Edu-leaders

Around two years ago, Amity University began putting placards with simple messages like, “Switch off fans and lights when not in use” at key points in classrooms, galleries and corridors. The result: energy consumption in Amity has come down by 30 to 35 percent. During holidays, the university operates lifts only in the mornings and evenings to save power. “At the heart of cost management is the good old 80:20 Pareto Principle—80 percent of costs can be managed by controlling 20 percent of the items. And it is imperative to take stock of these items and look for opportunities to improve them,” says Brig. S K Doval (retd), Director, Administration, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh campus. Amity has identified those 20 percent of items as water, stationery (mainly paper) and electricity. Most higher education institutions (HEIs) seem to have recognised that saving power costs is pivotal to smart cost management.

Save Energy And Water

The International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad saw good cost savings when its students and staff voluntarily implemented changes like not using geysers during summer. While the institute moved from air-conditioners (ACs) to fans, Symbiosis Institute of International Business (SIIB) has a practice of not switching on ACs until its lab is full. “Improvements in energy usage in areas like lighting, air-conditioning and water pumping could save an HEI 20 to 30 percent of its power costs,” says Shishir Athale, Director, Sudnya Industrial Services Pvt Ltd, an energy services company. Realising this, IIIT, Hyderabad has set up a task force to help curtail wastage of electricity and water, while Amity University is analysing its power consumption patterns to design a model plan to reduce energy costs. And SIIB has a community development team`Kshitij’ to find ways to reduce usage of electricity. The institute, like many others across the country, uses energy efficient lighting systems and other electrical products to save on electricity. It has motion sensor-based systems to control taps. The business school uses recycled water for landscaping its campus, while some, like Amity, also reuse it in toilets. Using alternative sources of energy is also gaining ground among HEIs.“Using solar energy for heating, as against electric boilers, has been shown to cut down energy bills by half” says Hemant Mahajan, Partner, Group Phi Architects and Designers. The firm, currently working on six HEIs’ campuses across Maharashtra, believes in making maximum use of natural light and crossventilation in their designs. “That reduces electricity usage by 20 percent,” says Mahajan.

Designing For Cost-Cuts

For reducing the need of artificial light, as well as ventilation, during daytime, Pune-based architects’ company Mitimitra Consultants Pvt Limited has used the following elements in its design of Symbiosis’ Vimannagar complex and the mechanical engineering building of Cummins College of Engineering, Pune: Doubly ventilated class-rooms–arrangement of classrooms in such a manner that cross-ventilation of air is achieved without causing glares on the whiteboard/blackboard or benches. Windows on both sides–so that classrooms are lit with natural light. Skylights are used to illuminate large spaces like libraries. Ventilated cavity walls–air, trapped in the cavity acts as a heat barrier, which reduces the air-conditioning load. “At Symbiosis, we have planned the seven-storey building around an open courtyard, which brings in direct sunlight and works as a channel for hot air to pass out,” says Madhav Hundekar, Founder Director of Mitimitra. The singly loaded corridors of the building face the courtyard, allowing for maximum ventilation. They also receive natural light reflected from the basket ball court. Similarly, Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research (BVIEER) has incorporated a series of water channels, fountains and sprinklers in the design of its buildings to produce a cooling effect. “Each functional unit of the building has a central air shoot for natural ventilation. That is supported by an exhaust system operated by wind propellers, which suck warm air out without using electricity,” says Dr Erach Bharucha, director of BVIEER. That’s how the institute’s auditorium has no need of fans or AC. What’s more, its museum is entirely illuminated using natural lighting. Also, its white Gokak stone walls reduce the painting costs to the minimum as only the ceiling requires painting. “We are going in for chequered parking with grass and concrete. That will bring down the heat generated and thereby, the recurring expenditure on cooling,” says Dr Prakash Rao, Associate Professor, Energy and Environment, SIIB.

Paper Bytes

The cooling requirements also came down at the Amity data centre, when it virtualised its 30 servers through VM Ware on just one server with 30 HP blades. That brought down its operational costs by a whopping 85 percent. The Group of HEIs is also in the process of replacing its CPUs (costing around Rs 30,000 each) with N-computing devices, which cost around Rs 4,000 each. Installation of N-computing devices is also expected to reduce energy consumption by a good 75 percent. A growing tribe of HEIs have begun conducting most of its affairs and communication online and cutting down on usage of paper. “We do not print or ask for hard copies unless and until it is mandatory for documentation,” says Viraja Bhat, IT-head of SIIB. It is also looking at Webex based services for conferences and lectures and  exploring online teaching methods and pedagogy. Many HEIs, especially those with multiple campuses, are taking to audio and video-conferencing, for admissions and meetings. During the orientation session of its campuses in London, Singapore and San Francisco, the Chancellor and the management of Amity University, sitting in India, interact with global students through video-conferencing. This saves the university considerable time, and cost, involved in their visiting various campuses. Amity, Symbiosis and Manipal are among the HEIs that have automated most of their academic and administrative processes. “Automation means lower cost of human resources, less paper use and faster operations, all resulting in substantial cost savings,” says Brig Doval. Amity, like many of its ilk, has been promoting e-communications among its people on ‘Amizone’, its intranet. The university advises its staff to print only black and white and on both sides of the

