Prof. U Kamachi Mudali, Vice Chancellor, Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) while speaking at the 5th edition of the CII Global Education Conclave held from 24-25 October 2024 in Mumbai cited ‘Quality Education’, the 4th SDG as the most important as it can have major implications for the rest of the SDGs. To make education accessible and affordable, he advocated the use of AI/ML tools in addition to edutech rather than just depending on the government.
Prof Mudali said that the seven targets of SDGs align with the vision of the NEP 2020 implemented by the Government of India. He said that 24×7 access to educational tools using integrated learning management systems can help in enhancing Gross Enrolment Ratio and make it possible for students in remote areas, especially girl students to gain access to higher education.
Dr. Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU) who moderated the panel discussion titled ‘Impact of AI on Teaching and Learning Research and Governance’ held on day two of the conclave said that AI can have a revolutionary impact in the education sector. She attributed characteristics like personalised teaching, intelligent tutoring systems, life-long teaching and democratisation of quality higher educations as some of the hallmarks of AI supported on education systems.
Prof Ravindra Kulkarni, Vice Chancellor, Mumbai University while speaking about the application of AI in societal issues revealed that the university has set up centres of excellence to promote the use of AI in better healthcare service delivery. He also spoke about how AI can strengthen the delivery of education and spoke about how AI-directed, AI-supported and Ai-empowered paradigms can provide students with a realistic and interactive assessment experience.
Dr. Hemlata Bagla, Vice Chancellor, HSNC University, Mumbai while extolling the benefits of AI said that AI has application in every complex set of data from earth to sky. Be it nuclear energy, healthcare, genomics, geology, soil analysis, universe mapping, new materials, particle physics or life sciences, AI has wide-spread application. She concluded by saying that the judicious use of AI must consider factors like privacy & security, response bias, transparency, accountability and responsibility.
Prof Siddharth Jabade, Vice Chancellor, Vishwakarma University said that the gap of teacher-student has v.shed. Today both collaborate and cooperate in learning as well as adapting to the transformation that AI has brought into the education ecosystem.
S Dharmarajan, Founder & CEO, Impact Sure Technologies said that in an era when many routine jobs are becoming redundant, students must focus on 3 Cs for their survival. These include Compassion, Curiosity and Creativity. With growing digitization and use of AI, are becoming critical. This is the collective responsibility of individuals, society and stakeholders to take care of data privacy and security with the emergence of AI in an increasingly digitized world.
Ms. Febin MF, Head of College Connect Business, L&T Edu-Tech while speaking about the digitization of education spoke about the importance of simulation models in tech learning platforms. This can help the students gain better understanding of the real-world needs as they educate themselves. She spoke about the need for interdisciplinary knowledge and collaboration as key factors in better utilization of AI.