Western Sydney University (UWS) delegation visited Panjab University (PU) today.

UWS delegation led by Senior Research Manager Professor Julia Shelley and Director Entrepreneurship, International & Engagement and Dean School of Computing, Engineering & Math, Western Sydney University, Australia Professor Graeme Salter visited University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) for identifying the areas for development of partnerships in engineering sciences, and finalise an Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) to be signed between the two universities

PU Dean International Studies Dr Deepti Gupta led the delegation to UIET, where detailed interactions were held, especially with the faculty in Computer Science Engineering. Besides others, the application of computational approaches to medical imaging and social media data analysis were identified as areas of common interest.

Dr Salter, known for his contributions to online learning methods, delivered a one-hour lecture on "Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Higher Education" that was standing room only for faculty and students from UIET, UIAMS and UBS. Dr Salter spoke about the opportunities and shifting paradigms in higher education. He illustrated how technology enhanced learning systems were playing an increasing role by value addition to education and flexible skill development. Big employers in future will value the certified courses that reflect skills, rather than the conventional degree certificates. He posed a question whether entrepreneurship can be taught?  

In order to impart experiential skills required for entrepreneurship development, a number of innovative on-line multimedia teaching tools are being developed. These will give the real time experience of problem solving through virtual teams and group projects. He compared the paradigm shift in teaching methods to the time when cars first replaced horse carts, nearly 100 years ago. These were then perceived as Horseless Carriage Systems. Even the engineers could not have realized at that time how this new technology was to create future paradigms in travel speed and safety. Dr Salter encouraged the faculty to give wider experience of deeper and flexible learning to youngsters through on line tools and business incubators.

After the lecture, Dean Alumni Relations Professor Anil Monga took the Australian delegation around the campus to reflect to them the rich history of PU. As there are many shared alumni between the two universities, it was decided that a chapter for alumni relations will be established at WSU. The delegation will visit in a few months again for detailed discussions among faculty at the two universities to finalize technicalities of the identified projects and initiate faculty and student exchange programmes.