paper. To cut spending on paper, printing and manpower, many HEIs are digitising their libraries. While SIIB uses LibSuite for it, IIM-B has adopted open source software DSpace to share its library archives. Using free and open source software to contain costs is also gaining ground. For instance, IIIT, Hyderabad uses Linux and Apache software to build most of its incurred,” says Dr Kamalakar Karlapalem, Dean (Academics), IIIT, Hyderabad. Some HEIs are turning to cloud computing to manage their admissions, attendance, eLearning, alumni management and even enterprise resource planning systems. In this model, software solutions are offered as a service on payper-usage basis. And it is not necessary to invest in any IT infrastructure. “Cloud computing works out 50 to 60 percent cheaper than building in-house data centres,” says Swapnil Dharmadhikari, Founder Director, Splashgain Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd. According to him, it is 30 percent cheaper than even manual processes. Reducing wastage of resources is also a way to save costs. SIIB, for instance, is turning the leftover/stale food in its canteen into compost with the help of vermiculture.

Future Plans

Going forward, when HEIs are expanding at a rapid pace, co-optition—compete in the core area but co-operate and share in other areas—could be the new mantra. “It would be a good idea if five to ten institutions got together to share their resources and consolidated their sourcing requirements for better cost efficiencies for all,” says Narayanan Ramaswamy, Executive Director, KPMG Advisory Services Private Limited. He also recommends having a single department to coordinate sourcing requirements of all departments. “To pull together the consolidated demand data, match it with information on costs and present it in the right format at the right time, it is important to have IT systems like ERP,” he says. Outsourcing non-core functions like finance and accounting, administration, facilities management and procurementand technology will be the next big step in smart cost management of HEIs. “Some multi-campus HEIs are already considering outsourcing administrative functions to specialised agencies to drive down costs. It is high time they did that and focused on education content and faculty development,” says Tarun Satiya, Associate Director, Business Advisory-Technology and Telecom Practices of Ernst & Young. He thinks that these functions are highly specialised areas and most HEIs do not have the right skills to manage these smartly, in-house. After the telecom sector started outsourcing its technology function, its spending on technology came down to two percent of its revenues, from five to seven percent of revenues the sector spent when it was doing that in-house. Improving utilisation of infrastructure is another trend that does not compromise on quality. For instance, many like Manav Rachna Group of HEIs run multiple shifts of batches or classes for this. The Group also offers attractive fee options to students who choose odd shift classes, like say between 2 pm and 8 pm.

“We Have To Spend Almost Nothing On Maintenance”

Dr B. Mahadevan, Dean (Administration), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore talks to EDU about how the business school manages its costs

Q:How does IIM Bangalore achieve cost efficiencies without affecting priority areas?

Our cost management strategy primarily consists of budgetary planning and control systems which help us manage operations in a cost effective way, without affecting priority areas like teaching and student experience. Some of the cost cutting measures that we have taken are using effluent and sewage treated water for horticultural purposes in the Institute. We have also successfully implemented replacement of fresh water in toilets with biological treatment blocks which eliminate the need of water and yet keep the toilet hygienic.

Q:In which areas have you been able to achieve significant cost savings? How?

We have made significant cost savings in power and water consumption. Over the last three years, we have replaced most regular lights with LED lamps and implemented solar lighting and heating systems and biogas plants to conserve electricity and save costs anywhere between five to 15 percent, depending upon the area of application. Our new construction activities have state of the art three-part plumbing systems which will utilise fresh water, filtered rain water and effluent treated water. These efforts have made significant improvements in our expenditure on water.

We have been able to influence the usage patterns by utilising intelligent light and motion sensors which automatically switch off lights when not in use and newer technologies such as T5 lighting which promote energy efficient ways of utilising available resources. This has helped us to save costs. Also, our architecture enables us to utilise natural light during day time, minimising electricity usage. Further, the architecture is such that we have to spend very little on regular maintenance (distempering/whitewashing, etc.) of external structures.

Q:How do you save your IT costs?

We use Moodle, a free and open source e-learning software, for our learning management systems. Our students’ club ‘Sigma’ works out deals with reputed suppliers for bulk purchases of laptops. As we purchase 600 to 700 laptops at a time, we get the costs reduced by 20 to 30 percent over the list price. We also have a policy of simultaneously upgrading all our gadgets in a way that all those come out of warranty at the same time, giving us benefits of scale. Further, we expect significant cost savings once our ERP system, which will automate our administration, finance and knowledge functions, is fully deployed.