University of Birmingham's Chancellor, Lord Karan Bilimoria, talks about ChatGPT, IIT Madras, Chancellor's Scholarship

Our partners at IIT Madras were welcoming and open to opportunity — something demonstrated by the innovative joint postgraduate programmes we are exploring, says Chancellor
Here's what he said | (Pic: UoB)
Here's what he said | (Pic: UoB)

The University of Birmingham's Chancellor Lord Karan Bilimoria visited India on February 21, 2023. During this visit, he addressed the policymakers, educators, diplomats and more during his stay in Tamil Nadu's capital, Chennai.

Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, CBE, DL was installed as the university’s seventh Chancellor on July 17, 2014. He is also the founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council and was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004 for services to business and entrepreneurship. The announcement to launch joint master's programmes by UoB and IIT Madras was made in late November 2022. Lord Bilimoria visited India for the first time after announcing joint degree courses with IIT Madras for a campus tour and to address the students at IIT-M on Leading in Crisis. 

"Birmingham is one of the UK’s most engaged partners in India and we continue working closely with our partners to give Indian students the chance to study in the UK, whilst enabling Birmingham students to study in India," said Lord Bilimoria.

You have been holding the post for many years now. What can you tell us about your experience of working with the university? How has it grown from strength to strength?
I am truly proud to be the first Indian-born chancellor of a British Russell Group university and have a strong personal connection to the University of Birmingham, as both my maternal grandfather and mother graduated from Birmingham. Since being appointed as Chancellor in 2014, I have witnessed the flourishing of the university’s international research and education partnerships and nowhere more so than with India. We are a civic university with a global outlook and deep connections with India,
where we work with Indian partners to deliver research impact in key areas. We established our India institute in 2018 and currently have over 40 joint research projects and partnerships in India, in critical areas such as women’s cancer; drinking water; air pollution; antimicrobial resistance; clean cooling technology; global surgery; railways; cell biology and autophagy; genomics; sustainable energy and sports performance.

What are your suggestions, to integrate quality at all levels of education globally?
The partnership is the key to unlocking the potential of students in India and the UK. We are working with IIT Madras to establish joint Masters's programmes that will see students studying in Birmingham and Chennai before receiving a single degree awarded by both universities. 

Our partnership with the National Rail Training Institute (NRTI) will lead to Indian students taking a pathway to study at the postgraduate level in Birmingham — helping to train India’s future rail leaders. Our education partnerships with leading private institutions like Amity, Manipal, OP Jindal and Chitkara enable students to study for part of their undergraduate programme with the Indian partner institution before progressing to the University of Birmingham. Our School of Law has also been awarded a British Council grant to develop a joint module on business, human rights and the environment with Jindal Law School.

In the context of the Union Budget of India released recently and the amount of attention AI received, on which we would like you to comment. What would you say is the role of educational entities to boost ChatGPT/Bard/AI? How can they impact the institutional sectors globally?
ChatGPT and similar systems will have a profound impact on higher education. Impactful innovation is always an opportunity for improvement. Concerns currently focus on how to avoid plagiarism and cheating to ensure fair student assessment, but long-term effects will see teaching, learning and assessment methodologies transformed. 

The origins of universities in the West can be traced back to medieval Europe, specifically to the cities of Bologna, Paris and Oxford — institutions created as communities of scholars sharing knowledge and conducting research. Universities should focus on research and business engagement to add value through open innovation.  

COVID-19 forced us to explore remote-working options, new IT solutions and created new business models. Similarly, Chat GPT and its competitors could reshape access to knowledge, communication, behaviours and opportunities. Universities must be adaptable, agile and ready to change.

How was your experience visiting the campus of IIT Madras for the first time? Anything that piqued your curiosity?
I was impressed by the beauty of this magnificent campus — an oasis of learning in the city of Chennai with its excellent facilities set amidst woodland filled with wildlife.

Our partners at IIT Madras were welcoming and open to opportunity — something demonstrated by the innovative joint postgraduate programmes we are exploring. I was also inspired by the amazing wide-ranging innovation and incubation which I saw first-hand at the IIT Madras research park, headed by Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala.

How do you see the changes which have taken place in the higher education sector and Indian education system over the years? What is your take on the increased mobility between India and the United Kingdom?
Birmingham is one of the UK’s most engaged partners in India and we continue working closely with our partners to give Indian students the chance to study in the UK, whilst enabling Birmingham students to study in India. This is very much a two-way flow between our countries with summer schools providing excellent opportunities for study. There are excellent programmes such as our work allowing dental students to volunteer with the charity Satya Samaj UK, providing medical and dental aid to underprivileged people in the Rishikesh and Himalayan regions of India. 

