O’Rai Presents 3rd ASMA Annual Convention and Awards 2019 Mumbai: Discussing Future Tech, Internationalization & Thought Leadership in Higher Education

 

On 16th& 17th September 2019, O’Rai presents 3rd ASMA Convention and Awards 2019 powered by Collegedunia.com was held at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai. The objective was to create a learning and networking platform of the who’s who from Higher Education, EdTech & Govt and take the discussion further on best practices, original thought, emerging trends, success stories and future of digital transformation in Academia. Over 240 delegates; 70+ distinguished speakers; 20+ rich sessions (keynotes, panels, workshops, spotlights); 140+ unique institutions, universities, organisations and govt bodies were part of the event

The day started with an inaugural session with a lamp-lighting ceremony and a welcome speech by Mr. Rahul Jain (Project Director of ASMA; Director and Co-Founder of FMA digital) about Digital Transformation of Higher Education. Mr. Jain welcomed the dignitaries of the inaugural session, Prof Anil Sahasrabuddhe (Chairman, All India Council of Technical Education); Dr H. Chaturvedi (Director, of BIMTECH; Alternate President, Education Promotion Society for India), Dr. A.K Sengupta (Founder, Higher Education Forum), Dr. Ganesh Natarajan (Chairman, 5F World), Dr Bhimaraya Metri (Director, IIM Trichy), Mr. Jayant Shah (Executive Director, Academy of Indian Marketers).

Guest of Honor, Prof Anil Sahasrabuddhe initiated the inaugural session. He spoke about initiatives taken by the Government, like Digital India, to improve the education given to the students. Unless the campuses become smart, our cities cannot become smart. So it should start with the educational institutes. He further elaborated on the details of key initiatives taken by the Government such as Arpit, LEAP and NEAT.

Dr. A. K. Sengupta spoke on the topic of ‘Digital disruption in Management Education’. He said technology acts as a double tool – Improving the quality of education as well as improving the quality of faculty and technology should be working in a way that it helps to make education inclusive. Teacher’s role is much more than giving knowledge. The focus should be on building competence through technology using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

There were several key launches by the dignitaries. Unveiled ASMA Top 50 EduTech Tools in Higher Education 2019 (Powered by EdTechReview), which is an exclusive report of best-in-class Edtech tools useful for the top stakeholders for decision making. Next in line was the launch of Collegedunia.com brochure, India’s largest college review portal. The launches were followed by an exclusive ‘Digital Transformation Index’, which is a product of ASMA in collaboration with Academia of Indian Marketing (AIM). Mr. Jayant Shah, Executive Director of AIM the need of DTI and how higher education along with the EdTech industry will be transformed through this initiative. From 2020 the awarding under this category would be started.

 PANEL DISCUSSION 1 – FUTURE MARKETING TRENDS INSTITUTIONS SHOULD ADOPT IN 2020

Mr. Sahil Chalana, Founder of Collegedunia.com moderated a panel discussion comprising Mr. Aman Mittal (Additional Director, Lovely Professional University); Dr. Ravi Kumar Jain (Director, SIBM Hyderabad); Dr. Sandeep Pachpande (Chairman, ASM Group of Institutes); Mr. Swapnil Kothari (Chancellor, Renaissance University); Dr. Sanjay Chordiya (Founder President & Chairman, Suryadatta Group of Institutes); Dr. E.B. Khedkar (Vice-Chancellor, Ajeenkya DY Patil University). The panelists discussed and agreed on the need for students’ opinions, engagement with alumni and faculty, how digital media platforms are very important for an institution leveraging these communications.

Mr. Nilesh Patel (CEO, Leadsquared) spoke about the brand value which is the summation of all the data. People who are driving the brand value in higher education need to be equipped and empowered. The focus should be on the student experience. Controlling or offering the best experience for students will be the driving factor for any institute and university.

Mr. Sujit Das Biswas (Co-Founder of ORAI) spoke about the Future of AI-powered Conversational Marketing for Academia and O’Rai, an AI-based Virtual Robotic Assistance can help institutes and universities in their admissions and marketing in a cost-effective manner.

A spotlight session was conducted by Aditya Pachpande (Child Prodigy and Young Innovator) who spoke about his journey from being teased as a “Lecture Man” in school to becoming a Lecture Man by speaking in many big universities and institutes. And how social media helped him to attend Harvard Summer School Program.

