During the Second Day of theVice Chancellors’ Meet on “Academic Leadership Training in Higher Education” at CUJ, Prof. R.L. Hangloo, Vice-Chancellor, Central University, Allahabad, was the speaker in the first session. His enlightening speech focused on “Reforms & New Initiatives in Higher Education” with an elaborate discussion on reforms in higher education. He was emphatic about distinguishing between ‘reforms’ and ‘applications of technology’. The speakerurged the audiences not to mistake ‘application of technology’ for ‘reforms’. He viewed that reforms should contribute to holistic growth and development of society. He also commented, “The colonial structured system and mind-set rendered us unable to realize our potential”. Prof. Hangloo exhibited conviction while saying that there is an exigent need to establish connections between school education and higher education. He tried to draw attention to the importance of primary education for laying sound foundation of the pupils.The regional backgrounds and idiosyncrasies of the students pose challenges to teachers which need to be addressed. Prof. R.L. Hangloo insisted, “Good students are created by teachers in class”. Hence, he accentuated teachers’ effective role in the class-room. He expects a teacher to beefficient, updated and facilitating. Infrastructure, Policy Implementation, Formulation of new Policies, proper Recruitment and Generating Congenial Academic ambience, etc. are some of the major challenges in higher education which need to be addressed before long.Prof. Hangloos’ stimulating discussion gave raise to queries from the delegates and a brilliant interaction brought his speech to a close.

Prof. K. Srinivas, (NIEPA), the second speaker of the workshop spoke on “Use of ICT & Process Reforms for Improved Internal Governance: A Case Study on Ambedkar University Delhi Cloud Based System”. His discussion on the use of ICT for generating knowledge received good response from the participating delegates. The speaker discussed the key-issues involved in computer mediated teaching-learning process and its implication for higher education. He deemed technology as ‘facilitator and enabler’.Prof. Srinivas appreciated SWAYAM as a welcome initiativefacilitating accessibility and equity to learners. He espoused the view that models such as “Saas” and “Pay as you use” are infinitely beneficial for the universities. He also focused on “e-governance” requirements such as availability, scalability, reliability and security. However, he was vocal about certain issues of the current ICT mediated system. He opined that the present system lacks in intra/inter-departmental collaboration.
The third session on “Interface with the Regulatory Bodies” was presented by Prof. Manoj Dhar, Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu. He started his speech by saying, “universities are places of social development which represent a way of life.”

He also pointed towards the modern role of university education system which goes beyond the traditional domain of imparting education and conducting research. He avered that the purpose of universities is to go beyond the idea of preparing students for employment and work to make them agents of change. His focus remained on the diversity and complexity of the regulatory bodies in the Indian higher education system. While presenting a list of some regulatory bodies like Ministry of Education (Shiksha Mantralaya), AICTE, NCTE, COA, ICHR, ICPR, ICSSR, UGC, NAAC, INFLIBNET, IUC, IUAC, IUC,etc. he discussed the functioning of the institutions of higher education. He said, “We do not have a single regulatory body in India, so it leads to a confusion infunctioning.”

He stressed on the diversity of issues of autonomy, research regulations, recruitment guidelines, policy framing, implementation, and funding. Prof. Manoj Dharargued that due to such complications, communication models need to be devised to balance the functioning of academic institutions and pave way for an efficient higher education system in India. Moreover, he strongly criticized the CBCS system which has been adopted from the western countries.

The last speaker of the day was Prof. A. K. Sharma, IIPA, New Delhi and Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Mizoram, who spoke on “Strategies for Academic Excellence”. He pointed out that a strategy means “a broad approach towards excellence.” It means to rise above manipulations, and to achieve such excellence proper methods needs to be devised. His focus remained on “how to empower the student”, as the student-teacher factor remained central to his view. To show the centrality of a student in the educational system, he said, “The system no longer is supply-driven, but demand-driven.” He highlighted the role of universities as being “entities with humanistic values which command of love and respect”, and colleges being “places of collegiality, must be rooted in a spirit of equality. He said that the “teacher and students are peers, not superior and subordinate in terms of notions of collegiality.” His main strategy of a student-teacher relationship needs to move out of class-room spaces and create an aura of an innovative and ceaseless research. He talked of a strategy which stresses on horizontality, exchange, and a give and take interaction.