WHAT SHOULD BE THE MINDSET OF A STUDENT BEFORE ENTERING COLLEGE LIFE AND HOW SHOULD PARENTS TREAT/HANDLE THEIR CHILDREN DURING THIS STAGE? A child who is getting into a college from school is at the peak of his adolescence. An adolescent has the characteristics of both an adult and a child. They are in a period of transition from a child to an adult. Physically they are an adult and mentally still they have the residue of a child. The first time this combination of adult and a child is going to face the society for the first time. Till then they were under a very protected environment provided by the parent and the school. A college is a place where they will be treated as adults. From learning to making friends they have to do it on their own. The deadly combination of a child and an adult plays a major role in this. When they enter into college life they might feel lonely if they are in a new environment and excited if they are continuing their old friendship. In the first case, to protect themselves from the loneliness they may go for friendship randomly. They won’t be aware of their level of frequency with them. There is a possibility that they may get succumbed to pressure to maintain their friendship. In the second case with their old friends in a new place will be excited that they may try to explore new things. Risk-taking behaviour will be predominant during this phase of life. Speaking about the approach by Parents: You need to understand that your son/daughter is not a child anymore. This is the first chance they are getting to have their choices, take decisions and to be free. There are chances that they may take the wrong decisions. They may not be willing to share things with you. They will like to have secrets. They will believe that they are adults and they are right, at the same time the child in them will confuse them about their decisions. They will need your help but they will hesitate to ask you. They will have a secret love for you but the external behaviour will be different, like they may express too much anger and argue with you. Sometimes they may verbally offend you. To understand them may be a bit difficult, but they require parental support until they grow up into a full adult, which they will attain only after the age of 20. During this phase parental support should not be given directly, they don’t like to be treated like a child. They will expect you to treat them like adults. In short, they will expect you to be friendly with them. But remember they want the parents to be friendly, not as friends. Most of the parents make the mistake of being their friends, where they will not get a chance to correct them if they go deviant. About education, this is a period where their intellectual capacity will be at the peak. They will be able to grasp abstract concepts easily. But since they are undergoing a stressful period till class 12, in the first year of college their perspective towards academics will be less towards scoring. And if the parents are going to put pressure on scoring, there is a possibility that they may rebel as they are with a mixed group of friends and no personal attention from the teachers. In such a situation parents should mellow down and tell them that this is the time for their enjoyment of their college life but at the same time they should set a standard of scoring concerning academics. If the parents could control their anxiety and go along with their children in a friendly manner, they will feel supported. To Summarise, With Parents: When your child was in school they needed your support – a third-hand help to walk through their decisions. But when they enter college, their mind behaves like a swing sometimes like a child and sometimes like an adult. During this period, all you need to do is guide them when they are in need and not when you think they need you. For Students: Sometimes we are too much indulged in minor issues that we leave out on noticing the major ones. Think your college life as a former and your marks as latter because at the end of the day you are going to be treated as adults in college and you are indeed going to become one. So, why feel afraid about what’s not even there yet. Just be focused on what you are doing. Colleges and marks don’t decide your future, but your hardwork and smart work does.

Introduction Maintaining social distancing amongst peer pressure, and friends will be one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. The best way to approach it is to have an open and frank discussion about your expectations and the expectations of others, on the need for social distancing to be enforced and maintained. How to maintain Social Distancing While we were in the worst phase of the lockdown, little crosses in tape were made at the required distances apart, in front of take- away and other food outlets. This left us in no doubt how far away from each other we had to stand, and we knew what was required of us. Many of us found this quite useful and just stood on the cross as requested. This would probably be useful for students who are used to abiding by the rules. Keep 1.5 meters away from one another where possible. Avoid physical greetings like shaking hands, hugs and kisses Do not handle cash, use a card. Try to avoid public transport Avoid crowds When you haven’t seen one another for a long time it is hard not to greet one another in the old way, but if we can get used to it we will manage to do it for a year or two, until hopefully the virus goes away. Some of these measures are here to stay. In some states we have done extremely well in containing the virus, other places have not been so fortunate and are forced to remain in lockdown. The other thing to be aware of is Clinically vulnerable people, (grandma and grandpa) who are often in fragile health, We have to stay well in order for them to stay well as we would never forgive ourselves if they caught anything from us. When your friends apply the pressure to ignore Social Distancing You can be fined for not social distancing, but it is usually not enforced, and the restrictions have been eased a bit. No more than 100 people for non essential indoor gatherings. No large outdoor gatherings. Restriction in visiting aged people comes to only close relatives. No overseas travel, except with special clearance and quarantine at either end of trip. How is Corona Virus Spread? The virus is highly infectious and spreads from person to person through close contact, coughing or sneezing through droplet infection. This is why it is a good idea to wear a mask if attending a lecture, just to be safe. Also virus can be spread from touching door nobs and surfaces which should be cleaned at least daily. There is no evidence that the Corona Virus is present in water, so keep washing your hands and keep using the hand sanitizer. If you are going to the Teller machine to withdraw money, take a disposable glove with you as the virus can linger on places that people touch all the time. Staying in Touch with Friends while Social Distancing For a while it may be safer to stay in contact with friends on Video Calls, Zoom or Skype, you can talk every day and you won’t miss a thing. This way you are totally safe and it won’t be forever, this is the ultimate in social distancing, until it is safe to meet up again. If you meet up with friends for lunch try to eat outside, as it is much harder for Covid-19 to spread outdoors in fresh air. Conclusion You will find with a bit of practice you will become really good at Social Distancing and it won’t be such an effort, but will become part of daily life even though it feels very unnatural at the moment.

