When Change Matters...

I hope this finds everyone well and enjoying a busy summer season. It feels absolutely great when I get reverts on my blog from my esteemed readers. Thank you for paying due attention, I feel elated and encouraged!

Our Annual General Meeting of the year 2021 was a great success, thanks to the participants, keynote speakers and members who shared their knowledge, views and discussed future plans for SICI.  It was an occasion to invigorate our established members and encourage new ones to actualize our mutual goals of enhanced bi-national collaboration in higher education and research.

The ongoing progress and struggles of bringing more clarity to the efforts invested in streamlining our awardees’ overall experience of SICI fellowships/grants, I believe, the higher education sector is experiencing moments of truth. Particularly the inter-nation mobility difficulties generated by Covid-19 and the mitigation measures resulting in the reduced capacities to fund travel and large institutional collaboration projects. In this regard, my colleague and I had an interaction earlier in the month of July with SICI’s Indian and Canadian awardees of various programmes to assess how they were coping with the pandemic hitting the brakes hard and disrupting the normal course of action. And, we were in for a little low enthusiastic response this time, which was well-understood. Post the interaction with fellows, it was clear that non-accessibility of labs, schools, travel restrictions, in fact, all of this along with social distancing were detrimental to the completion of their projects. After all, field work is important in both Social and Natural Sciences. Despite of all delays and setbacks, what stood out for these fellows is that they are doing an exceptional job of staying committed to what has been entrusted on them and the completion of research is not just the sole agenda they have in mind, but it is how to better serve the problems of the world in a safe and sustainable manner is what has impressed me the most. It is a great display of resilience where there is little at your disposal to accomplish a goal. Congrats, SICI Fellows! You are doing amazing work.

Speaking of commitment and resilience, I had the pleasure of listening to the speech given by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Canada’s 30th Governor General, a social activist, journalist, former diplomat and the first person of indigenous heritage to hold the post. Her journey from being raised in a traditional setting in Nunavik to walking into the office of the Governor General certainly inspired many of us as we congratulated her on the new appointment. I was all ears as she flawlessly mentioned promoting healing and wellness through all forms of education, and here I welcome Honourable Mary Simon with the promise to carry forward SICI’s mission “to improve the quality of life of the people of Canada and India by building and strengthening intellectual and cultural linkages through research, dialogue and exchange.” Indeed, a promise kept well by SICI for over fifty years now.

As we celebrate ‘Amrut Mahotsav’, the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, the change in approach has started appearing in the domain of education since the announcement of National Education Policy (NEP) last year. On the completion of one year of NEP, the Honourable PM Modi addressed the nation on how NEP has undertaken the task of transforming India’s education landscape by harnessing the potential of our youth who is open to learning & transformation as envisaged in NEP. The Honourable PM is convinced, and so are we that it is this change in outlook through NEP that the country is headed towards revolutionizing Industry 4.0, developing a robust start-up ecosystem and promotion of Digital India. So, whether it is allowing students to opt for multiple entry-exit options, or 14 engineering colleges in 8 states offering education in 5 different Indian languages which include Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bangla, in my view, NEP is all set to contribute to nation building in a big way. Adding to what the Honourable PM said, I was also recently invited to be a panelist in one of the sessions of the National Web Series on NEP 2020 where I had the privilege to sit across and share views with stalwarts like Dr. Anil Sahsrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE and other distinguished leaders. We all recognized that the only way to make NEP a greater success is to work hand-in-hand with industry, government and academia, as a whole. Until we innovate teaching, learning, researching and ways of disseminating information and fortify the skills, there is only so much we would achieve. It is important to train our teachers as they are the core enablers to facilitate implementation of above-mentioned attributes and virtues in the pedagogy. SICI, as always, will continue to support this mission of faculty enrichment programme devised to accelerate not just these qualities, but to bring international component into pedagogy. I believe, here, the sky is no limit, and the more we learn from and support each other as stakeholders, the greater are the chances to succeed and grow comprehensively.

On the other note, given the evolving landscape developing for colleges and universities in India and Canada in the times of pandemic, I am closely following the discussions aimed at opening of campuses for the Fall semester. While there are growing concerns over the safety of students, faculty and staff in Canada, close to 52% of post-secondary schools are planning to deliver programmes, in-person- this fall, and the remaining ones are choosing to continue with a hybrid model. Whereas, in India, there is still some uncertainty over the reopening of colleges, as the admission process is underway for the new academic year. Although some states are planning to reopen colleges and universities with limited capacity, others have decided to resume the physical classes after the complete vaccination of the students and staff. No matter how much we wish old, normal, carefree days to be back, I believe that there should be no room for any compromise on health and safety protocols recommended by the health authorities, as we do not want further outbreaks jeopardizing public health and life at this time.

As I always mention in each of my blogs, these restrictions have not stopped our scholars from bringing innovations to the table that are well-capable of changing the face of our respective economies. Both Indian and Canadian scholars, higher education institutions and faculty, are unstoppable at discovering various means, products and services to continue to serve the needs of our social, academic, professional lives by caring for our local and global environment. Such as IIT Ropar researchers have developed a power-free device ‘Jivan Vayu’ which can be used as a substitute for a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine, and the good news is that this device can function without electricity. A CPAP machine is a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine which is the most commonly prescribed device for treating sleep apnea disorders. Similarly, researchers of IIT Delhi developed modified cotton fabric capable of absorbing harmful air pollutants from the air. On the other hand, experts at the University of Waterloo are developing new cancer treatments with high-intensity focused ultrasound. The research is led by Dr. Siv Sivaloganathan, an applied mathematician and researcher, by running mathematical models in computer simulations, which would mean that a fundamental problem in the technology can be solved without any risk to actual patients. To further boost the startup ecosystem in the country, IIT Roorkee Divyasampark I-Hub is launching India’s first networking site. The motive of the website is to ensure innovators give their technology a commercial platform and boost India’s startup culture. The new website is mainly for funding agencies, startups, innovators, venture capitalists, government agencies, and policymakers that will work for specific industries. In another inspiring story, I came across how a biomedical and mechanical engineering student Lianna Genovese of McMaster University created in her first-year design course to help people with limited hand mobility write, paint, draw and access technology. Lianna has received the National James Dyson Award for her invention, Guided Hands, which recognizes an engineering student who has created an effective solution to a problem with design thinking at the forefront. Great work, Lianna!

Also, it’s showering unicorns in India amid an unprecedented funding spree for Indian startups across sectors. In just eight months of this year, and we already have 21 startups that made it to the unicorn club raising over $20 Billion by the month of July. What is most pleasing is that most of these unicorns have emerged from our higher learning institutions. I think we are doing very well, and the need of the hour is to spread this emerging culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in other institutions as well.

Most of us have a presence on social media, and it would be an understatement that many videos and articles of serious concern over global climate change and what is in store for our future generations have been grabbing our attention. With each passing day and being drawn by news of this nature, I hold firm belief that academic research, in order to make relevant decisions to save the environment, is a gateway to the solutions needed at this point of time.

It is tough for me to put an end here as thoughts flow, and yet have so many positive news and updates that I feel tempted to share with this audience and learned community! Still, I have to pause here till we reconnect next month. In the meantime, please call on us to discuss your ideas for a collaborative effort. SICI’s greatest strength lies in its partnerships with stakeholders from India and Canada, so let’s come together and demonstrate our mutual commitment to nurturing this bilateral relationship. On behalf of everyone in SICI, I look forward to hearing from you!

Take care.