| | 8 APRIL 2023HIGHERReviewTHE GROWING SIGNIFICANCE OF NURTURING STUDENTS WITH A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVEIn an exclusive interview with Higher Education Review, Dr. Lilian I Jasper, Principal & Secretary, Women's Christian College shares her insights on the Indian high-er education landscape, the growing significance of stu-dent-centric learning, the increasing importance of research in science education and more. Offering hands-on training still remains a primary chal-lenge in the Indian higher education system which has re-sulted in more students going abroad to pursue their high-er studies and in 2022 alone over 1 lakh Indian students took this route. In light of this, how do you view the Indian higher education landscape and how can Indian colleges reverse this trend? As of now, colleges are keener on thrusting knowledge into students through conventional teaching methods. These methods have limitations and what we need now is students doing mandatory internships in at least one semester. This will help students understand what they should expect from the workplace. Providing skill-based and value-added cours-es to the students is also crucial. Now, both the central and state governments are encouraging such programs. Cross major electives can also help students to hone their latent skills and explore more opportunities. Apart from this, for-eign language programs should be an area of focus as it will help students expand their horizons. For many students, af-ter they start learning these foreign languages, they start to see new possibilities and opportunities for development. It is important that teaching pedagogies evolve with the changing times to nurture skilled talent. In your opinion, By Dr. Lilian I. Jasper, Principal & Secretary, Women's Christian CollegeIN MY VIEWDr. Lilianis an academician for 26 years before she became the Principal of Women's Christian College, Chennai. She had also served the college as Value Education Coordinator, Caretaker Associate NCC Officer, Dean of Residents & Internal Quality Assurance Cell Coordinator and in many other committees.Dr. Lilian I. Jasper, Principal & Secretary
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