35th Distinguished lecture on Advanced Design and Manufacturing
Title: Designing a Tech University for the Future
Speaker: Prof. Rudra Pratap, Vice Chancellor, Plaksha University, Mohali
Date, time & venue: 2nd January 2024, 4:00-5:00 PM, MMCR, Dept. of Design and Manufacturing (erstwhile Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing), IISc
Abstract: The churn in higher education has been palpable for almost two decades, but events post 2019 have accelerated the debate so much that everything about higher education is under question, including the very existence of higher education institutions. In such uncertainty, how do you design a new university? In particular, how do you design a tech university that imparts relevant education when advances in technology are turning the world upside down at an alarming rate? The current chassis of university education, designed with the imperatives of World War II and its aftereffects, clearly needs a radical change. What should guide the design of the new chassis? We dig deeper to look at human needs, intricately coupled with planetary needs, for a radically new design of a university for the future. With a foundation built on time-invariant elements of education, and a super structure that is modular and easy to rearrange, we create a new university that should stand as a modern day Takshashila. In this talk, I share the blueprints, some glimpses of the look and feel, and the future left to the imagination of the audience, of the new design of a university for the future.
