BENGALURU : After an hour-long lecture on entrepreneurship at Christ University, Kengeri, Christine Woods, associate professor at The University of Auckland, started interacting with the city students. She was there as part of a series of guest lectures organised by Education New Zealand, an overseas education service provider.
Overwhelmed by the energy and inquisitive attitude of the students, Woods said, "The country has got a vibrant young population who are willing to contribute their ideas." The series of lectures was led by seven professors from New Zealand and aimed at showcasing the New Zealand way of teaching and cross-cultural collaborations.
The topics of the lectures ranged from technology, supply chain, entrepreneurship planning to cancer. "We strive to create entrepreneur eco-system for students. In India, business studies are mainly focussed on MBA degree. There should be more focus on commercialisation of startup ideas and create entrepreneur eco-systems for students in India in academics," Woods explained.
Wendy Fox, associate professor, The University of Waikato, talked about the impact of technology in education system at Mount Carmel College, Vasanth Nagar. “The role of a teacher is changing to a facilitator of more digital sources of knowledge. In India, there should be more emphasis on enquiry and problem-identifying,” Fox added.
Delineating on the new automation trends in agriculture, Gourab Sen Gupta, deputy head and academic dean at School of Food and Advanced Technology, Massey University at Christ University, spoke about the scope of robotics technology and artificial intelligence in Indian agriculture. “Here, I see a huge scope for robotics, especially in seeding, use of fertilisers and packaging the produce,” Gupta shared, adding, “Students here have some great ideas on tackling disaster management through automation technology.”