J. D. Birla Institute

(Affiliated to Jadavpur University, Kolkata)

Departments of Science, Commerce & Management

(Celebrating 50^th Glorious years)

&

National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore has organized a National Seminar on “Quality Assurance, Enhancement and Sustainability in Higher Education”

 The Seminar Inaugurated  by

Dr. Bikash Sinha , he is an eminent Indian Physicist, active in the fields of nuclear physics and high energy physics. Prof. Sinha was the director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Cyclotron Centre. Born in 1945, Dr. Sinha did his schooling from the Scottish Church Collegiate School, and later studied at Scottish Church College. He completed his Ph.D. from London University in 1970. He was awarded a D.Sc. from London University in 1981. He has published more than 250 papers and delivered talks in international scientific conferences. His pioneering work on Quark Gluon Plasma is well recognized, internationally. Dr. Sinha was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2001 for his contributions to science and technology. Recently, Dr. Sinha was appointed as Distinguished Visiting Scholar by the Christ’s College, Cambridge  and also elected as Fellow of the Institute of Physics, London. Prof. Bikash Sinha has been conferred Padma Bhushan Award by the President of India in 2010 for his significant contribution in science and technology

SESSION 1: Policies for Driving Excellence in Higher Education

Dr. B. S. Madhukar is presently working as ‘Deputy Adviser’ at National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore. He is an engineer by qualification; He did his MBA in Finance and his Ph.D on Quality Assurance in Higher Education particularly in Management Education. He has worked in the field of marketing, educational administration, educational consultancy and assessment and accreditation for nearly 15years. He has presented papers in international conferences held at Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, Australia, USA, UK Japan, Belgium and Thailand. His paper titled “Assessment as a pivot for creating, learning organizations” was selected as one of the outstanding papers at an International Conference on Education: Learning Organization in a Learning World organized by King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi (KMUTT) – Bangkok. He is also the recipient of the “Endeavour Executive Award” from the Government of Australia. 

Dr. Pavitra Sarkar did   M.A. in Bangla, and consequently became a teacher of Bangla, first at his alma mater Bangabasi College, and then at Jadavpur University. In 1990, Dr. Sarkar became the Vice Chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University, and later became the Vice-Chairman, West Bengal State Council for Higher Education. He has written about 64 and edited about 45 books. Dr. Sarkar has been  associated with the Association of Indian Universities, University Grants Commission, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, National Assessment and Accreditation Council, etc in various capacities. He has been awarded with the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.

Prof. Sukanta Choudhuri is an internationally renowned scholar of English literature of the Renaissance period. He was educated at Presidency College, Kolkata and the University of Oxford. He taught at Presidency College from January 1973 to December 1991 and at Jadavpur University from December 1991 till his retirement in June 2010. He also holds the post of Professor Emeritus at Jadavpur University. Prof Chaudhuri has translated extensively the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sukumar Ray, and other classic Bengali writers, and many modern Bengali poets. . He writes and campaigns on urban issues, especially concerning his native city, Kolkata.

Prof. Basab Choudhury is the Registrar at University of Calcutta. Earlier to this he has been Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering at the same University. His field of specialization is Separation Processes and Environmental Engineering. Prof Choudhury has undertaken several research projects from national funding agencies. In addition to a patent to his credit, he has over a 100 publications in numerous international research journals and periodicals and has contributed to several books on a wide range of subjects.

SESSION 2: Innovations in Higher Education

Prof. Parimal Merchant has had twenty-four years experience in industry, consultancy and capital markets, his areas of interest being financial management & capital market. A professor at S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research over 12 years, he has been coordinating the institute’s unique 18 months Post-graduate Management Program for family managed businesses. Prof Merchant has co-authored several papers on Succession Planning in Family Managed Business. He has authored a case on CSR initiative in India published in an ASPEAN supported book project by AIM Manila.

Prof. N. R. Banerjee has been the Former Vice Chancellor of Bengal Engineering and Science University

Prof. Anjan Raichaudhuri is a Visiting Professor at IIM Calcutta, Adjunct Professor - IIT Patna and Director - Business Horizons Pvt. Ltd. An engineer from IIT with Post-graduation in management from IIM, Prof Raichaudhuri worked for a decade with the TATA Group, following which he set up his own Management Consulting organization, Business Horizons. He is the author of a book on Entrepreneurship titled “Managing New Ventures – Concepts and Cases on Entrepreneurship” and published by PHI Learning in 2009 and has also published a large number of articles on entrepreneurship and marketing in leading journals. He has been a recipient of “Dewang Mehta Business School Awards” for Best Teacher in 2010.

Dr. Sunil Shukla, Chief Faculty at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), Ahmedabad has about twenty years’ experience in entrepreneurship education and research. His research ‘Review of Entrepreneurship Curricula in Higher Learning Institutions’ helped University Grants Commission, Government of India in developing entrepreneurship curriculum.  Dr. Shukla has been involved in promoting entrepreneurship at national and international levels. He is the Member Secretary of South Asia Forum for Entrepreneurship Education and Research. His international activities include ILO-SAAT Missions to Nepal, for capacity building of IEDI, Kathmandu and faculty support to UNIDO at Amman. Dr. Shukla specializes in inculcating entrepreneurial values among students. He has also been working with medium to large size firms for strategic planning and capacity building entrepreneurs.