During one of my big data analytics class a few weeks back (before lockdown started, when we were having regular classes), I asked a question to a class packed with about 80 students. None of the students were able to give a proper answer till an unexpected one replied. I could immediately comprehend that the student had used google to find out the right answer. At that instance, I was testing perhaps the ability to remember facts among my students. BE OMNIPRESENT Today, when I recall the incident while conducting online classes and tutorials, what I feel is that classroom might not be an essential place for learning anymore. Some of us may think that, nothing’s going to change in these few months of lockdown and we are going to get back to our conventional teaching methodology but the students are getting into a habit of learning from us online, surfing content and clearing doubt online. While a teacher is delivering lecture, she/he cannot be sure that the student will be glued to their laptop/mobile phone/tab/PC screen dedicatedly to listen to them. Rather she/he may be busy surfing the internet to find some stuff of their interest or may be judging the lecture by finding out content on the same topic online. Thus, the way we deliver a lecture, controlling the class, establishing our authority over the students, may cease to exist. This in turn will result into a situation wherein our intellect and innovation in delivering a lecture online will decide whether a student wants to attend to our lecture or not. The more views our lectures get in youtube would decide who is the “Jeetu Bhaiya” (the famous physics teacher of web series “Kota Factor”) and who is “Batla Sir” (the infamous chemistry teacher in the same web series). Digital prowess or shall I say online prowess will be a necessary skillset to be present in a teacher’s sleeve of skills. While online learning was already there affecting adversely the conventional classroom contact teaching, the growth rate was not considerable enough. But coronavirus effect has changed the scenario completely for online mode of learning to a great extent. LET THE TECH TALK Landing of technology start-ups and legends in the education space has brought out a new terminology, Edtech. Simultaneously, our responsibility as a teacher has also increased to a great extent in becoming savvy with these newer technology products. It is important to remember that technology is a tool, not a subject and thus the way we handle them/learn them is different than the way we traditionally learn a subject. Many of us fail to understand this aspect of technology. The biggest weapon in our sleeves is the intent behind trying new things. A teacher of the future will be like a CEO of a start-up tech firm who is willing to try and learn new technology and once the prowess is established she/he will be able to implement the same in creating a better learning environment for the students of future. THE “JASON BOURNE” SYNDROME Jason Bourne is a famous espionage series originally written by Robert Ludlum and later conceived as a very successful movie series. In almost each of these movies, we see the protagonist speaking multiple languages and acquainted with various culture making himself comfortably mix among the aliens. Likewise, a future teacher while teaching marketing, might use a media and journalism tool to create a better use case. Multidisciplinary approach towards the subject matter will be the new mantra – “jack of all trades and the master of all trades also”. SAY NO TO 9-5 All the above factors prepare us to face one final stand-off. Am I bound by time or am I ready to pounce on to the forthcoming opportunity? The teacher of tomorrow needs to be free from the traditional work hour model. Teaching will no longer be confined within the boundaries set by time, rather a 24X7 approach will work here. A typical day in the life of a teacher for tomorrow will have a classroom lecture delivery, a peer review meeting, an online lecture, a web meeting with stakeholders, research work, consultancy work and many more. SECOND ANGLE: THE STUDENT’S ANGLE As a student myself, I feel that my best friend is not an individual in my class or in my home town anymore. My socializing is happening on my Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) only, i.e., my mobile phone. Information is available to us from all available sources, just like what we studied as the characteristics of a perfectly competitive market in economics. So, there are lot of service providers (Higher Education Institutions or HEIs) and lot of service takers (students) available with almost no barrier to entry and exit. I AM THE KING A student of the future (very near future) will behave like a typical customer demanding education as per their convenience and requirements. They will expect customization and personalization of education as a product based upon their field of interest and dream. Traditionally, we have seen a set pattern of programs being run in various HEIs and the students subscribing to them year on year, but the future set of programs will be more of an a la carte combination of courses chosen and decided by the student. A student will be the only qualitative assessor of these programs because they will have a feeling that – “the customer is the king”. We can also say that the legal maxim of caveat emptor will be applicable for them as well. SUPPLY WHAT IS DEMANDED When I completed my mechanical engineering, many of my classmates from the same branch and many other branches of engineering joined a reputed Indian IT company (name withheld). Later on. I came to know that, all of them were converted (the correct word would be reskilled) to work as IT professionals within a span of three months of them joining that company. Whatever my friends had learnt over last 4

