Rethinking Professional Development for Faculty in Higher Education
Mumbai: In partnership with the AIU (Association of Indian Universities), QASPIR Pvt Ltd launches Qedex, the first global community for professional development in higher education.
Qedex is a global movement and initiative dedicated to internationalising higher education by meeting the expectations of the National Education Policy. The AIU has taken this opportunity to support higher education with an extensive faculty development program through Qedex that will foster and invigorate quality education.
The new platform breaks down geographical and cultural barriers to bring together higher educational professionals on one common platform to connect, network, learn and grow. The platform provides unprecedented access to professional development courses for faculty and staff that will stimulate student learning, retention and graduation at institutions.
Dr Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, AIU explains that “Capacity Building of Faculty and Faculty Development are going to play the most important role in promoting quality education, especially post-COVID, when blended education will be the 'New Norm'. The NEP 2020 calls for an entirely new, innovative and technology-enabled approach to pedagogy. The emphasis is on creativity, curiosity, problem solving and application oriented studies, rather than simply on remote learning. This cannot happen without extensive and effective faculty development programs. India, being the second largest higher education system of the world, has to explore online solutions for faculty development urgently. A recent survey by AIU and QASPIR shows that more than 75% of HEIs feel that a central agency should conduct faculty development programs and more than 82% feel that Professional Development of teachers is very important. Therefore, AIU and QASPIR have collaborated to offer quality online courses to Indian faculty at an affordable cost to bring out the best in them.”
Stuart Blacklock, CEO of QASPIR, remarks that "We are committed to supporting the AIU's drive to provide professional development to all faculty and staff in higher education across India. An institution is only as strong as its people. At QASPIR we believe that ongoing, sustainable professional development for faculty and staff makes the difference between a good institution and a great one.
Qedex is more than a learning platform, it opens up new avenues for greater collaboration among higher education institutions across the world . We realise that by breaking down cultural and geographical constraints, we can bring together higher educational professionals from around the world to collaborate, research, drive a peer-to-peer learning experience and pursue lifelong learning at their convenience.
With Qedex, we strengthen our vision to make lifelong learning affordable and accessible, and to meet international standards."
As Rinkle Sangoi-Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee at QASPIR, explains, “How to provide effective professional development has always been a challenge for institutions. This was one of our key objectives when developing Qedex, and we have created mechanisms that drive faculty and staff engagement, retention and improved learning. With Qedex not only do we deliver a strong return of investment for institutions, but we provide a platform for faculty and staff to enjoy and continue their lifelong learning".
Contact Information:
Rubin
Rroy@qaspir.com