PROGRAME MENTORS | DEPT. FACULTY COORDINATORS |COMMITTEE MEMBERS

CONCEPT NOTE ON CAPACITY BUILDING FOR DESIGN AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Introduction:

National Education Policy 2020 aims at transforming the education system in the country. It also places a strong emphasis on fostering a culture of innovation; promote an entrepreneurial spirit and provide a conducive environment for students to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems within the education system.

Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that encourages creative and innovative solutions to complex challenges. It focuses on understanding the needs and perspectives of end-users and applying a user-centric, empathetic, and iterative approach to arrive at effective solutions. In the context of education, design thinking encourages educators to create learner-centered curricula, teaching methods, and assessments that cater to individual needs and foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.

Accordingly, a capacity building program for faculty and HEIs is being started on Design and Entrepreneurship under the aegis of Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme (MMTTP) to address the key elements of NEP with a specific focus on design and entrepreneurship development.

Objective & Approach:

The objective of the Capacity Building for Design and Entrepreneurship program is to enhance the capacity of faculty and HEIs for creative transformation with a specific focus towards design and entrepreneurship development.

It will be achieved through 1-1 mentoring of faculty and promoting generative dialogue among faculty, student teams and HEI partners by a pool of expert mentors. Each participating HEI will be assigned a maximum of three mentors for a period of two years. Each mentor will devote about 40 person days to mentor 8-10 faculty members and an equivalent number of student teams from 3rd and 4th year UG, 2nd year PG and advanced years of PhD for one year. The nodal center for the program (Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Centre, IIITDM Kancheepuram) will manage the selection of HEIs and mentors, allocate mentors to HEIs, conduct curated webinars to share best practices and resource material, monitor progress, and disburse honorarium to the mentors. There will be no separate non-recurring or recurring grant given to the HEIs. The first phase of the program will target 50 promising HEIs for a period of two years (2024-26).

Eligibility Criteria:

The eligibility criteria for Public funded HEIs to apply for this program are as follows:

The public funded HEI must be in the top 200 in the NIRF ranking 2022 & 2023 in any of the NIRF categories
The HEI must be enrolled in the National Innovation & Startup Policy and allocated funds to the tune of atleast 1% of their annual operating expenditure towards student innovation
The HEI must have atleast three academic departments offering UG, PG and PhD programs, with potential for developing a multidisciplinary foundation for UG programs

Scope of Work:

The participating HEIs are expected to leverage the program to intensify their design and entrepreneurship initiatives as enshrined in NEP, 2020 by making the following key interventions:

Create common slots in the curriculum and academic calendar for UG, PG and PhD programs in atleast three departments (3 hrs per week + 3 days per semester for a hackathon + 3 weeks in a year for field work) from the academic year 2024-25
he common slot of 3 hrs per week may be used to
1. Introduce a sequence of service learning or product design courses, one in each semester for the first and second year UG students, and 1st year PG and PhD students. The HEIs may redesign existing courses or create new ones. The courses must strictly follow the pedagogy of learning-by-doing (individual and group), continuous assessment of activities, and promote empathy and discovery of real-world problems
2. Introduce open electives focused on specific domains to encourage promising teams of students in their 3rd and 4th year UG or 2nd year PG or advanced years in PhD to pursue detailed design, prototyping and entrepreneurial activities. Involving PG and PhD students in the initiative is intended to not only help sharpen research, but also encourage commercialisation and prepare the next generation of faculty
Identify and nominate 25-30 faculty members each year for the mentoring program. This cohort of faculty may be motivated and incentivised to
1. Participate in 1-1 mentoring sessions and conversations with expert mentors to enhance capacity for creative transformation
2. Identify and co-mentor 15-20 promising student teams (average size 4) in the 3rd/4th year UG or 2nd year PG or advanced years of PhD (item 1.b). The teams may be encouraged to have a mix of students from different years and branches of study depending on the topic of interest
3. Handle courses in the common slot and facilitate learning-by-doing for approximately 1400 students from 1st and 2nd year UG, 1st year PG and PhD [ IV (2) (a) above]
Allocate appropriate amount of innovation fund to support the 18-20 promising student teams to pursue product design and entrepreneurship each year [IV (2) (b) above ], and create the infrastructure to support learning-by-doing [ IV (2) (a) above]
Identify local partners - industry, government organizations and NGOs - to mobilize additional resources and create learning opportunities for faculty and students [ IV (2) (a) & (b) above] Create a governance structure with adequate leadership oversight to fast- track implementation of the program and monitor the progress

If done in the right spirit, the above interventions can improve learning outcomes for students, research outcomes for faculty, and realization of NEP vision in the HEI.

Nodal Centre: