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Dubai, May 2, 2019: The Director of ICFAI Group, Mr. Sudhakar Rao, was invited to 5th Dialogue India Academia Conclave 2019. The conclave was held at The Hotel Taj in Dubai on May 2, 2019. Shri Vipul, Consul General of India, Dubai was the Chief Guest at the programme. Many eminent speakers and guests from India and U.A.E. gathered together to discuss the theme “Global Perspective of Indian & UAE Higher Education Institutions”.

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Prof. Rao was one of the key speakers where he spoke about “Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurial Mindset: The Changing landscape of Indian Higher Education”. His motivational speech covered the topics that are relevant to the present educational systems in India.

He elucidated that Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship are often loosely used interchangeably just as people don’t differentiate Science from Engineering from Technology. Innovation is problem-solving, with or without using Technology.

“ If only 26% of Grade 5 students can do division, only 38% of students between 14-18 years can calculate discount in real life and only 50% of graduates are employable, then there’s a PROBLEM and this should be the focal point for Innovation if any. Remember, about 37Cr students are involved in the education sector ranging from Early Childhood Education to K-12 and to HiEd. It’s a problem big enough !” Prof. Sudhakar Rao added.

Read about ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education - (IFHE) Hyderabad

While speaking about the Entrepreneurial Mindset of the students, Prof. Rao said “A conducive environment involving the latest technological innovations would interest the students to pursue entrepreneurship and solve real-world problems. It is time now to scale up this approach and strongly align the ecosystem stakeholders including researchers, academicians, startups, small and medium enterprises large domestic and global corporations, with the government system to transform India into a world-class innovation hub”.

Further, he said that the Indian Government has acknowledged the importance of the new initiatives that merge industry and academia. “The Indian Government is gearing up to embrace the wave of change by unleashing its entrepreneurial energy through initiatives such as Make in India, Skill India, and Startup India. These initiatives which are aimed at bridging the gap between academia and industry, foster innovation and commercialize research” he added.

Speaking about entrepreneurship education, he opined that it has become an increasingly popular subject in colleges and Universities in India. If education inculcates an entrepreneurial mind set among students right at the onset of their academic careers, they will learn to take ownership of their success.

The other speakers at the conclave were Dr. Sandeep Sancheti, President, Association of Indian Universities, Prof. Manda Venkataramana, Vice Chancellor, Academics & Dean, College of Medicine, Gulf Medical University, Dr. P. Shyama Raju, Chancellor, REVA University, Dr.Manpreet Singh Manna, Former Director, AICTE, Ministry of HRD, Govt of India and many academicians, industrialists from India and Dubai participated in the event.