University of the Year – 2020
“We will measure our success by learning outcomes which are student-centric, both academic and non-academic”, wrote Dr R D Patidar, the Vice-Chancellor of the O P Jindal University, in an open message written to all their students, and education aspirants who are looking forward to joining the esteemed university. These words of the VC literally enunciate the passion the universities of today have towards giving back to society – trained and abled professionals of tomorrow, through their typical student-centric environment existing on their respective campuses.
Furthermore, considering the lack of employability factor in today’s professionals of India, universities and higher education institutions have started on a relentless quest to serve society, one student at a time. Validating this point and proving to the world that, university education in India has indeed progressed towards better. Dr Prahlad Rai Sodani, the President of IIHMR University stated – “Together, we form a community that innovates, that produces high-quality research and education, and that makes an important contribution to the wellbeing of global humanity”, talking about how important it is for universities to work together as unbreakable teams and always lay equal emphasis on both inside and outside the classroom activities, in turn, boosting research and innovation. India being the 3rd largest ecosystem of higher education, it has become mandatory for institutes of higher learning to stand out when compared to their competing peers. In that very pursuit of excellence, students are nurtured into young leaders who have a
strong relevance with culture, which clearly helps them understand and embody the values of diversity and inclusivity, in turn, ensuring through and through quality teaching/learning.
Also, due to the rise in students taking up professional courses, India produces a record number of engineers, managers, scientists every year. But most of them don’t have the necessary skill set needed to meet the industry-demands, hence are deemed unemployable. Quiet literally addressing this issue and also talking about how the university education needs to be altered, Pujya Veerendra Heggade, the president of SDM University, quoted – “The principles of life are imbibed by the students, and they become responsible human beings armed with knowledge and attributes of the human element.” Elaborating on his quote, Pujya Veerendra Heggade illustrated how students learn from life and from the university education, in turn, making students grow into mature talented individuals, the students are trained to be capable of taking the challenges of life head-on, with the right amount of dedication and hard work.
Not just limiting oneself to education pertaining to tech and management, many universities decided long ago to stand out and focus on issues which are easily neglected and tried their best to work together towards nation-building. One such institution which enabled students to be exemplary in terms of being individuals who can influence a positive change to society, by being guiding hands to policymakers across issues concerning to agriculture, socio-economic issues and many more – we are fortunate enough to be featuring Gokhale Insitute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) in this issue.
Putting in his viewpoint and talking to everyone about how an institute of higher education has to behave, Dr Parchure, the officiating director of GIPE, stated – “Enabling young graduates to hone their skills to be special and cater to the specific needs of the corporates and institutions, a professional of today has to profitable to his/her organization”.
Having read and witnessed top academicians cum educational-leaders give their tit-bits about how a university/institute of higher education has to run, we at Academic Insights would like to be act as the voice of today’s student. Curating the best list of top universities, who have excelled on factors such as the immense online support provided to students during the pandemic, infrastructural amenities, emphasis on innovation and research, and placements, keeping in mind the year 2020. We have laid a prime focus on such exemplary learning hotspots and help them showcase their true passion for imparting quality education and learning to all, by featuring them in a title called – University of the Year – 2020.
In this edition, each featured university has been carefully chosen by our panel of experts who have put explicit stress on selecting only the best and second to none universities of the country. Also, we ardently believe that going through the universities we have featured here, will help students find their true calling and, in turn, achieve a productive and blissful future. Whether they envision starting their own entrepreneurial journey or get a foot into the professional life, the universities that are been listed here promise to provide everything a budding educational aspirant of today dreams of.