Dr. Krishnashree is an ardent researcher with multi-disciplinary interests, and holds a PhD degree from Clarkson University, NY, USA. Her areas of interest in Cybersecurity & governance, Mathematical Modeling of Systems, Cybersecurity policy, IoT Security, Public Safety, Innovation, Educational Technologies & Entrepreneurship. She also leads research teams focused on enhancement of laboratory education through virtual laboratories. She holds 33 US patents, and has published over 130 publications in Journals & Conferences. She has played an active role in several strategic initiatives for Govt. of India and served as the Principal Investigator.
She speaks with The Daily Guardian:
Q: How to focus on an Entrepreneurial mindset?
Critical thinking and problem-solving are important skills to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Exposure to emerging technologies and access to facilities i.e., digital and physical laboratories to experiment will provide the right ecosystem to nurture innovative ideas. We must move from conventional strategies to Blue Ocean strategies with continuous value innovation. This will help in evolving individuals to an Entrepreneurship mindset. One needs to focus on how an idea/product/business will make a huge impact on its end users with a good differentiation from the existing solutions and at a lower cost. Most of all the mentorship, encouragement to try, and opportunities to explore will make the definitive difference to those wanting to build entrepreneurial mindsets.
Q: Guided orientation for students interested in becoming entrepreneurs, how can they start learning methods that have more practical rights from graduation?
Working in startup environments and entrepreneurs will expose students to practical realities in the journey of entrepreneurship. Practical and usable concepts of marketing, finance, design thinking, partnerships, investments, etc. under stringent resources along with role play in case study environments are excellent training grounds for students. Universities must be encouraged to have centers for entrepreneurship by the governing bodies, to train the students with such a mindset, and have this culture inculcated in them, while they are pursuing their education. They must also have collaborations with well-known entrepreneurs and help students with internships in startups, during their semester breaks.
Q: Skill India efforts need to be integrated with education. Why and how?
Earning a degree and educating oneself should result in the practical use of it to benefit society. Thus skilling and assessing the skills from educational interventions are very important. There are several ways to assess skills and giving students opportunities to critically think of current problems and come up with their perspectives is an effective way. The Skill India campaign needs to integrate its efforts through education to achieve the targets of the campaign launched by the Prime minister to have a multi-skilled younger generation in the future who will create a positive impact on the economy of India. Skill development courses must be integrated into the curriculum of UG and PG courses. This will help students to acquire the required skills to be a part of an empowered workforce in the future, which is a target of the Skill India campaign.
Q: The govt initiatives to improve higher education, how can it be set up in any institution making any course more relevant?
Government initiatives such as the offering of free courses, online laboratories, access to experimental infrastructure, and diverse set of scholarships are groundbreaking interventions to improve higher educational outcomes. Connecting courses to address local challenges perhaps can be a way to set the context and the need to learn fundamentals. The courses hosted on online platforms by the best faculty from premier institutions in the country could be included in the curriculum of UG/PG or Ph.D. programmes for students to make maximum use of these initiatives by the Government of India.
Q: How can we prepare students for the future keeping in mind the global standards and advancements?
Continuously evaluating course curriculum to global standards set by international societies such as IEEE, ACM, etc is important. Allowing students to compete at national and international events can also help them prepare effectively for emerging areas of development. Universities must have corporate tie-ups and international collaborations for students to gain knowledge on developments happening globally in various areas. Short certificate programs, as an outcome of corporate tie-ups, and exchange programs with international universities as a result of collaboration, will help our students to be on par with the global standards and advancements.
Q: Initiatives an institute can take to promote more entrepreneurial ideas that align with Sustainable Development?
To align towards sustainable development, entrepreneurial ideas should address problems with a multi-pronged approach. The metrics for successful entrepreneurial ventures that align with SDGs may be significantly different from traditional entrepreneurial stints. These include considering the lowest of the pyramid to adopt your solutions, with no detrimental impact on the environment at the core of the business.
Q: What is the importance of experiential learning and what are the ways to implement it in higher education?
Experiential learning organically assists with a deeper understanding of the application of concepts effectively. Experiential learning also allows a broader spectrum of students with diverse learning abilities to grasp and retain knowledge. Universities must go beyond classrooms and labs in higher education, to impart experiential learning to students by exposing them to real-world scenarios. This will help them to think beyond concepts taught in classrooms and enable them to come up with pragmatic approaches and solutions to problems.