ABOUT AIDEDU

About AIDEdu

AIDEdu is an Erasmus+ Collaborative Partnership Project organized by a consortium of ten higher education institutions: 3 from Europe, 4 from India and 2 from Nepal.

The consortium members share the common goal of improving teaching and learning processes in higher education institutions in order to provide quality education with a focus on equity and inclusion.

Consortium members share a vision of quality and globalized education with a focus on inclusion. Quality, equity, and inclusion in higher education are the drivers of innovation and economic growth. It is the life force that drives equity and equality at the individual and community levels. To ensure diversity and inclusion in the composition of students and faculty, in curricula, and in research, we must create a cultural shift to ensure diversity of knowledge, languages, and perspectives in pedagogy. At the same time, we need to train our teachers to be sensitive to a variety of ideas and experiences.

In India, the status of higher education is very low, and according to a survey by the Government of India’s National Statistics Office (NSO), one in eight students drop out of education early, and more than 62 percent of all dropouts drop out at the school level. 62.9 percent of all school dropouts drop out during higher education.

Drop outs in the context of Nepal are quite similar to India. Research shows that the retention rate of students in Grade 8 was 85.1 % in 2021/22, but it decreased to 66.1% for Grade 10. This further drops in Grade 12. In grade 12, many students leave the class midway and according to the statistics of 2021/22, the number of students attending class in Grade 12 is 33.1% (Rauniyar, 2022) (Source: Republica news).

Additionally, after grade 12, a significant number of students apply foreign universities. Records at the Ministry of Education show 112,528 students headed for 80 various countries acquired No Objection Certificate (NOC) in the fiscal year 2021/22.

Poor quality education leads to poor learning outcomes in India and Nepal, which ultimately pushes children out of the education system and puts them at the mercy of child labor, abuse, and violence. Many classrooms are still characterized by teacher-centered rote learning, corporal punishment, and discrimination.

Today, there is much more emphasis on “quality” in higher education than ever before. In fact, it is the concept of quality that makes higher education “higher.” In the past, the pursuit of higher education was elitist. The emphasis was on “knowledge for knowledge’s sake.” However, with the massification of higher education in the wake of knowledge- and technology-based modern economies worldwide, the focus is shifting to the employability of students in the rapidly changing world of work. Quality education means not only equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills for their chosen career field, but also preparing them for lifelong learning.  Students are expected to learn to think and act critically beyond the university in the interest of society and humanity.

To improve the quality of education, equity, and inclusiveness of higher education, there is an urgent need to change the political and social mindset regarding exclusion, and to develop and strengthen policies and mechanisms to break down cultural and social barriers. At the same time, policies need to be further refined and expanded to ensure that no one is left behind at this level of education. The lessons learned have made it possible to recommend ways and measures for a new era of higher education. These measures should be continued, refined, and monitored to ensure greater diversity of applicants and entrants to higher education. However, such measures alone are not sufficient to ensure learner success.

The current framework lacks both mobility and flexibility and should be replaced with a choice-based framework that enables continuous learning without regard to where students enroll or how long they take to complete a course.

In this collaboration, we can develop a conceptual framework for teaching quality, equity, inclusion, and connectivity for partnership goals, analyze the urgent need to improve funding and its efficiency, provide insight into teaching and faculty challenges, and recommend policies to create a quality higher education system that is more equitable and inclusive. These concerns require our attention to systematizing diverse and inclusive practices in higher education at different levels of functioning.

Concept

In continuation with Erasmus+ objective to support HEI, through lifelong learning, the educational, professional and personal development of people in education, training, youth and sport, in Europe and beyond, thereby contributing to sustainable growth, quality jobs and social cohesion, to driving innovation, and to strengthening European identity and active citizenship, This project supports the creation of Center of Excellence for training of teachers to deliver a platform to the institution in providing accessible, inclusive, digitized, quality management education by improving the attractiveness of the teaching profession and to ensure high-quality initial education, e-learning and continuous professional development for teachers, educators and administrative staff associated with management institutions.

The Center of Excellence in teaching learning will work with the following concept: promote assessable, inclusive education, equality, equity, non-discrimination and the promotion of civic-competences in higher education, developed well planned strategy to enhance the teaching in an improved quality and inclusive environment for CO- PO mapping, assessment mechanisms for HEI staff and students, quality assurance, management, governance, inclusion, innovation, knowledge base, digital and entrepreneurial capacities, as well as the internationalization of HEIs.

The project will help the partner institutions develop a center of excellence for the teachers to impart quality education with e-learning technologies and inclusive education in the management education in India and Nepal.

