Domain knowledge is more important than soft skills – Dr. Sharad Y. Mhaiskar, Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering
— By | Jul 27, 2015 01:10 am
Dr. Sharad Y. Mhaiskar, Dean – Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, Vile Parle, tells Shraddha Kamdar when talking to her about different aspects of student development
The dean of one of the most dynamic institutions in the city, he is a person who is open to new ideas and encourages students to think way out of the box. He is equally approachable, and all it took is one email requesting this interview, and not many days later, I was in his office, chatting with him over a cup of coffee. Having experienced both, the system of colleges affiliated to Mumbai University, as well as the other more open and dynamic system of a Deemed University, he is one who thinks of the best for his students. And that’s why Dr. Sharad Y. Mhaiskar, Dean – Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering, Vile Parle, is popular among the students and staff alike. Moreover he is patient, and modest, for not once did he interrupt me for addressing him with the incorrect designation for the major part of the interview. He waited until we finished, and in a simple manner just pointed it out to me so as to save it being published erroneously here. There is a lot to learn from him, and I came away with some great nuggets on teaching. A few excerpts:
How do you encourage students towards academics when the syllabus sometimes is archaic and outdated?
Well, you see, in the colleges affiliated with Mumbai University, it is difficult to keep the syllabus extremely flexible since there are just too many colleges, and the level of study has to be kept at a level where the colleges in the most interior regions can also cope with it. With such a common factor in mind, the engagement levels of all the colleges are going to vary.
Compared to that, our Board of Studies meets often, and has much greater industry participation. So not only do we know what the industry needs, but we can also cater to it through our dynamic curriculum.
On a more micro level, most universities today are moving towards preparing students for self learning. I believe a graduating student should get the seeds of everything, with the ability of self learning inculcated well. That way, the student can keep up with new knowledge as well as everyday challenges.
Is this method popular with the students?
Students today have information at their fingertips and often are way ahead even of the teachers as far as technology is concerned. They are online 24/7 and become restless during classroom hours. They need to be engaged differently, and we use modern methods like flip classrooms and activities beyond the classroom. We also offer them the option to learn at their own pace with the MOOCs available online.
For instance, there are MOOCs available for technical courses delivered by Stanford University or Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. Our students have the option of learning from these MOOCs as opposed to attending lectures here. The only criterion is that they take the evaluation exam at the end of the MOOC course and earn the certification provided. If that criterion is fulfilled, the students are exempted from taking lectures in that course at the campus. There are two major advantages to this. First, they learn at their own pace, and second, it adds on to their resumes that they have a global certification in a self-learning course.
Apart from academic learning, what helps students to be more independent?
Out students participate in national and international competitions. Recently, they participated in a competition at NASA. These events present opportunities to work in a team, and develop and implement ideas and technologies on their own. They have mentors, but all the work is done by them, including trouble shooting. In this way, they develop life and work skills, including team work, learning to respect others’ ideas and objectively evaluating each option before picking the best-suited one for a particular goal. These are important skills which are best learnt in a practical way rather than in a classroom.
In addition, students undergo a mandatory internship after their second year, which is extremely well structured. Each student has a mentor in the institute and at the organisation. The faculty and the industry mentors are constantly in touch over the progress of the students. The students then end the internship with a professional report, which is evaluated at academic and professional levels. In this manner, many students become candidates for pre-placement offers, owing to the abilities and expertise they display with their work. These kinds of pre-placement offers also provide an incentive to work hard.
Do you think students should be a part of the policy decision on curriculum and what is taught to them?
Yes, and in many ways they are a part of such decisions. But we have to be careful about where and at which stage we involve them. We should definitely involve them for pedagogy and innovations in teaching and learning. I, however, feel that students are not aware of content when they are studying and they tend to miss the finer aspects of the curriculum. For that, it is better to involve the alumni, those who have passed through the process not long ago and are now applying the knowledge in the real world, to understand what worked for them and what didn’t.
An interesting fact that we have found is that the often, what the teacher says about the real world falls on deaf ears, but what the alumni says is listened to very carefully. Students are likely to learn a few aspects from their peers since they are at the level in the industry where the current students aspire to be.
Will students ever get out of the marks mentality? I mean knowledge is great, but at the end, they will still fight for that one mark.
Our system is about massification. At every stage, the initial elimination is based on marks, and we cannot neglect that fact. Even though at college level there are different ways of assessing, in the end, marks matter, often even for job interviews. There are so many students who are good at practical aspects rather than theory, and they are likely to miss out on marks during exams. So if the practical aspects are given adequate weightage, the true ability of such students will also be reflected. Assessing the students in different methods is the best an institute can do so that the marks reflect their abilities more closely.
How important are soft skills for professional students in modern times?
I often read reports which say that the majority of our graduates are ‘unemployable’ due to lack of soft skills. In that sense I guess they are important. But I want to point out that none of these reports talk about domain skills, which are equally (if not more) important. Ultimately, the work done by the candidate on the job depends on the domain knowledge, not only on soft skills.
Soft skills can be nurtured. These enable students to know themselves and their weaknesses. We also have psychological counsellors who work with students on this level so that students do not buckle under pressure over soft skills.
No comments:
Post a Comment