K Umamaheshwar Rao, Director, NIT Rourkela, describes his approach to higher education, how NEP stands to benefit the student community and how the institute enriches the ecosystem of the steel city
In an exclusive conversation with BW Education, Dr K Umamaheshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, NIT Rourkela, delves into the institute’s journey of reinventing itself to meet the evolving needs of the 21st century. Dr Sharma sheds light on the institute’s commitment to adaptability, with a focus on interdisciplinary education, advanced technologies and industry relevance. Also, He discusses the institute’s forward-thinking approach to implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, fostering transdisciplinary collaborations and preparing students for the changing landscape of work. Edited excerpts from the interview:
As a long-established and well-reputed engineering college, how is NIT Rourkela reinventing itself to meet the needs of the 21st Century?
The institute was initiated by the Government of India as a Regional Engineering College on August 15, 1961, on an auspicious day. In 2004, it was converted to an ‘institution of national importance’. This 62-year-old institution has its own reputation and holds the third position among NITs in NIRF ranking. And in the QS Asia rankings, it comes in the 800 to 1000 bandwidth.
We have 20 departments. And the beauty of this NIT, which no other NIT has, is that we have a biotechnology, medical engineering department and life sciences department. Then we have the food processing department. So, we have a wide variety of engineering and sciences. We also have humanities and social sciences department and a school of management.
As regards our preparedness for the 21st century, students are our strength. Everything is defined by students. I took charge in February 2022 and then since then we have already had one curriculum review and a peer review. In the peer review, faculty from faculty from other IITs have visited us, gone through all the departments and highlighted what are the rough edges which need to be rounded off.
And now we have a new curriculum, to prepare the students to face the 21st century. But what exactly is 21st Century? This century will be defined by a total change in the way work will be done. And along with that, education and learning are also going to change. We are in digital era, and in Industry 4.0 phase. But the phase that the industry is in today might not be there tomorrow. So, we must catch up with the industry.
We are in the steel city and then many more than 30 plus industries. We are striving to making the industry and academia close. Our curriculum is more or less meeting the requirements of the industry. There will not be any shock for the students when they really are exposed to the industry.
You mentioned that NIT has a life sciences department. Can you elaborate on how it benefit engineering students?
This was the vision of erstwhile leaders. And it is also in sync with NEP 2020. Life sciences is now providing an opportunity for the students to interact with life sciences department. So now this is a transdisciplinary approach. As they rub shoulders with their peers in other departments, they get a holistic view of education. It has added a quantum change in the perspective of the students at the NIT.
Artificial intelligence is now the talk of the town. While some are concerned it will take away job opportunities, others assert that it’s going to create new opportunities. What is your take on that? And also, how is the institute preparing its students in terms of career guidance in the wake of AI?
Every change has both positive and negative aspects. Earlier, people were scared to keep the mobiles in their pockets. But now, they have not one, but two-three mobiles in their pockets. Mobile communication has become a part of our lifestyle. Before Covid, when I was director at another NIT, a faculty threw a student’s phone outside the window irked by a call during a lecture. Within a few weeks, when Covid struck, the same gadget made it possible for him to stay connected to students and to his family in the US.
There are always two sides to the coin. People are becoming more imaginative using mobiles. People are also losing imagination using mobiles.
As far as artificial intelligence is concerned, it will create magic in our lives. In particular, medicine will stand to benefit.
We are really confined to cocoons and physical boundaries. But with new technologies, we are going to have a seamless existence. Time and space will acquire a new mean these times of disruptive technologies. And there is nothing that will be impossible in future. So, let us look at the positive side of it.
How is NEP being rolled out at NIT Rourkela, which is an engineering college?
NEP is being implemented on the campus in true letter and spirit. As I mentioned earlier, we already have a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach. The other highlight is the multiple entry and exit points. Could you have imagined that a student of engineering will get multiple entry and exit points, and with full dignity? A student can go abroad, solve his family problems and return to complete his degree. He or she can complete it in eight years. It’s not a small time.
Students get enough opportunity to really experiment with what they want to learn, how they want to learn, at what pace they want to learn and when they want to learn from where they want to learn. They can take online courses from Swayam Prabha or even from other universities, other institutions, other countries and then come back.
In what ways is the institute impacting the local community? Have there been any specific drives for solving local problems through engineering solutions by the institute or any skilling drives for the local youth?
The answer is in the question itself. The reason is that this NIT is in Rourkela, which has a very big steel industry and their extension lab is in NIT Rourkela. Any problem that comes up, it’s resolved by our faculty along with them. Then we have coal, iron ore, limestone and other mines. Then we have MSMEs too and we at Rourkela solve the problems that they would face.
We engage with school students to foster scientific spirit in them. For example, there is a school in a remote tribal belt, called haat station due to its inaccessibility. We invited students from that school, took them round the campus, showed them various labs and showed them a live plant cell with the help of a microscope. For the first time, they got to see what a live plant cell looks like. And it’s great to see the excitement of students.
Per se NIT Rourkela has owned the city. Every problem of the city is the problem of the institution. We try to put our heads and thoughts to solve some of the problems of the society in the city. And we make the city really smart city.
What are some of the challenges that engineering education must address?
I am an optimist. While there are are going to be problems, the confidence I have is that every problem has multiple choices today. It is not only in JEE that you have ABCD options, but then in real life also, people have multiple choices of best solution, the best probable solution, possible solution and solution.
I address students about the opportunities which are there hidden in NEP 2020. You make it a black box, you will not know anything about that box. You open the black box and then there are so many opportunities.
Fundamentally, what students must understand, which they are not understanding, is that within five years, there is going to be a sea change in the workplace and the nature of work. I do not know, on which plane it is going to be. People do not have the imagination, even the youth.
They will have to handle different nature of work. With robots starting to live with us when we will be working along with machines, it is going to be a new experience and a huge challenge, which the youth is not willing to understand.
The second point is that people are not really realising the potential that we have in NEP 2020. Education should be kept away from politics. Just because you do not agree with someone’s ideology, doesn’t mean you see only negative in the policy. Student centric education system by itself is a greatest opportunity, with credit-driven degrees, not time-driven. Time has been a little insignificant now in the pursuit of the education.
Finally, education is not to be carried out in isolation. It is not an experience in isolation. It is absolutely a collective experience of the society in which he is living – the college, the teachers and the family. This is something our students must understand.
