieve stated objectives and outcomes. It aims at equipping learners with the knowledge, competence and orientations needed for success after they leave the institution. Adherence to the academic calendar, scheduling lectures for courses, preparation of course files and review of the course syllabus are a few of the practices that are followed to monitor and evaluate a program’s performance. Furthermore, feedback from the stakeholders, i.e. Students, Parents, Alumni and Industry Experts are collected on a regular basis and based on their inputs the curriculum gets evolved and upgraded.
Offering graduate, post graduate and doctorate programs related to various fields such as Engineering, Medical, Law, Management etc, the eligibility criteria varies from program to program. Always actively partaking in various initiatives to adapt new-age learning techniques and methods, the New Education Policy (NEP) too is being adopted – stage by stage. Having already included several courses which focus on developing soft skills and bringing out innovation and creativity to the forefront, Sharda has incorporated Project based learning in the curriculum which is beyond textbook and requires brainstorming, creative thinking and meticulous execution. The outcome of this course has been exceptional.
Infrastructural Excellence
All the classrooms at Sharda University are an excellent place for learning, equipped with well-designed furniture, proper sitting arrangement, LCD projector and power supply. The Teaching-Learning pedagogy practiced in the classrooms at Sharda University is IT-enabled where each classroom can support up to 60-200 students while the tutorial classes are designed for the strength of 20-30 students. The university campus is fully LAN-enabled with a Learning Management System (LMS), which facilitates students with accessibility to discuss academic topics, submit assignments online, get class notes and access the digital library. Sharda University’s excellence in online education during the lockdown period has brought it global recognition and is now among the first few universities in India to be awarded the very prestigious QS I-GAUGE E-LEAD CERTIFICATE. The Central Library of Sharda University is stocked with around 1.4 Lakh books and thousands of journals to propel the wisdom growth of the students. Adding a point on the elaborate library which has been curated to clearly stand out, Dr. Parma Added shared – “In our quest to make the Library management immensely convenient for the users, we provide vital support complementing academic activities to the students, researchers and staff”. He also shared – “We arrange access to the world of information – whether online, multimedia or in print, and accordingly capitalize on the opportunities provided by radical changes to technology, pedagogy and research”.
Research Repository
Sharda houses a dedicated R & D Cell that provides a vigorous and highly visible research environment to its students with an objective to curate research culture and develop the habit of leadership within the university. This center supports all kinds of scholarly activities like fundamental research, applied research and carry out contract research for government, non-government and international agencies. “Over the years the research efforts of our University have expanded to include sponsored research and consultancy projects in multiple disciplines like in the field of Science, Engineering, Technology and Management”, shares Dr. Parma Nand, the Dean, School of Engineering and Technology, Sharda University and Dean, Academic Affairs, Sharda University. Adding to his above point and explaining how research dominated the whole environment at Sharda, Dr. Parma Nand continued stating – “The significant increase in the number of Ph.D. intake over the years is a testimony to the effort that is being put in by the University”. Through the conversation with the Dean, he also shared about how the University has started Seed money to the faculty members as well as the students, so that they can get preliminary results and then subsequently apply for different funding agencies.
The University regularly publishes two research journals titled Journal of Scientific and Technical Research (JSTR) and International Journal of Management Issues and Research (IJMIR). Recently, the University has started to grant a 10% to 100% waiver on tuition fee solely based on the innovation ideas submitted by the candidates, which is subsequently scrutinized and screened by a committee. Also, Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF) has been established to provide Hands-on practical training to the students on the state-of-the-art analytical equipment available in the university and making its best possible utilization for cutting edge research by the faculty and scholars of the University in collaboration with industry. This advanced facility is available to individual scholars, researchers or groups of researchers internally within the University and outside, R&D institutions and Industry.
Industry-Academia Bond
The University is working relentlessly to establish and strengthen academia-industry relationships. University has signed more than 100 MoUs in the past few years with different industries belonging to diversified fields. Most of the MoUs involve the participation of students along with the faculties. Some of the notable collaborators are Codon Biotech Private Limited, Origin LIFE Healthcare Solutions & Research Centre, National Research Development Corporation, Microsoft Corporation (lndia) Pvt. Ltd., Amazon Web Services Inc., ICAR-National Bureau Agriculturally Important Microorganisms (NBAIM), Advance Valves Pvt. Ltd. etc.
Some of the notable companies where Sharda has provided consultancy are Meta – iTechnologies Pvt. Ltd., EBEX Services Ltd., Jubilant Generics, Prakash Diesels Private Limited, Simon Electric Pvt. Ltd. etc. These kinds of tie-ups and MoU’s are extremely important for both the companies as well as the students. The companies benefit in the sense that their problem gets resolved timely. The students are also benefited since they are the ones who provide feasible solutions to the problem.
The students and faculties who are involved in these collaborations work on solving real-time problems. The University has also introduced skill-oriented courses in all streams and the students are encouraged to take projects based on real life problems. The University now is ensuring that the laboratories and infrastructure are in line with advanced technology. Addition of value aided certification courses along with professional degrees is further helping the students to acquire multiple skills, and the various MoUs being signed with several firms regularly teach students the latest in-demand skills.
Prof (Dr.) Parma Nand, The Dean
A well-established academician, a renowned personality, and a man of great experience, Dr Parma Nanda, is a teacher, a writer, and a philanthropist. Having 30+ years of experience in both the industry and academics, he has way too many awards and recognitions credited to his name. A PhD from IIT Roorkee, Dr Parma Nand has delivered many invited/keynote talks at International & National Conferences/ Workshops/Seminars in India and abroad. He has published more than 200 papers in peer reviewed international/national journals and conferences. He has also published a number of book chapters in reputed publications like Springer Berlin Heidelberg. He has also reviewed a number of books for publications in Tata McGraw-Hill, Galgotias Publications etc. He is an active member of advisory/technical program committee of reputed International/National conferences & reviewer of a number of reputed journals published by Springer, Elsevier etc. His research interests include Computer Graphics, Algorithm, Distributed computing and Wireless and Sensor networking.
