Best practice
Best practice I
Title of the Practice: Augmenting social skills of students, post COVID-19 pandemic.
Objectives of the Practice:
- To promote healthy “in-person” interactions amongst students post-COVID-19-mediated virtual life
- To reinforce a safe mode of conduct of students’ online social behavior
- To empower students with skills to manage stress in everyday situations
- To strengthen self-esteem and inculcate critical thinking among students
The COVID-19 pandemic started in the year 2020 and extended beyond the expected duration in the form of multiple waves of variable severities. This led to a massive disruption in the traditional functioning of higher education institutions. The sudden change in teaching-learning led to the introduction of virtual classes and online modes of interaction for academic and non-academic activities pertaining to the institute. The consequence of all these changes was the over-dependence of the student community on the virtual mode of lifestyle. With the easing out of the pandemic after almost three years and with the restoration of normalcy in the functioning of education institutes, where in-person and classroom-based teaching and co-curricular activities resumed, NUCSER administration and faculty expressed the need to conduct sessions on improving the communication and interpersonal skills of students, particularly for those that spent the first few years of their college life through virtual mode without any opportunity for interpersonal bonding with peers. Given the fact that electronic gadgets, became a part of life for the students and that they are required to be connected through the internet, it was also felt that there should be awareness of cyber safety and the need for training the students about these aspects.
Recognizing this imminent need, NUCSCER joined hands with “You Matter.” an agency run by a group of professional counselors to conduct training for the students of NUCSER on self-esteem, cyber safety, communication styles, critical thinking, and stress management for students of NUCSER.
The Practice:
A total of 25 sessions, 5 parallel sessions per week for a total duration of five weeks were conducted for the students from 7th Oct to 4th Nov 2022, every Friday between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. A total of two hundred and sixty students benefitted from the program series. The programs were conducted by external resource persons and were coordinated by the NUCSER in-house committee representatives.
The Institutional Anti-Ragging Committee, NUCSER, organized the workshop for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The workshop title was “Self-esteem: including bullying and peer influence.” The resource person for the workshop was Ms. Lugina Miranda, a member of the “You Matter” Counselling and Training Centre, Mangalore. Dr Ramya Harsha was the in-house coordinator.
The Institutional Committee against Substance Abuse (I-CASA), conducted a series of programs for the UG and the PG students on the topic "Cyber safety and substance abuse" for five weeks. The resource person was Mr. Steevan D'Souza a member of the “You Matter” Counselling and Training Centre, Mangalore. Dr Sudarshan Kini, coordinated the sessions on behalf of the NUCSER faculty.
The Placement Cell of Nitte University Centre for Science Education & Research, Nitte (DU), conducted a series of workshops on "Communication Skills and Personality types". Dr Meena Lobo, a member of the “You Matter” Counselling and Training Centre, Mangalore, was the resource person. Dr. Akhila DS, the staff co-ordinator of the placement cell, NUCSER, convened the sessions.
The Institutional Research Cell (IRC) of NUCSER organized a series of lectures on the topic “Critical Thinking and Creativity” by Ms. Roopa Rodrigues, a member of the “You Matter” Counselling and Training Centre, Mangalore. Dr Praveen Rai and Dr Juliet MohanRaj were the in-house coordinators.
The sessions on 'Stress Management and Goal Setting' were conducted by Ms Pricilla D'Silva, a member of the “You Matter” Counselling and Training Centre, Mangalore. conducted the sessions. Dr Mamatha and Dr Divyashree were the in-house coordinators. The skills provided helped handle stress, improve productivity, and care for one’s mental health.
Evidence of success:
The workshops included simple yet engaging activities as a part of skill-enhancing demonstrations. Students are now aware of different types of personalities and their characteristics. It provided the students with an insight into the probable personalities and methods by which students can improve communication skills in dealing with various personality types.
The sessions on stress management engaged skills to enhance time management and productivity. The Eisenhower box was explained to the students to aid one in categorizing tasks according to their priority as urgent, not urgent, important, or not important. It assists in prioritizing tasks and managing time without leading to a build-up of stress on the mind and the body. This helped the students to tackle stressful situations such as exams, submissions, family matters, etc. The skills provided helped handle stress, improve productivity, and care for one’s mental health.