 PANEL DISCUSSION 2 – DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES CHANGING FACE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: EMERGENCE OF AI

Panel 2 was moderated by Mr. Rishi Kapal (Stanford LEAD Alumni, Edtech Specialist, Author). The panelists of the discussion were Dr. Sanjay Padode (Secretary, CDE Society | IFIM Business School, Bengaluru); Mr. Kush Ahuja (Head of Business Development, ACCA Global); Mr. Phalgun Kompali (Co-founder, upGrad); Mr. Sushil Mundada (Founder, ExtraaEdge); Dr. Ramachandra V Pujeri (Dean-Director, MIT Art Design and Technology University, Pune) and Mr. Swapnil Jain (Director, FMA Digital). The panelists discussed how AI impacts their respective areas and what is the positive outcome in an educational system. The panel ended with the last question to everyone. Is AI a hero or a villain? “Clean minds would make AI a hero but if it transcends the boundaries then it will be a villain,” said Dr. Sanjay Padode.

A spotlight session was conducted by Ms. Swati Mishra (Partner Manager, Google). She spoke about perspective on education marketing on digital in terms of students on what and where they want to study and how Google landscape which has Google Search, Google Display Network and YouTube can be a great tool to create awareness and engagement.

PANEL DISCUSSION 3 – ‘INDIA’S COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE GLOBAL EDUCATION MARKET- REVIEW AND INSIGHTS BY FORMER AMBASSADORS OF INDIA’, 

The discussion was moderated by Mr. Sanjeev Bolia (Founder and Managing Director, Afairs Exhibitions & Media Pvt Ltd). Panelists who took part in the discussion were Mr. Vishnu Prakash ( Former High Commissioner of India to Canada; Former Ambassador of India to South Korea); Dr. Suresh Kumar Goel (Former Director, General of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations; Former Ambassador of India to Lao People’s Democratic Republic); Mr. Sunil Jain (Industry Fellow, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun; Former Ambassador of India to Kuwait and Turkmenistan). The panelists talked about standardization of admission process in India, the development of programs for foreign students, creating opportunities for professional placements in India.

PANEL DISCUSSION 4: BUILDING INDIA AS A DESTINATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION THROUGH INTERNATIONALISATION

Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar (Pro-Chancellor, Symbiosis International (Deemed University) & Principal Director, Symbiosis Society) was the moderator. The panelists who took part in discussion were Dr. C Raj Kumar (Vice-Chancellor, OP Jindal Global University); Dr. Sandeep Sancheti (Vice-Chancellor, SRM Institute of Science & Technology); Dr Vijay Kumar Chandrasekaran (Director – International Relations, Vellore Institute of Technology); Mr. Ashwin Fernandes (Regional Director, QS Intelligence Unit in Middle East, North Africa & South Asia; CEO for QS IGAUGE). The panelists discussed the importance of faculty and foreign students in the internalization process. How international exposure to faculty helped them learn new things and better knowledge to share with the students. The panel agreed on the need to focus on special education zones which will be designed to bring in students from around the world.

Mr. Bhupesh Daheria (Founder of mUni Campus) spoke about the AI & Digital Stack for Transforming Higher Education. The landscape of Higher Education has changed and reaching the young crowd is a big challenge.

Mr. Rakesh Ranjan (Managing Director, GSDC Global) spoke about the possibilities of collaborations of Indian Universities and Middle Eastern Higher Education.

 PANEL DISCUSSION 5 – FIRESIDE CHAT WITH MR. SUDHAKAR RAO- FUTURE OF EDUCATION PORTALS

Mr. Sudhakar Rao (Director – Branding, ICFAI Group) moderated the panel and panelist present were Mr. Vivek Jain (Chief Business Officer, Shishka.com); Dr. Pankaj Gupta (President, IIHMR University); Mr. Robinh Sharma (Head – Customer Success, Careers360). The discussion covered the purpose of the educational portals and recruitment of student’s affiliate marketing process.

 

The final segment of the event was Valedictory Session in which Prof. Bhimraya Metri, Director IIM Trichy, said, “There are two kinds of innovations; sustainable innovation and disruptive innovation. Because of past disruption, innovation and visual transformation the world is transforming itself and changing fast. And in today’s context speed is the most important.

Near the culmination of the event, AIM-ASMA Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred to Father E. Abraham S.J. (Ex. Director, XLRI) for his extraordinary contribution to XLRI. AIM- ASMA Longest Serving Director Awards were conferred to Dr. Rajan Saxena (Vice Chancellor, SVKM’s NMIMS Deemed to be University), Dr. Y.K. Bhushan (Vice Chancellor, ICFAI University, Meghalaya HQ Hyderabad), Dr. H. Chaturvedi (Director BIMTECH; Alternate President Education Promotion Society for India), Dr. Uday Salunkhe (Group Director, WE School), Dr. Asha Pachpande (Director, ASM’s IBMR Chinchwad; Secretary, Audyogik Shikshan Mandal), Dr. Karuna Jain (Ex Director, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai) for their immense contributions during their lifetimes of extraordinary significance to the field of education. India’s Top 30 Marketers in Education 2019 were announced comprising of top marketing talent from the country who had implemented successful marketing campaigns which drove high ROI. Afairs-ASMA Award for Internationalization of Indian Institutions was awarded to 30 institutions/ universities who have integrated global excellence, foreign exposure, and intercultural dimension and built an international reputation for themselves.

