Amity University’s Amity Academic Staff College organised a Five-Day Faculty Development (FDP) Programme from 10 to 14 May 2021. The theme for the FDP was ‘Inculcating Human Values and Professional Ethics in Students’ as per Guru Dakshta, Mulyaprabah and Jeevankaushal UGC quality mandates.
Prof. Nagaraj Neerchal (Vice Chancellor, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth) was invited to speak to the participants on ‘Old Roots, New Sprouts: Value Added by A Valued-Based Education: A CVV Experience.
Speaking on the same, Prof. Neerchal expounded on the infusion of Indian Knowledge Systems into Contemporary Knowledge Systems in a Higher Education institution’. In the recently issued UGC quality mandate (D.O. No. 1-3/2020, 28 March 2020) to improve the overall quality of higher education in India, Jeevan Kaushal (Life Skills), SATAT (Eco-friendly and Sustainable Development) and Maulya Pravah (Inculcation of Human values and Professional Ethics) are prominently included. Thus, delivering a value-based curriculum has now become a mandate. However, motivating students and faculty to implement value-based education in a competitive, materialistic and results-oriented world is difficult unless we recognise that value-based curriculum also adds value to education. The vision of Chinmay Vishwavidyapeeth (CVV), founded in 2017, is to infuse topics from Indian Knowledge System studies into a modern curriculum. CVV’s curricular structure delivers a UGC approved curriculum which is value-based as well as value-added simultaneously.
Prof. Neerchal discussed the interplay between valued-based and value-added aspects of higher education with examples of the learning objectives, programme expectations and graduate attributes of several programmes and courses of CVV. Studies in Indian Knowledge Systems provide immediate examples that are simultaneously value-based and value-added.