An eminent panel of academicians, today called for the imminent need of creating autonomous learning environments for students, re-calibrating the role of educators as lead learners. Speaking to a strong 42-city schools representation during the second leg of the fourth ISBF & LSE Annual Teachers’ Symposium, held at Indus Valley School, Kolkata, on Tuesday (April 16, 2019), the panel consisting of Dr. James Abdey, Associate Director, International Programmes, UoL and progenitor of the Data Science course at LSE; Mrs. Bratati Bhattacharya, CEO, Shikshayatan Foundation & Shri Shikshayatan School; Dr. G. L. Tayal, Academic Dean, ISBF and Ms. Amita Prasad, Director of Education, Indus Valley School, deliberated on the subject, “Creating, Curating & Calibrating Institutions of the Future”.
The ISBF & LSE Annual Teachers’ Symposiums 2019, a collaborative effort between London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and their Featured Teaching Institution (FTI), the New Delhi based Indian School of Business & Finance (ISBF), was organised around the over-arching theme of “Empowering Post-Millenials by Future Proofing Learning & Counselling”.
The panel, which was a highlight of the Symposium, enthralled the audience constituting 
city’s most distinguished educators. While Dr. Abdey stressed on the significance of various knowledge structures and their effect on classroom pedagogy, Mrs. Bhattacharya emphasized on utilising technology for collecting, categorizing, curating, and calibrating while providing sufficient liberty to promote creativity. During the discussion, Dr. Tayal spoke on curating the local Indian schools to align them with world-class institutions, indicating the model deployed by ISBF, UoL and LSE, while Ms. Amita Prasad centred on lateral thinking and focused attention towards deeper learning and problem solving to make education future-proof.
The morning session saw a welcome address delivered by Dr. G.L. Tayal, Dean of Academics, ISBF. Dr. James Abdey delivered the keynote address and asserted on future-proofing learning and counselling for the new millennials. In his keynote address, Dr.Abdey said, “Higher education challenges, while not necessarily resolved overnight, can be well-worked upon if we can create an autonomous learning environment and stimulate in students the independence of thought, in both quantitative and qualitative problems”.
Ms. Amita Prasad, Director of Education, Indus Valley School, remarked, “The time has come in education when we need to carefully examine our beliefs and practices. We need to make our students future ready for careers and citizenship.”
Talking about the interface between the Indian Institute of Business & Finance and the London School of Economics and its significance for Indian students, Dr. G. L. Tayal, Dean, Academics, stated, “LSE, being one of the leading Social Science research institutions of the world, provides one of the most updated application based academic curricula in the world, which benefits from LSE and its academics’ deep integration with industry. This proves a boon for Indian students, as they get access to this rigorous and application-oriented academic direction of LSE.”
The breakaway sessions saw the city teachers exchanging ideas on ‘Empowering Students by curating participatory teaching-learning-assessment environments’ and ‘Future proofing careers in Economics, Management, Finance and Data Science’.
Some prominent institutions that were represented at the Symposium included the likes of Adamas International School, Asian International School, The Assam Valley School, Birla High School, Ashok Hall Girl’s Higher Secondary School, Loreto College, Lakshmipat Singhania, The Heritage School, Shri Shikshayatan, Mahadevi Birla High School, Techno India Group Public School.
The day ended with Mr. Chiraag Mehta, Associate Director, ISBF, outlining ISBF’s pedagogical innovations towards inculcating and fostering a spirit of enquiry among students, along the lines of the LSE motto “to understand the causes of things”.
About ISBF
ISBF is one of the select few Featured Teaching Institutions of LSE in the world, and also enjoys University of London’s Affiliate Centre status, the highest recognition accorded to teaching institutions by the university. This ensures that ISBF students receive a rigorous, application-oriented and global education, which is relevant to local needs. Many of them transfer to foreign universities in second year of undergraduate study, go on to prestigious institutions for higher study, or secure placements in India or overseas with leading multinational corporations.
ISBF was founded in 2006 with the vision of delivering world‐class education in India. Its Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes – in the areas of Economics, Finance, Business, Accounting and Management – all receive academic direction from LSE, and students receive a University of London degree upon graduating. They are taught by an expert and highly qualified group of faculty members at ISBF, and also see deep engagement from LSE academicians, who train ISBF’s teachers as well as lecture students, apart from setting and grading the final examinations of ISBF students.