Introduction Education has been perceived as the most precious wealth for mankind, and we the human beings always feel pride in claiming that we are educated. Being in a country which has the legacy of having imparted the best of education from the ages of gurukula to the modern day education there has been a humungous growth and transformation in the field of education. Technology has been changing and there have been a lot of advances and the demands are also increasing. There may be people who say education is not all, it is not really necessary to be a graduate to grow greater heights in a career, this would also mean we are redefining the word education. Gone are the days when the educational qualification one possessed was directly linked to the career he or she possessed. Today being educated is a mark of defining oneself. When we start contemplating on the point if education would continue to exist as it has been? Would there still be the conventional education as before? Would the old classical universities with a legacy of hundreds of years still continue to create a spark? Would the teachers still have the same demand and can command the same respect and love from students? Would it still be a pride to be called a teacher? How would the generation of the future perceive education? The answer to all of these is – YES, education will still continue to rule, it will never disappear, but the only difference is we are at phase of a great transformation, a great change and which is truly very welcoming. One of the most important emphasis of this change is that every step towards imparting education is learner centric and the learner (student) is the prime factor. Everything else -the teacher, the university, curriculum all of it would revolve around the needs and likes of the student. Education in the future would give more independence to a student and make them more responsible in choosing what exactly they want. Education in Future Learner centric is the word. Student is the boss. Education in future is going to be personalized, customised, and on demand. It is about giving students more opportunities. Education is going to be more available and giving students the option to learn at different times, there are more options of personalized learning. Education is going to be more of project based, problem solving and would start involving a lot of field work. This is a realization to the fact that students who move out of an educational institution seldom are abreast with the nuances of the outside world. Education of the future is aimed at giving the right exposure to a student and aims at making them industry ready. The option to study anytime anywhere is going to be a boon. Students are not going to be bounded in the classrooms. Students would have the choice of framing their own curriculum. It is going to be all about “Education is my choice at my pace at my time”. The Role of a Teacher  The role of a teacher in future is going to be more demanding and challenging. With the advances in technological tools it is already a challenging situation for teachers today who have to prove to be exceptionally good to be addressing a class. The common question from the student what is the benefit of attending a classroom session has already put teachers in to a questioning mode. It is very true that a teacher who is not well informed and not technologically advanced will be easily replaced. Gone are the days when a teacher could stand in front of a class show their power by demanding respect students in future are looking for more. The future role of a teacher is much more bigger. A teacher of the future has a larger picture than the classroom teacher. A future teacher plays the role of a guide, facilitator, mentor. The students would not connect with a teacher just because he is delivering knowledge content. Students would connect for better advices, for helping with a direction. Mentoring is going to be the primary role of a teacher in the future. The Guru, the teacher, the Professor is getting transformed in to a Mentor, a facilitator. Classrooms of the Future It is going to be an age of technological advances and digital learning is going to create a strong bench mark. Access to online technology, concept of study whenever and where ever, availability and accessibility of resources, blending of online and classroom teaching. Flipped classrooms have been gaining popularity. Classrooms of the future are going to slowly find its place due to all the advantages. Distance learning has been there for years now, but the online educational tools have taken education to the next level. Massive Online Open Courses are MOOCs are gaining great popularity. Every other software company has started to promote their concept of digital learning. We already have robots replacing teachers in classrooms. Online learning platforms integrated with all Artificial Intelligence are going to be the classrooms of the future. Pedagogical tools The new advances in educational technology, mode of education and delivery demands the advent of new pedagogical tools. The classical methods of teaching would fade away. Teachers would resort to more of video or demo based sessions. Learning by doing and seeing would be most preferred. Simulations would take over. More of project based studies would be introduced to improve the thinking ability of students. It is going to be more of a project driven than a process driven education in future. Examinations in future The examinations will stop being the one step to determine the future of a student. The classical concept of one term end examination which is decisive will fade. Students will be assessed at every step. Every session, every class will assess their performance. The word examinations would be slowly replaced with assessments. So giving due credit for all

