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In 2020, the Indian government launched the ambitious National Education Policy (NEP) with the aim to provide equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners. Achieving the policy’s goals will require innovation and collaboration from government, institutions and industry alike.

The THE India Universities Forum 2023 will explore the NEP’s role in guiding policymakers and industry leaders to create an inclusive and globally competitive higher education sector. Ahead of the forum, which will be held on 23 February, THE spoke to Vivek Iyer, vice-president of sales at Anthology, about the company’s commitment to supporting institutions with their transformation.

“Anthology has a vision of inspiring a world of infinite learning without boundaries,” Iyer says. “When we saw the NEP document a couple of years back, we were thrilled because the vision of the NEP mirrors Anthology’s vision. It is with this vision that we have been working with more than 8,000 institutes across the world to help them realise this particular objective of theirs.”

Institutions across India have taken various approaches to the framework. “Different institutes have been very creative in the way they want to progress towards their ultimate goal,” Iyer says. “Some have started offering multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary courses, while others have changed their pedagogy to bring in experiential learning and critical understanding skills. Some have increased their investment and have flowed into research and innovation, while others pursued internationalisation.” 

The Covid-19 crisis prompted an acceleration in the use of technology in education, and universities are also adjusting to a digital mode of teaching and learning. Iyer sees great potential in hybrid models. “[With blended learning], a student can make the best of both worlds. This is what will contribute to a better experience for the students. So, blended learning is what we are very excited about.

“The THE [Indian Universities] forum provides a fantastic platform for us to be interacting with the luminaries in the Indian education industry,” Iyer says. “We want to understand the strategies they are using to realise their ultimate goal of becoming NEP-ready and world-class institutes. Anthology comes with a very rich heritage of having the know-how, the people and the products to work with the Indian education institutes and progress towards the NEP.

At this year’s forum, Iyer will join a panel titled “Roads past, present and future: How are universities across India forging their 21st-century identity under the NEP?” The panel will bring together experts from India’s higher education sector to discuss their ambitions for the country’s next generation of learners.

“If you attend this session, you will see what different stakeholders in this ecosystem you have – teachers and learners from institutes, policymakers from government bodies and technology companies like us coming and talking about various aspects of the NEP, past, present and future.”

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