Amity Institute of Behavioural and Allied Sciences organised an Online Alumni Meet on Microsoft Teams on March 25th 2021 from 2:30PM to 6:30PM. Dr. Uma Sivaraman, Deputy Commissioner (Retd.), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan, New Delhi, Consultant, CoE, CBSE, Chennai was the chief guest.
The Alumni Meet commenced auspiciously with the lamp lighting followed by welcome address by the Alumni Coordinator, Dr. T Beena. In her address she commended the success of the alumni in different fields of their lives and said that the fame of an institution is not only on its administration and the faculty, but also on the achievements and development of its students. Head of the institution, Dr. Harish Kumar, in his opening remarks highlighted the achievements of the institution over the years and congratulated the alumni on their accomplishments. The Chief Guest Dr Uma Sivaraman, Deputy Commissioner (Retd.), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan, New Delhi, in her address stressed the importance of Knowledge of 21st Century Skills, developing of right Attitudes and Values. Dr Sivaraman highlighted the need to have sound academic knowledge from the base to the latest, excellent communication skills ,values like Punctuality, Integrity and social commitment which would help an individual to transform from ordinary to an extra ordinary person. She reminded the teaching fraternity to develop the ability to design need based learning experiences, use appropriate learning tools and be aware of and apply the student centered pedagogy. Dr Sivaraman exhorted the alumni to have passion and commitment towards their profession and add value to whatever they do.
Dr Anupam Narula, Director, Amity Alumni Relations briefed the audience about university level alumni activities and said that the alumni are the brand ambassadors, extended family and the wings who will help the university soar higher There were two Panel Discussions and panelists were drawn from the different batches of the Alumni. The first panel discussion was on ‘Future Teaching Skills and Job Roles for Industry 4.0 and Beyond.’ The panelists came to a consensus in stating that the future of education is into a paradigm shift and the latest technology needs to be very well adopted in the education field and that the cyber world and the physical world are not separate entities any more. They have merged together into one homogeneous landscape. Smart technology, artificial intelligence and robotics are getting integrated into the daily life of the people. Hence graduates should be ready for the evolving world and educational institutions need to embrace the new age technology without which the next generation would be unprepared for the future. The panelists also stressed the need to redesign content and delivery so that the learners would meet the prerequisites of the future.
The second Panel Discussion was on ‘Learning Beyond Classrooms- A Virtual Experience’. All the panelists sounded similar when they said that that the COVID situation brought about a pedagogical transition from face to face to virtual mode which was never the norm. The 21century witnessed a complete shift to the virtual teaching during the pandemic leading to the birth of modern educators. The panelist also discussed the challenges they faced during the transition. Prof (Dr.)Kalpana Sharma, Dean, Faculty of Education congratulated Head of Institution, Dr Harish Kumar. and the faculty for organising the Alumni Meet and urged the alumni to be connected with the Alma Mater. She shared three mantras - that the feeling of connectedness come because of the feeling of belongingness to the organization, all have an edge when it comes to making the world feel the difference that one belongs to Amity University and believe in oneself and that as an alumni help one another.
The alumni meet also witnessed the golden memories captured by the shutterbugs, the countless memories of classes, competitions, co-curricular activities and the like organized at the institute through the video presentations of different batches of alumni. This was followed by an hour of interaction with all the alumni. The alumni evinced great interest in associating with Amity University in as many ways as possible like mentoring the juniors, helping with internships, conducting workshops, collaborate in academic pursuits are to name a few. The Online Alumni Meet was a great success and the alumni were all happy to be connected.