TANSCHE To Host High-Level Discussions On Challenges & Future Of Higher Education

Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) will initiate a new series of high-level discussions on the challenges and future of higher education from July 28.

About The Series

Session one will engage in a discussion on the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on education and employment.

The fortnightly series of conversations will include academicians, policy researchers, and industry captains from different regions of India to share views on key issues facing the higher education space.

Concerns to be discussed on the table are the University Grants Commission's (UGC) role change from a funding authority to one of regulation, scholarship situation, employability of graduates, cheerful classrooms and contented teachers, research blueprints, ranking mechanisms, experiential learning, and declining enrollment in basic sciences.

"There are too many problems facing higher education now, several of which demand urgent policy actions," noted TANSCHE Vice-Chairman M.P. Vijayakumar.

"But we don't have a clear-cut understanding of these issues. These sessions are intended to fill the gap by offering a forum for all stakeholders to share thoughts and propose solutions."

One of the primary outcomes of every session will be the development of a detailed policy paper, to be presented to the Tamil Nadu government to impact subsequent policies and changes in the higher education sector.

The first session shall be on the transformative power of generative AI in classrooms and the evolving career landscape. 

Vijayakumar stressed it was imperative to understand the effect of AI on jobs and the new types of jobs in order to redesign curricula and ready students for the future.

Among the expert panellists who have been invited to address the inaugural session are Lakshmi Narayanan, Managing Trustee, Chennai Mathematical Institute; Professor B. Ravindran, Head, Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI, IIT Madras; Dr. V. Ravindran, Director, Institute of Mathematical Sciences; and Dhinakaran Vinayagamurthy, Head, IBM India's Quantum Innovation Centre.