C. Raj Kumar
Vice-Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University

A polymath alumnus of Madras, Delhi, Oxford and Harvard universities, Dr. C. Raj Kumar is founding vice-chancellor of the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana (JGU, estb.2009) which has an enrolment of 6,650 students mentored by 832 faculty.

How satisfied are you with JGU’s switch to the online mode of learning over the past year?
In 2020, universities worldwide were confronted with one of the most challenging crises of our times. However, in JGU we have remained steadfast in our commitment to provide world-class education to students. We immediately constituted our PIVOT (planned intervention in virtual learning and online teaching) programme task force which worked tirelessly to create a process-driven approach to ensure that JGU made the necessary digital transformation to continue its commitment to maintain excellence in higher education. The outcome was innovation in terms of online classrooms, technology services and digital infrastructure, which also resulted in reimagination of governance, digitalisation of student support systems and library services.

All these extraordinary efforts by the JGU community culminated in our being awarded the prestigious QS I-GAUGE ‘E-Learning Excellence for Academic Digitisation (E-LEAD)’ certification last year, and renewed in 2021.

Are you ready for in-person classes at JGU? What safety precautions have you instituted?
JGU has taken all steps necessary to ensure physical, emotional and psychological well-being of our students, faculty and administrative staff.
To ensure the safety of our staff we provided free vaccination to all our employees and their family members in the 45-plus age group and upgraded the infrastructure of our already well-equipped round-the-clock health centre to monitor safety protocols on campus.
JGU is a wholly residential university. Therefore, to reopen our campus safely we have instituted several protocols.
• Every room in our students’ housing facility will accommodate only one student. Hence, only a maximum of 2,883 students will be accommodated on campus at any given point in time.
• All students returning for on-campus classes will have to submit RT-PCR test reports confirming Covid-19 ‘negative’ diagnosis.
• All students returning to the campus should have completed two doses of Covid-19 vaccination and must have consent from parents/guardians for returning to campus.
• Students returning to campus must abide by all the Covid-19 protocols related to health and safety of students, faculty and staff of the university. Moreover, they will not be allowed to venture beyond campus premises through the entire duration of their study programmes.

What is your advice to government to make up for academically lost ground in the pandemic era?
Vaccination roll-out strategies targeting selected groups should be rapidly expanded along with public health efforts to restore normalcy. Mass vaccination of students, faculty and staff in higher education institutions are not without precedent. Cornell University, USA has mandated vaccination for all campus residents and visitors.

This will restore learning continuity and safeguard even against asymptomatic transmission. We believe that on-campus residential education is best because it provides experiential learning and co/extra-curricular activities that are impossible to replicate virtually.

Also Read: EW Interview: Prof. Dr. C. Raj Kumar, VC, O.P. Jindal Global University