UGC Workshop on Capacity Building of Women Managers in Higher Education

Smt. Shanti  Gupta Centre for Women’s Studies, MIER College of Education organized five days UGC sponsored Workshop on Capacity Building of Women Managers in Higher Education. The workshop had the distinction of being the first to be convened with the UGC assistance during the XIth Plan Period. Dr. Pam Rajput who represented UGC as the Member National Consultative Committee was the Core Group Resource Person of the workshop.  Dr. Poonam Dhawan, Director Centre for Women Studies, University of Jammu was the Regional Coordinator (NWR) and Dr. Renu Gupta, Director, MIER was the local Coordinator.

During the workshop, fifteen technical sessions on different themes were taken up by experts in which five manuals developed by noted women scholars in India were transacted using participatory approach by experts from UGC and other master trainers. 

The manual on Women Studies Perspectives was transacted by Dr. Poonam Dhawan wherein she talked about issues under the ambit of women studies perspectives.

The manual on Women and Governance was transacted by Professor Nilofer Khan, Sub Regional Coordinator, (NWR), Director Home Science Dept. and Coordinator CWS, University of Kashmir.  She threw light on Networking and stressed that women should be a part of networking.

The manual on Women and Academic Leadership was transacted by Dr. Renu Gupta and  Prof. Neelu Rohmetra, Director, International Centre for Cross Cultural Research, HRD, Department of Management, University of Jammu.  Dr. Gupta laid emphasis on 4 C’s i.e consciousness, concern, commitment and competence of women in leadership roles, While Prof. Neelu  Rohmetra highlighted the institutional, social and personal barriers that stop women to be at high levels.

The manual on Managing Personal and Professional Roles was taken up by Mrs. Jyoti Parihar, Senior Lecturer, Govt. College of Education, Jammu.

The manual on Women and Research was transacted by Mrs. Sandhya Bhardwaj, Department of English, Govt. M.A.M College, Jammu.  She focused on building the research capabilities of the participants.

Prof. Deep Shikha Kotwal, Head P.G. Department of English, University of Jammu and Mrs. Rajni Sehgal, SSP Prisons, Central Jail, Jammu shared their experiences with the participants.

In the valedictory session Dr. Poonam Dhawan, Regional Coordinator (NWR) and Director CWS, University of Jammu said that women should become visible and come up in their roles as women managers by improving their competence levels and becoming gender sensitive themselves for which they have to create gender friendly environments in their institutions. She also distributed certificates and group photographs to all the participants.

The workshop concluded with the sensitization and empowerment of 32 participants drawn from universities and colleges of the state. 

International Conference on Quality Assurance in Educational Research

A three-day International Conference on “Quality Assurance in Educational Research” was organized by Model Institute of Education and Research (MIER) in collaboration with All India Association for Educational Research (AIAER) from 26th-28th December 2008. 100 delegates from about 20 states of the country and abroad participated in the said conference which was held at MIER College of Education. It was spread over 16 technical sessions in which more than 60 educationists and researchers presented papers on diverse themes related to the topic.

Inaugural Session

Prof. (Dr.) M.A. Siddique, Chairperson National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) was the Chief Guest on this occasion. The other distinguished guests present were Prof. (Dr.) Ved Prakash- Vice Chancellor’ National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), Prof. (Dr.) S.P. Malhotra – President AIAER, Dr S.B. Mohanty- General Secretary, AIAER, Dr. Arun K. Gupta- Chairman, MIER group of Institutions and Dr. Renu Gupta, Director of the host institution.  Also gracing the occasion were Dr Meenakshi Kilam, Director Colleges Development , University of Jammu , Prof. (Dr.) Lokesh Koul, Prof. Emeritus & Former Dean Faculty of Education, H.P. University Dr Rekha Koul, Associate Professor, Curtin university of Technology Australia.

In his welcome address Dr. Arun Gupta expressed his warm regards and appreciation for Dr. Siddique for inaugurating the conference.  He also thanked other distinguished dignitaries for gracing the occasion and complimented the delegates for making appreciable efforts regarding their participation and contribution to the conference. Congratulating the organizers, he said that MIER had emerged as one of the leading Institutions in Northern India where innovations in Education, Research, Training and New technologies were initiated and experimented with. 

Dr. Siddique, Chairperson NCTE, who presented the key note address greatly appreciated the efforts taken by AIAER and MIER to discuss a significant topic related to quality assurance in educational research as the improvement of the educational system in the country eventually will depend upon the valuable inputs from research for its transformation. Dr. Ved Prakash, Vice Chancellor NUEPA, in his presidential remarks congratulated MIER and AIAER for organizing the conference on a very pertinent theme and for involving researchers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds to deliberate on quality issues in educational research. He also delivered the Prof. M.B Buch Memorial Lecture on the topic ‘Trends in Growth and Financing of Higher Education in India’ wherein he discussed the challenges faced by the higher education system in India. Prof. (Dr.) S.P. Malhotra, President AIAER highlighted the relevance of the theme of the conference and urged all the participants to contribute towards enhancing the quality of educational research in the country.

Keynote Addresses

Eminent researchers and academicians presented Keynote addresses on various topics to highlight quality related issues in educational research. Prominent among them were Prof. (Dr.) Lokesh Koul,who highlighted the Methodological & Pedagogical Issues Affecting Quality in Educational Research, Dr. Rekha Koul deliberated on Research Paradigms and Quality Standards in Educational Research, Prof.(Dr.) S.P. Malhotra presented his views on Quality in Educational Research and the Criteria for Evaluating Quality of Research in Education: International Perspectives  was put forth by Dr. Arun K. Gupta, Chairman, MIER along with Dr D.R Kapoor, HOD Research. The delegates held creative discussions, exchanged ideas and interacted with the keynote speakers during the three days of the conference.

More than ten technical sessions on various topics and themes were held such as Quality Assurance with regard to Researches in Teacher Education and Higher Education, Researchers’ Forum, Issues Related to Quality Assurance in Educational Research, Thrust and Emerging Areas in Educational Research, Diverse Themes for Quality Assurance in Educational Research, Technical Education & ICT for Quality Assurance in Educational Research etc.

Technical  Sessions : Technical sessions in progress

Valedictory Session

One of the major events of the conference was the General Body Meeting of All India Association for Educational Research (AIAER). In this meeting, the minutes of the last general body meeting got confirmed; Annual Budget got approval and Membership Drive was carried out and members were elected to the executive council of AIAER. The host institute i.e. MIER also announced that an Educational Research Association under AIAER in the State of J&K will be established to enroll teacher educators from various teacher training institutions for promotion and development of research in the field of education.

Dr. Arun K. Gupta, Chairman, MIER also spelled out various initiatives and plans for encouraging budding researchers and invited them to contribute papers and articles for the MIER Journal of Educational Studies, Trends and Practices (MJESTP), a Bi-annual Journal of MIER. In the valedictory session the recommendations of the experts for enhancing the quality of educational research were discussed and reports of the various sessions were also presented. Best paper awards were presented by the AIAER to Dr. Adit Gupta of MIER for his paper on Learning Environments Research and Dr. Swati Patra from Mysore for her paper on Understanding Children’s Heart & Minds. As a token of appreciation, mementos were presented to the executive members of the AIAER and the keynote speakers.