Amity University Greater Noida, Director General: Dr. Ajay Rana Interview

Presently Dr. Ajay Rana is working as Director General with Amity University Greater Noida Campus. Before that, he was with Amity University, Noida for more than 21 years as Dean, Director, Professor and Senior Vice President (RBEF – A Trust of Amity), Amity Education Group, as Institutional Building, Teaching, Consultancy, Research, Corporate and Administrative Skills. Dr Rana has a total work experience of more than 22 years in senior positions in administration and has also worked at Shobhit University Meerut in the capacity of Vice Chancellor for some time.

Dr. Rana is well-read about the NEP and an expert in curricula development as per the NEP guidance and is a Member of NEP 2020 CBSE, MoE, and Director of RVCF and Rajasthan Trustee Company Pvt Ltd. Additionally, he has experience in successfully conducting inspections of UGC, NAAC, NIRF, QAA, QS, WASC, WSCUC and IET and of statutory bodies like AICTE, NCT and BCI. He is an expert with complete knowledge of managing Ph.D. affairs in the University as per the UGC guidelines.

Currently, he has 72 plus patents under his name in the field of IoT, Networks, and Sensors and has published more than 279 Research Papers in reputed journals like ACM, Springer, Elsevier, Taylor and Francis and others, and International and national conferences. His resume boasts of co-authoring 9 books and co-editing 36 conference proceedings. As a means of recognizing his efforts, Dr Ajay Rana has been honoured with 243 awards for his extraordinary work in the field of Education and Research. 

What is your philosophy of leadership? Describe your leadership style.

In a few words, my educational leadership philosophy is starting and stopping with creating a wholesome culture for my students, staff, and community members. To implement my philosophy, we focus on how to maintain a positive culture, which serves as a bookend. Furthermore, to develop leadership capacity, educational administrators must be able to establish relationships with all parties involved, identify and capitalize on the assets of their staff and pupils, be real and lead by example. I approach this by being collaborative and adopting a mentor role, but this is also transformational. 

How does the college's curriculum ensure the highest practice in the industry?

The curriculum of any academic institute plays a very important role in the career of its students. A robust curriculum ensures that all international certification standards and benchmarks are being met. It should focus on teach pupils by exposing them to practical applications and hands-on learning. Our college curriculum helps on improving out students' abilities to be problem solvers and have the right industry required skills.

Any insight into how your institute could be more welcoming to students of different races and backgrounds?

Although in today’s time, most institutions are doing their best to be more welcoming for students, I still feel that we should know our students and maintain consistent communication with them to achieve this. Institutes should acknowledge and respect every student. The institute should also practice cultural sensitivity and incorporate diversity into lesson plans while also giving students freedom and flexibility.

How do you contribute to the institute and your students through your role and responsibilities?

As the Director General of the Noida campus, I always try to create an educational environment that ensures students get access to an excellent education. However, for such an environment to exist, they are expected to comply with certain behavioural expectations such as displaying values of politeness, kindness, compassion, and respect. 

I make it a point to try to meet academic expectations like our students have to meet academic expectations by fostering a collaborative learning environment where teamwork and unity can co-exist. I always motivate my team of professors, staff and students to be more respectful and punctual. By doing so, students can contribute to a quality learning environment and reduce disruptions with disciplinary actions. Academic discipline and the sanctity of academics is my top priority. 

What is the top priority of the institute after ten years?

Our mission, at Amity University, is to provide education across at all levels and disciplines of futuristic and contemporary emerging frontier areas of knowledge, learning and research. We attempt to develop the overall personality of students by making them not only excellent professionals but also well-rounded individuals who are understanding and have regard for human values, pride in their heritage and culture, a sense of right and wrong, yearn for perfection and imbibe characteristics of the courage, conviction and action.

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What would you like people to know about your institute?

An education group trusted by over 2,00,000 students, Amity University has a legacy of excellence in management education, rich intellectual capital, and a globally benchmarked infrastructure. Amity is the only Indian education group to have established campuses nationally and internationally in London, Singapore, the USA, and Dubai. Students get the unique opportunity to pursue one semester on any of these global campuses. Amity University is also affiliated with all of India’s major certification and accreditation societies including QS, THE, and NAAC, making its courses highly reliable and job oriented. The brand value of Amity makes it one of the top-ranked universities in India.

What is the college's greatest strength?

Amity is the leading education group in India with a diverse and large student population studying across 1000 acres of hi-tech campuses. At Amity University, we are passionate about grooming leaders who are not only suitable professionals but also good human beings with values and principles. At Amity University we have rich Intellectual capital and modern campuses with comfortable residential facilities. Its world-class infrastructure and research facilities are, undoubtedly, one of the prime strengths of our institute.

What is the biggest challenge in higher education and college?

One of the most challenging developments in education over the last few years is its rapid accelerated digital shift. Universities and colleges around the world need to invest significantly in their digital infrastructure to match the requirements of a modern education experience. Building ‘The Campus of the Future' requires repurposing and adapting existing infrastructure while focusing on the digital tools and technologies needed to improve the student‘s journey. These new developments bring additional challenges around cybersecurity also need to be prioritised.

Student welfare is experiencing an ‘educational emergency’ across the globe. Research indicates that up to 70% of students are suffering from poor mental health while at university. This figure has risen since the beginning of the pandemic. Student well-being should be a priority as it is fundamental to student success for the coming academic years. This is especially important given the new digital education experience where students are spending less time on campus.

Any suggestions for young people?

I would suggest that younger people and future leaders should engage in social interactions with everyone around them while also maintaining close relationships with family and friends. One should stay focused on the present and not be consumed by worry about the past or future. Do not let negative things of the past affect present-day happiness. Overall, one must believe that they can overcome all life’s challenges.

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How to establish healthy relations in the institute?

Strong interpersonal skills are essential to happy relations in the institute and are a primary requirement for satisfaction. Without healthy relations, no team or individual can perform any job effectively. We should understand that no one can be everything we might want to be and people will disappoint us. It’s not all for nothing, though. Healthy relationships mean accepting people as they are and not trying to change them! We should talk with each other as communication is the key to healthy relationships while also being flexible and dependable.