<div><em>Mumbai University, higher educational institutes, the Government and industry has come together to create a common platform for capacity building and developing skills of B-Schools faculties. <strong>Haider Ali Khan</strong> reports</em></div><div> </div><div>More than forty institutional heads, corporate and HR faculty of B-Schools in and around Mumbai came together at WeSchool to craft a structured immersion experience for Faculty in Industry on Thursday (23 July). It was named as ‘Merger of Minds’.</div><div> </div><div>It is a collaborative effort that will be directed towards faculty sharpening and contemporarising the mind-sets, attitudes, knowledge and skills. They would have to move away from being the lead provider of knowledge and skills to more of a facilitative approach focused on student-centric learning requirements. The immersion experience is initially planned for the faculty from HR includes a variety of pedagogy, executed under the guidance of an industry mentor and would be extended to faculties across specialization and streams at a later stage.</div><div> </div><div>Professor Uday Salunkhe, group director of WeSchool said, “The rate of knowledge obsolescence and the dynamic environment changes makes collaborative models a necessity. Educational institutes have the responsibility remain aligned and contemporary with the stakeholders, which influence what is to be taught and how the same would be reflected in the behaviour and actions of our graduating students. This is the era of Mergers of Minds as unless we come together to co-create the future for all stakeholders, things will be difficult. Today, while there is too much emphasis on academically qualified faculty, what educational institutes also need are the professionally qualified faculty. We must start a process of reverse mentoring by bringing corporate heads to our classrooms and send faculty to experience and learn from the best practices in the corporate arena. We have to adapt SOS approach of transforming self, organisation and society. Let us collaborate to co- create a better future for all our students.” </div><div> </div><div>Speaking at the event, Sanjay Deshmukh, V-C of Mumbai university said, “Merging of minds’ will be possible when government, academia and Industry join hands at all levels to develop a symbiotic relationship that creates room for innovation and sustainable development for all, and especially for those who don’t have many opportunities.”</div><div> </div><div>He also added that contributing to efficient workflow, setting up of interface infrastructure, student engagement and enrichment, strengthening R and D efforts are the key areas for collaboration, where we will have to step beyond boundaries of traditional thinking, adopt principles of design thinking and empathy for people who are marginalized as an integral part of the education we provide to our students. As we progress we must also ensure that we have bio-balance combined with economic stability, the world must become a bio-village. Reaching the unreached should be our focus.</div>
