1st National Conference on Universal Human Values in
Higher Education - Developing Holistic Perspective
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow
6th to 8th July 2018
Value Education Cell of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow organized the 1st National Conference on Universal Human Values in Higher Education - Developing Holistic Perspective. The conference was organized under TEQIP - Phase III during 6th to 8th July 2018 at IET Campus, Lucknow.
The conference was attended by about 300 participants which included Directors, Deans and senior faculty members from colleges affiliated to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow. It was also attended by a few representatives of Universities which are making effort for Universal Human Values. Prof (Dr). S.K. Srivastava attended the conference on behalf of Dronacharya Group of Institution, Greater Noida.
DAY-1 (6-7-2018)
The conference was inaugurated by Prof. Vinay Pathak Vice Chancellor AKTU Lucknow. In his inaugural address Dr. Pathak said that the university included universal human values in its core academic curriculum in 2009. Since then there has been effort to develop the foundation for value based education. In 2016 it started developing Nodal Centres to augment the previously centralized efforts with encouraging results. He informed the audience that the purpose of the conference was :
- To discuss the need of human, value-based education as well as the ways and means of introducing curricular changes in this direction.
- To share the guidelines, content and process (methodology) for imparting universal human values in higher education.
- To share existing practices and experiences in imparting universal human values in higher education.
- To discuss and plan how further efforts can be made for implementing universal human values in higher education.
Dr. Pathak was of the view that there are challenges - going by a top-bottom approach is more effective. Teachers have to be prepared in every teaching department along with the people on top - they have to be living role models. Wherever this has happened, the results are qualitatively different and these results are quite encouraging.
Prof. Vineet Kansal, Dean (UG) said that the national conference on universal human values in higher education was the University's first conference aimed at developing a shared vision for holistic, human value based education, particularly in institutions of higher education. He opined that the young minds should be helped in discovering the humanity in themselves. He also pointed out that every commission on education has emphasized the central role of education in making a man. That hope has not been fulfilled. Educational institutions are not meant to be mirrors of society. The methodologies that were tried were seen to be not universal. They were seen to be connected with sectarian thoughts and sectarian interest. So unfortunately the good things could not be brought to education in a systematic way.
Prof. Ganesh P Bagaria started the first session with the discussion on SAMAJH, SUMBANDH, and SUVIDHA. He also discussed about the need of self and body with respect to time and quantity.
The day ended with a Panel Discussion on Developing Education Institutions as Models of Human Society.
DAY-2 (7-7-2018)
Mr. Gopal Babu conducted the session on Human relationship. He discussed harmony in society and the human goal. He was of the view that today the world is actually in the state of crisis. Inspite of tremendous advancement in science, technology, medicine, management, etc., man's greatest fear continues to be the indefinite. Inhuman conduct of human being is increasing day by day with traditional family-based societies breaking down giving way to individual based life placing tremendous load on the environment. Mr. Babu said that the youth do not have a direction in life. Underlying all these crises is the lack of a holistic view that would focus on causes instead of symptoms, and the inadequacy of the governance to address these problems.
His session was followed by presentations from the Nodal Centers.
The next session was conducted by Prof. Pawan Gupta, SIDH, Mussoorie on Value Shape of Society. He said that since our culture has a dominant belief, it forces the majority or the mainstream to accept what is or is not moral or ethical. We often find that our perceptions are dictated by the mainstream; therefore, our thoughts are influenced by what others do.
Since the nuclear family is the original role model in society, they are foreseen as having the most influential roles; they are responsible for raising young men and women to understand and model what is believed to be moral and ethical.
Prof. Gupta also added that social learning plays a significant role in adapting, and since it is the biggest influence in our society, it dictates and evaluates what is important to our personal values. If our personal values allow us to be adaptive, it presents the capability for us to desire change.
The day ended with the Poster Presentation on "Value Education".
DAY-3 (8-7-2018)
Dr. Shyam Kumar conducted a session on Human Society and Education. He said that humans generally do not live alone, isolated from each other. Instead, individuals tend to live in communities with other people related by ethnicity, nationality, religion, or some other cultural element.
In continuation to the first session, a panel discussion on Value Based Education was held.The outcome of the discussion was that Value Based Education (VBE) imparts social, moral, integrity, character, spirituality and many more. It builds the qualities of humility, strength and honesty in a person. People with high ethical values will never cheat others.
The session was followed by the presentations from the Nodal Centers.
The last session of the conference was a Panel Discussion on Human Values and Professional Ethics.
The conference ended with the Valedictory Function and Certificate Distribution.
Delivering the Vote of Thanks, Prof. (Dr) H.K. Paliwal expressed his gratitude to all the participants and said that we stand at a juncture today where there is a potential methodology by which universal thoughts can be imparted in mainstream education through universal human values. The methodology which focuses on the universal aspect is what has been discovered.