The 3-year project include 8 work packages in which WP 1 and 2 are preparation WP 3 and 4 are Development, WP 5 is implementation WP 6 Quality plan WP7 Dissemination and exploitation and WP 8 is Management

Impact of the Project

As per the standards of sustainable development India and Nepal are still lacking in terms of education as it has not achieved the goal of “Accessible, inclusive and Digitalized education”. Higher education teachers have their own conceptions about teaching at the start of their career but lack the pedagogical skills to convey the concepts to the students efficiently. India and Nepal have clear evidence that quality is not there and this is reflected in educational institutions where most of the graduates do not end up finding a job. During the last few years, universities have increased manifold and colleges have mushroomed all over our country to impart quality higher education.

In continuation with Erasmus+ objective to support HEI, through lifelong learning, the educational, professional and personal development of people in education, training, youth and sport, in Europe and beyond, thereby contributing to sustainable growth, quality jobs and social cohesion, to driving innovation, and to strengthening European identity and active citizenship, This project supports the creation of Center of Excellence for training of teachers to deliver a platform to the institution in providing accessible, inclusive, digitized, quality management education by improving the attractiveness of the teaching profession and to ensure high-quality initial education, e-learning and continuous professional development for teachers, educators and administrative staff associated with management institutions.

There is also a lack of learning facilities/policies for teachers at the institute level for upgrading their skill and knowledge. Quality teaching and learning process through e-learning platforms is inadequate. The current curriculum is not aligned with the skill sets needed for employability. Need for relevant jobs competence in students which is due to gaps in quality and inclusive teaching learning methods. Identifying and filling educational gaps to contribute to social and economic development of the country is also a need of the hour

The Center of Excellence in teaching learning will work with the following concept: promote assessable, inclusive education, equality, equity, non-discrimination and the promotion of civic-competences in higher education, developed well planned strategy to enhance the teaching in an improved quality and inclusive environment for CO- PO mapping, assessment mechanisms for HEI staff and students, quality assurance, management, governance, inclusion, innovation, knowledge base, digital and entrepreneurial capacities, as well as the internationalization of HEIs.

The project will help the partner institutions develop a center of excellence for the teachers to impart quality education with e-learning technologies and inclusive education in the management education in India and Nepal.

The 3-year project include 8 work packages in which WP 1 and 2 are preparation WP 3 and 4 are Development, WP 5 is implementation WP 6 Quality plan WP7 Dissemination and exploitation and WP 8 is Management.

Higher education in India still falls short of good quality and inclusive blended teaching-learning, it is still plagued with several challenges as there is a need for digital skill, digital competence, and Center of Excellence, and an approach for learning from best practices.  Similarly, there are 11 universities four health academies, and 1432 higher education institutions providing mainstream higher education in Nepal. Access to higher education still is a challenge to a large number of the eligible population. The quality of higher education and its significance to the local population has been a concern.

One of the major problems within higher education in Nepal is internal inefficiency.  one single push factor for Nepali students to go aboard is the unbearably poor quality of higher education in Nepal that fails to instill employable skills in the graduates, commensurate to their degrees awarded.

One important reason for this is the lack of a concerted and holistic approach to teacher learning and the need for a digital platform. E-learning is felt in the new normal post-unprecedented covid 19 impact in countries like India and Nepal has been severe. UNESCO (2020)

In India and Nepal, two direct beneficiary groups i.e. teachers of higher education in both India and Nepal and Higher education partner institutions will use the outcomes and results straight. The indirect beneficiaries will include the extended network of associations and technical, administrative, and managerial staff training for the center of excellence with an inclusivity and global approach. In Europe, the partners will influence their own universities and networks.

The major impact of the project would be

  • Setting up of the center of excellence for Teacher Learning and establishing a workable Digital platform updates the institutions to state of the art educational levels and allows to attach the participating universities to the international educational landscape by using modern ICT tools.
  • Capacity building of Technical, administrative, and managerial staff allows for much needed modernization of teaching.
  • Capacity building of educators on quality teaching and inclusivity has massive impact on all levels of teaching and training and supports the increased exchange of teaching practices with the European educational area.
  • Changes in teacher practices, planning tools, and assessment rubrics increase opportunities for classes and students and allows for adaptation of new didactical approaches (e.g. micro-credentials) and more comparability and visibility of educational achievements.
  • Students acquire new skills and competencies – more collaboration, team building, and project management – closer to the job market’s need and allowing for a higher quality student exchange with EU countries.
  • Equal opportunities of education will be provided to all people through diversification of learning opportunities.