Jaipur, December 05, 2023.

“Students already helming sustainability initiatives through better curriculum can aid” was the overwhelming voice at the session during the 1^st roundtable discussing "The Green Curriculum:Integrating Sustainability into Education," at QS I-GAUGE organised, India Academic Forum 2023. QS I-GAUGE is India's pioneer independent private-sector initiative dedicated to rating colleges, universities, and schools.

With the theme of 'Building resilient, conscientious, and purpose-driven institutions,' the forum also held insightful discussions concerning the contemporary Indian education landscape, which also included discussions on topics, “Role of Academia in Policy Formation” and “Navigating the Transformative AI Revolution.”

Ravin Nair, Chief Operating Officer, QS I∙GAUGE while welcoming the various institutions and thanking Graphic Era Deemed to be University for their support of the QS I-GAUGE cause said “As per the recent global survey from UNESCO on the green education theme, it was found that around half of the 100 countries reviewed had no mention of climate change in their National Curriculum. This shows the disconnect between what the learners are being taught and the reality we are all witnessing”. Regarding the role of academia in policymaking, Ravin Nair said, “Initiatives to foster collaboration between universities and policymakers will contribute to the real-world application of research and help bridge the gap between theory and practice”.

Mr D R Mehta, Former Chairman, SEBI, Former Deputy Governor, RBI and  & Chief Patron of Bhagwan MahaveerViklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), known as JAIPURFOOT while giving his keynote speech emphasised on the importance of following structures and methodologies that help one scale.  QS I-GAUGE India Academic Forum 2023 saw the participation of over 100 institutes including BITS Pilani, Graphic Era Deemed University, Poornima University, NIMS University, Manav Rachna University, ITM University, Gwalior, Little Kingdom School, Prakriti School, Vivek Techno School and many more.

The forum engaged in a stimulating discussion during the session titled "Universities as Catalysts: The Role of Academia in Policy Formation." The consensus was reached that policy-making is a collaborative responsibility involving academia, government, non-governmental entities, and all individuals and institutions. The agreement is that each stakeholder contributes equally once the genuine purpose of policy-making is established, and all parties are adequately informed about the various aspects involved.

In the session “navigating the transformative AI revolution” prominent voices during the roundtable agreed upon integrating each course with emerging technologies. They agreed that one doesn’t need to get scared of AI, since as a technology it aims to make our lives better and simpler. That is the aim of technology”. But all agreed that we must train students on how to identify Generative AI versus human generative content so that they should be able to identify between reality and fake and make more informed choices since AI cannot teach us processing or critical thinking as yet.

QS I-GAUGE India Academic Forum 2023 also saw 4 Universities, 9 Colleges &and 4 Schools receive rating awards. These included:

QS I-GAUGE college and university rating is based on seven primary criteria and six secondary criteria ranging from Teaching and Learning, Employability, and Social Responsibility to Research, Internationalisation and Governance and structure. QS I-GAUGE School rating consists of seven core criteria and four specialised criteria ranging from Internationalisation, Skill Development and E-Learning to Arts and Culture and Sports Activities.

The hallmark of the QS I-GAUGE methodology is that it is evidence-driven, transparent, and holistic. The company in India has assessed and rated over 200 educational institutions.