Day 2 of the convention consisted of 5 Industry-led workshops and 5 Panel Sessions held by eminent speakers from various fields of education and technology. The workshops and Panel Sessions were held simultaneously in 2 halls.

WORKSHOP 1: ROBOTIC PROCESS ASSISTANCE

Mr. Manish Shukla, Grant Thornton conducted an information session on how can digital workforce make differentiating impact on organization growth. It can work faster and reduce errors, it can sit on top of existing applications and cost much less than human FTEs. He talked about the benefits of RPA in saving human efforts, accelerate value from other initiatives, do faster and shorter critical path, increase value add of talent and lower attrition, reduce costly errors with quality & controls

 PANEL DISCUSSION 1: ARE WE CAMPUS READY FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?

Mr. Vivek Shukla (Director & CEO, Afairs Exhibitions & Media Pvt Ltd) moderated the panel. The panelists were Prof. Suku Bhaskaran (President, G D Goenka University); Mr. Abhishek Mohan Gupta (Pro-Chancellor, Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal); Mr. Vishesh Chandrashekhar (Director, Acharya Institutes, Bangalore); Mr. Senthil Kumar (Former Director, SRM University, Sonepat Delhi NCR). The panel discussed the importance of having a corporate international partner and have foreign University partner for the development of Institute and University.

Prof. Chanchal Kushwaha (Chairperson – Admissions, BIMTECH) conducted a case study session on how digital marketing helped BIMTECH to build brand equity.

 WORKSHOP 2 was held by Mr. Subhayou Nayak from QS I-GAUGE, who spoke about the importance of ranking and ratings. The primary perspective of the session was why does an institute or university need QS I-GAUGE. Track 2 of Workshop held by Mr. Pradeep Pandey from Grant Thornton who spoke about their flagship program, a program in data analysis using Python, a certificate in blockchain, a certificate in forensic accounting, etc.

PANEL DISCUSSION 2: HOW ACADEMIA CAN MEET THE CHANGING NEEDS OF CORPORATE

Dr. RSS Mani (Vice President, ITM Group of Institutions) moderated the panel. The panelists were Prof. KVSM Krishna (Vice-Chancellor, Mangalayatan University); Dr. Paritosh Basu (Senior Professor and Chairperson of MBA (Law), NMIMS School of Business Management); Dr. D Prashant Nair (Co-founder of Asynithis, Indus Partners). The panelists discussed the need for a sustainable model to bridge the gap between industry and academia with the help of technology.

WORKSHOP 3 was held by Mr. Abhishek Ballabh (Founder, ExtraaEdge) on The Future Trends In Education Marketing, and 7 trends for the future of education marketing.

 PANEL DISCUSSION 3: DIGITAL INTERVENTION IN EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

The moderator of the panel discussion was Mr. Akram Singh Lamba (Product Head, Media and Digital Marketing, Times Group. The panelists were Dr. Sanjay Srivastava (Vice-Chancellor, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies); Mr. Gavesh Muntha (Director, Enterprise & Partnership Business, Simplilearn); Mr. Jamir Mulla (Assistant Head, Business Development, Symbiosis Centre For Distance Learning). The panel discussed the importance of industry connect for the functioning of the executive program and how technology plays a vital role in that.

 

PANEL DISCUSSION 4 : IMPACT OF DIGITAL IN LEARNING AND PEDAGOGY

Mr. Utkarsh Lokesh (Founder, EdTechReview) moderated the panel. The panelist who took part in the discussion were Dr. Bigyan Verma (Director, SIES College of Management Studies); Dr. Yogesh Velankar (Consultant, Academia and Industry); Prof. George Paul (Dean Academics XIME Kochi). The panelists discussed how AI, IOT (Internet of Things), Blockchain (visibility of credentials of students), AR/VR and 3D projection will help in improving the student experience in learning and pedagogy.

 Mr. Ashwin Srisailam (Former Monk, Public Speaker, Sony Artist in New York) spoke about the need of technology for students which will help them to bring in a change in their emotional thinking.

 PANEL DISCUSSION 5: TRANSFORMING ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT & PLACEMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION 2.0

Mr. Jayant Shah (Executive Director, Academy of Indian Marketing) moderated the panel. The panelists were Mr. Paresh Masade (Founder & Managing Director, Vaave); Dr. M. K. Vajpayee (Co-Chairman, Assocham National Council on Education); Mr. Dilip Patel (Senior Director and Advisor, ISBR Business School). The panelists discussed leveraging technology to strengthen alumni network to re-invent the institutions.

All the workshops and Panel Discussions held by ASMA were interactive and informative with great response from the audience.