Students were aware of various issues related to cybercrime and substance abuse. They were trained to identify and abstain from kinds of prevalent cybercrimes and traps.
Problems Encountered and Resources Required
Time management was the primary challenge as it required active and uninterrupted participation. The activities were engaged during regular class hours. Faculty taking classes or practicals on Friday afternoons faced difficulty in finding remedial class hours to complete the syllabus. Another challenge was the non-availability of adequate classrooms and space to conduct parallel sessions.
Best Practice II:
Title of the Practice:
Towards translational research: Changing Landscape in priority areas
Objectives of the Practice:
- To encourage faculty to engage in research that can lead to a product or process development with immediate applications, as per the university recommendations
- To promote and facilitate students and faculty in translational research leading to technology transfer.
Nitte University Centre for Science Education and Research (NUCSER) was established in 2013, as a research-intensive institute, primarily focused on biomedical research. At present, the institute has twenty-two eminent scientists with expertise in diverse areas of biological sciences. NUCSER has shown phenomenal growth in terms of research output with conspicuous enhancement in the quality of publications and in obtaining extramural support. However, over the last few years, efforts are being made to focus on areas that have wider translational applications, in tune with the University’s vision, which is increasing the number of patents, incubating start-ups, setting up industry-sponsored centers of excellence and improving the overall innovation landscape through cutting-edge research.
The practice:
The interdisciplinary as well as multidisciplinary research facilities and faculty expertise at NUCSER have provided an ideal environment for translational research. Priority and attention are given to research leading to patents and product development. NUCSER is equipped with an exclusive prior patent searching tool “Derwent” and a Technology Enabling Center, supported by DST. The Division of Infectious Diseases is working on the development of novel aids and methods for the early detection of infectious diseases. The Divisions of Environmental Health & Toxicology, and Bioresource & Biotechnology are developing novel methods for the remediation of toxicants and pollutants from soil and aquatic systems. The Division of Molecular Genetics and Cancer is seeking solutions for the early diagnosis and efficient prognosis of non-infectious diseases through non-invasive approaches and also in creating databases that are protected through copyrights for meaningful collaborations with the scientific community. The Division of Nanobiotechnology is conducting cutting-edge research on the development of novel functional nanoparticles as sensors for biomedical applications, that are readily patentable. The Division of Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics is involved with research in AI-mediated algorithms that can predict disease risk in normal healthy humans. The Division of Food Safety and Nutrition focuses on research related to the development of functional foods and technologies to convert food waste into nutraceuticals.
Evidence of success:
NUCSER has made a strong impact on the research footprint of the University in terms of research grants, copyrights, publications, and patents. NUCSER is the only institution in Nitte DU that has successfully translated research outcomes to the field and has taken it to the doors of entrepreneurs. NUCSER faculty have completed 5 successful technology transfers. The Division of Food Safety and Nutrition transferred the technology of betel leaf tea to Ishanya Beverages in Feb 2021. It was successfully launched and commercialized in the year 2022-23. The same division also transferred technology for the development of almond milk to a company named Antidot, New Delhi in 2022. The faculty of the division of infectious diseases has successfully transferred two technologies on Bacteriophages to Mangalore Biotech Laboratory, Mangalore in 2022. They have successfully transferred a novel isothermal-based method for the detection of Salmonella to Biokart India Pvt., Ltd., Bangalore. To date, NUCSER has published 8 patents and filed 4. Two copyrights have been filed by the Division of Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics as well as the Division of Bioresource and Biotechnology.
Problems Encountered and Resources Required:
Technology transfer is a time-consuming and unpredictable process. Although several industrialists express interest in a few products, they are unwilling to pay the transfer charges to the home institute that developed the technology due to the lean pro-production phase in the entrepreneurial journey. The time taken for publishing patents is often delayed over 6 to 8 months. The copyrights are pending for the last 2 years. The faculty have expressed the need to expedite the process.
