Ajeenkya DY Patil University gets set to welcome students back on campus with new COVID protocols
Pune: The Ajeenkya DY Patil University (ADYPU) in Pune has pledged to do what it can to welcome students back on the campus. “Having children back in the classroom and on campus is the need of the hour. A reopening strategy and contingency plan are well underway to ensure all safety precautions are met,” confirmed Dr Ajeenkya DY Patil, President of the Ajeenkya DY Patil University and Chairman of Ajeenkya DY Patil Group.
According to Dr Patil, the university plans to vaccinate all staff – permanent, support and contractual, by 10 August, 2021. He also confirmed that students, who haven’t been vaccinated, will be extended the vaccination on campus at no cost to them.
“The lockdown has impacted higher education and career growth opportunities. Not all students have adapted to the lockdown positively and parents are naturally anxious about what the future holds,” said Professor Hrridaysh Deshpande, Vice Chancellor of ADYPU. “A lot of research and planning has gone into putting together a robust reopening strategy to welcome students back on campus,” he added.
The University confirmed that they have developed protocols to handle scenarios in the likelihood of a probable infection such as testing, isolation and tracing. Extensive and continued sensitisation amongst the community for maintaining safety norms will be carried out on a regular basis using variety of medium of communications. The university also intends to make work from home for 2 days in week a norm for all staff. They plan to use analytical tools to assess student learning and to deploy adaptive assessment for measuring student learning. “Bestowed with a large green campus, we are planning to hold a large number of activities outdoors so that the risks are minimal. Adding a hybrid mode of learning will ensure that the students experience practical activities on campus and some part of their learning is carried out through online medium from the safety of their own premises,” said Dr. Patil.
When asked if online learning has severely delayed learning and career growth for students, Dr. Patil explained that online instruction brought about a much-needed shake-up to the learning environment but that it cannot fulfil the gap created by lack of formal instruction. “We at Ajeenkya DY Patil University wish to continue to deploy the gains of online instruction and intersperse with on campus experience. We have been doing so before pandemic by making students choose online MOOC’s by curating MOOC’s each semester. That small step will be intensified. We call ourselves an Innovation University purely in response to the modern-day challenges. For us innovation is a three sixty-degree pursuit hinging on 3 I’s. Innovation in delivery of education, innovation in nature of programs we deliver and innovation as an outcome of our academic rigor. This is what separates us from several others,” he concluded.