Sri Sri University Faculty invited in Global Yoga Accreditation Summit on Behalf of NAAC
Bhubaneswar: It is a matter of pride for sri Sri university and the State of Odisha that, Dr. Richa Chopra, from Sri Sri University served as a Core Working Group Committee Member to draft the Yoga Accreditation Manual undertaken by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC, an autonomous body under the University Grants Commission, Ministry of HRD, GOI).
In order to create the pertinent space for authentic Yoga into the mainstream education and make it as a career choice, NAAC has taken the historic initiative on coming out with the First Draft of the Yoga Accreditation Manual, finalized on the 6th March 2019 at S-VYASA, Bengaluru for all Yoga programs. This also implies that Yoga programs offered are well contained within a homogeneous international standard quality framework.
Following this, Dr. Chopra on behalf of NAAC as one of the key spokesperson participated in the Global Yoga Accreditation Summit: Beginning of a Conversation towards a Global Ecosystem in Yoga Higher Education through Accreditation (GYAS) organized by NAAC in close collaboration with the Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) and The Permenant Mission of India to the United Nationas at the UN Hall, UN Headquarters, New York, USA on the 26th April 2019.
“Exploring Shared understanding and common protocol for Yoga Higher Education accreditation worldwide & Creating Global Ecosystem for promotion of Yoga Higher Education through Harmonization and Accreditation” was jointly facilitated by Dr. Christopher Key Chapple, Director Yoga Studies, Loyola Marymount University, USA and Dr. Richa Chopra and chaired by Dr. Chinmay Pandya.
GYAS was represented by over 40 key stakeholders comprising international and national inter and intra governmental policy makers, key leaders of accreditation bodies and networks, quality assurance agencies, representatives of prominent yoga higher education providers, yoga experts, fraternity from the medical and psychology fields etc.
The inaugural cermony was marked with the presence of dignitaries on the dais – Sri K. Nagaraj Naidu, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative at India’s Permanent Mission to UN; Padmashri H R Nagendra, Chancellor of S-VYASA; Dr. Geetha Krishnan Gopalakrishna Pillai, World Health Organization, Geneva; Prof. Jianxing Zhang, President, APQN, China and Dr. Jagannath Patil, Adviser, NAAC & Convener – GYAS.
Other Key panellists included Swami Atmapriyananda, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational Research Institute, India; Dr. Chinmay Pandya, Dev Sanskriti University, India; Dr. Dinesh Patel, Harvard University, USA; Antonietta Rozzi, Italy Yoga Accreditation, Italy; Dr. Lisa C Kaley-Isley, IAYT, UK; Melissa Schwartz, Meridian University, USA; Dilip Sarkar, IAYT, USA; Dr. Paran Gowda, University of Patanjali, India; Sat Bir Khalsa, Kundalini Research Institute and Kripalu Centre for Yoga and Health, USA; Diane M Finlayson, Maryland University of Integrative Health, USA; Dr. C. Rajan Narayanan, Life in Yoga Institute & Foundation, USA and Dr. Micheal de Manincor, Western Sydney University, Australia.
This vision statement will strive to nurture and groom both artistic and scientific temperaments towards the vast reservoir of Yogic knowledge firming itself on Traditional philosophical foundations, Authenticity of curriculum, Research, innovation and extension of yogic ecosystem, Yoga as a key tool for promotion of health and prevention of diseases and Application of the domain.