Edu-leaders

In a unique initiative, EDU magazine is organising a three-day Vice Chancellors’ Retreat at Hyderabad. More than 50 leaders in higher education including vice chancellors, directors and deans of leading universities, management institutes and engineering colleges are participating in this conclave being held from September 2-4, 2011.

The event will focus on how higher education institutes can achieve excellence through able leadership. The theme of this conclave is “The Pursuit of Prestige”, which has been inspired by a book, co-authored by Dr Charles Goldman of the Rand Corporation, USA. Dr Goldman is an expert on higher education and will be a keynote speaker at the conclave. Dr Andre Beteille, one of the foremost thinkers of our times and author of the book Universities at Crossroads will kick off the discussions at the retreat. Other prominent speakers and participants include Dr BN Jain, Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani; and Dr R Venkata Rao, Vice Chancellor, National Law School of India University.

Discussing the central idea behind the event, Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, Managing Director, 9.9 Media said: “The higher education sector is witnessing dramatic shifts in terms of pace, scale, nature, role and impact. This is leading to unprecedented challenges and opportunities. All institutions, government or private, are now in the ‘pursuit of prestige’, i.e., excellence in the field of education. This calls for substantive changes in the role and influence of the heads of the institutions. The Vice Chancellors’ Retreat aims to provide them with a platform to discuss their evolving roles and responsibilities.”

In a run up to this event, EDU magazine conducted an extensive survey amongst the higher education community—and received responses from more than 500 leading academics on what factors contribute to enhancing the prestige of institutions. The results of this survey will drive the agenda of this retreat. A summary of the survey is being published in the September 2011 issue of EDU magazine.

The retreat will discuss how the various pillars of higher education – students, faculty, infrastructure, and research—contribute to enhancing prestige. What makes Harvard or MIT institutions to reckon with? Do schools make their alumni, or do students make an institution? These and many more topics will be deliberated by the delegates.