BANGALORE AS AN EDUCATIONAL HUB Bengaluru – also known as Garden City, Silicon-Valley of India is also one of the well-established Education hubs in India. Since post-Independence, the city has been a home for multiple intelligence method of education. Right from a kindergarten to internationally affiliated schools and universities, the city has catered the needs of various group of people all around to enhance and enrich their knowledge. True to the name- educational hub, from aerospace engineering to agriculture, biotechnology to business management, law to sociology, from economics to nanotechnology, the range of courses offered has been impressive and has witnessed continuous growth to provide better opportunities for the learning population all over. MOULDING STUDENTS FOR THEIR CAREER An educational institution paves a way for the students to have a successful career. Garden City University tutor and mould the students to strive in their career and not just for the purpose of graduating. It adopts ingenious methodology of tutoring which proves to be flexible and open to the needs of the students. As per the objectives of GCU, it does aim to revolutionize the outlook of education in India. True to its motto- Emphasis of Life, GCU provide guidance to its students on both Intelligence and Emotional Quotient which helps them to be successful in their endeavors. VARIETY OF COURSES The courses provided by GCU and wide spread which enables the students to venture into their desired forte, develop their knowledge and come out with flying colors. Streams like commerce and management, sciences, media, computational sciences & IT, health science, professional, social sciences, Indian and Foreign languages are offered by the university with various specialization according to the needs of the students. Along with UG courses, PG, Ph.D. and Diploma programs are also provided in all the line of studies. QUALITY OF FACULTY Joy of learning being the principal guiding strategy for all courses at GCU, faculties who walk along the path of such learning play an important role. The faculties of the university are well chosen based on their qualification and competence. They are proficient in their line of teaching to imbibe the knowledge amongst the students in an effective way and motivate them to channelize their efforts in the right path. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS Being one of the premier private institutions, GCU has also spread its wings for students from over 81+ countries. Promising results, enhancing student satisfaction and acceptance of diverse cultures all over the world attracts students from different countries to be a part of GCU. As the motto says- emphasis on life, GCU inculcates a sense of belongingness in the minds of students who graduate which is evident based on the connect every alumni has with their Alma Mater. COLLABORATION WITH DIFFERENT UNIVERSITIES AND MULTI-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT GCU goes by the objective that every student deserves a chance to study abroad before they graduate from the university. This was the seed which led to the initiative of collaborations with universities across the world, with diverse practices and different cultural backgrounds. Sense of oneness to give an opportunity for the students to expand their horizon beyond borders led to such innovative collaborations of GCU with universities in countries like France, Spain, Indonesia, London, etc. Few of the renowned institutions with which GCU has tie ups are Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, University Camilo Jose Cela, Spain. Apart from these the University collaborates with research institutions, non-profit organization, professional associations to provide properly conceptualized and designed research, training and exchange programs for the students. GREAT PLACEMENT OPPORTUNITY College placements often prove to be the first step for the graduates to make their dream come true. Placement cell of GCU has successful connections with business houses spread across in and out of Bangalore. For students who would want to venture into entrepreneurship, research projects or further studies, guidance tailor-made as per the requirements of the students are also provided by the university. GCU thrives to deploy well trained students in various organizations. ANTI-RAGGING / ANTI-ABUSE COMMITTEE With Students’ welfare being one of the higher priorities, GCU has anti-ragging and anti-abuse committee which functions in an effective way. Redressals of the students are addressed in a timely manner. Appropriate solutions or actions and put into practice in order to ensure students’ journey in GCU aren’t hindered in any manner. Awareness about the committee has been spread amongst the student and faculties from time to time and it also encourages them to seek guidance as and when it is required. INFRASTRUCTURE The university has proper infrastructure and facilities catering to the needs of different groups of people who form part of GCU. Campus is situated in a locality which provides a serene atmosphere to the students. GCU ensures that labs forming part of it are equipped with latest technology & equipment and also ensures ease of access for students and faculties. ON-CAMPUS ACCOMODATION GCU aims to provide proper accommodation through its chain of hostels for people who come from different parts of the country and dwell in the university campus. Various facilities like personal lockers, free Wi-Fi, study hall, gym, and housekeeping are made accessible to the students residing. Other necessary requirements like medical help, internet stations, salon, multi-purpose playgrounds and convenience stores are situated in and around the campus. CCTVs are installed at vantage points along with adequate security measures.