A University, in which we all can take pride: “Today, I can take pride in my association with GTU,” said Mr. Haren Shah*, while inter-acting with some creative young students. GTU is a University, in which its students and faculty members can take pride, not because it has already become a great university but because it is taking highly innovative steps for becoming a great place for learning and because it has come to be considered as a role model for the other technological Universities in India.
It is great to hear words of appreciation from GTU’s friends. But what is more important is that we all --the students, faculty members and GTU officers – should do our job in the best possible manner for making our University great. Once anyone decides that he/ she would strive to be the best in his/ her job, he/ she will start taking pride in his/ her work. Then one will automatically start appreciating, what is being accomplished at GTU by all of us jointly and one will start looking at the shortcomings of our system as jobs, which remain to be done. In the natural course, the pride in one’s work will lead one to take pride in GTU. I suggest we should immediately start working towards becoming the best in our part of the job and we must not wait till every one else does, what he/ she is supposed to do.
At the University, each one of us has to work to progressively improve the service to our stake-holders till it becomes the best in the world. We can legitimately cite many reasons for not being able to do our job well. But there are two over-riding reasons of why our service must not be the second best. These are our self-respect and our pride in GTU.
The Faculty members have to make their classes, laboratories and workshops voyages of discovery. The old methods of teaching must be replaced and improved day-by-day. The exam papers for mid-semester examination or the end-semester examination or the quizzes must not ask for rote-learning and should be designed to evaluate the degree of understanding of the concepts. We have to ensure that every student is evaluated fairly during the semester and at the end-semester exams. The practical examinations and viva voce examinations must be conducted well so that every student is able to get grades, which he/ she deserves.
Students have to work with the management to ensure that during the semester the classes, laboratories and workshops are conducted on every single day starting from the first day to the last. They are to work jointly with the faculty to make their class-work interesting and useful. They should use libraries, visits the industries and exploit other resources outside the class-room to enhance their learning. They should assess their own soft skills and see that before they graduate, they acquire the ability to communicate well.
When our researchers work sincerely and hard, when our institutions work with discipline and with their first focus on students and when our students take pleasure in their studies, GTU will become an academic power-house, which would attract the best of students and researchers.
Jointly we can make the University a great place of learning. Jointly we can make GTU a University in which we may take pride. Jointly we can raise the reputation of the University so that every student gets a job, he/ she wants. Let each one of the members of the GTU family decide to work for achieving the objective.
Dr. Akshai Aggarwal
(15 January 2014)
*Mr. Haren Shah is the Co-Chair of GTU Innovation Sankul, Gandhinagar and is the founder CEO of Peach Computers. He made the above statement when he was participating in a workshop where young students of GTU were presenting their ideas and their work, as budding entrepreneurs.