As part of our Turing scheme, we are due to have in total over 100 students studying in India this year, pandemic permitting. We were the first UK Russell Group university to open a campus in Dubai and last year opened our iconic new campus building, which will eventually be home to 2,900 students. Indian students already form an important part of the international student community at the University of Birmingham Dubai and we hope many more will take advantage of our excellent undergraduate and postgraduate study programmes in the UAE. 

As a member of the House of Lords for 16 years, I am proud to have played an instrumental role in helping to secure the new graduate visa, enabling Indian students to spend up to two years working in the UK after their studies. The visa will help attract Indian students to the UK, but what will motivate them is the opportunity to experience academic life in Britain – in the case of the University of Birmingham working with some of the finest minds in the world. 

We are a research-led Russell Group university, so whether opting for undergraduate (UG) or postgraduate (PG) studies, students from India will encounter academics at the top of their field. Our teaching staff integrate their latest research findings into study programmes, meaning students receive a cutting-edge educational experience. There is certainly an economic windfall from increased mobility. We have a large Indian diaspora in the UK and there are significant cultural benefits. Education mobility is important in supporting trade links and strengthening the bonds between our countries. Indian students have now overtaken the Chinese and are the largest number of international students in the UK.

Tell us more about the joint master's programme by UoB and IIT Madras. And how the University of Birmingham looks at India strategically.
The University of Birmingham and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) are launching joint master’s programmes that will see students studying in Birmingham and Chennai before receiving a single degree awarded by both universities. It is proposed to launch the first joint postgraduate programme next year before developing further study programmes in subsequent years. The partnership will explore study areas including data science, energy systems and biomedical engineering. Innovative joint postgraduate programmes will offer students the opportunity to pursue a world-class education at globally leading institutions in two countries and to have their educational achievements recognised by both. 

The joint programmes will be delivered at the campuses of both institutions and mutual recognition of academic credits issued by each university will lead to the award of a single degree certificate from both universities. This is the first such education partnership at master's level between any IIT and a UK Russell Group University. Students would benefit from academic flexibility to learn and work in current areas that would define the future of global engineering and technology. The agreement builds on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in February 2022 where both institutions declared their intention to further develop their partnership.

What are the vision and ideas for research you have for the university?
Through our India Institute launched in 2018, we are committed to our partnership approach in addressing India’s societal challenges. We are working towards raising the profile of women in leadership and research. Our visiting fellows scheme will enable early career researchers to work with our leading academics on areas such as maternal health, global surgery, sustainable cities and sustainable cool energy. We also have new women in research Fellowships.

In the era of recession, it is a known fact that many of the graduates coming out of university are unemployable. What initiatives has UoB taken in this direction?
Every student at Birmingham can access advice and support from our Careers Network, which provides help to students seeking work placements during their time with us. We have developed a new initiative as part of the Institution’s Employability Strategy to provide specific and tailored support to our international students. This includes a focus on our Indian PGT students. Our support includes a new jobs board, Student Circus, which helps international students who are looking to stay in the UK after they graduate. We will help them understand the careers guidance available to them, inform them of recruitment practices and support them in making applications and provide opportunities to engage with employers and alumni. We are also part of a long-standing partnership with Nottingham and Warwick Universities, and we jointly support our international students with activities such as employer panel events and returning to India panels. 

Focus groups conducted with our Indian students show us that they wish to remain in the UK for the two-year post-graduation work opportunity. As we deliver our Employability Strategy, one element is to provide external engagement with the world of work for all students both within and outside the curriculum. We help them to gain UK experience whilst they are with us through our curricular and extra-curricular opportunities which Indian students are always keen to get involved in, such as:
- PGT Knowledge Exchange Pathway which is an option for a number of PGT courses, and it provides students with the chance to work on an employer-led project for their dissertation: PGTKEPP (birmingham.ac.uk)
- MSc Responsible Data Science includes an employer project built into the curriculum
- Masters Team Internship and Masters Consultancy Challenge are extra- curricular employer-led projects which Indian students take part in

What are the core strengths of the university?
We are a global Top 100 research and education powerhouse — working with partners around the globe to deliver research impact in many areas, including the launch of a pan-India clinical trial to improve post-surgical remission chances for colon cancer. We established our India Institute in January 2018 — supporting our vision to forge meaningful education and research partnerships in India, and we are growing our permanent office in Delhi, a long-term investment reflecting the
importance of our work in India and allowing us to continue engaging with local partners. 

Our collaborative research output with Indian partners has almost doubled over the last five years, with over 40 joint research projects of outstanding quality in India. Our joint publications are cited over four times as much as the university’s overall average, and almost 9x the world average.

How do you like to see your Chancellorship in the next few years?
The University of Birmingham offers so many fantastic opportunities for international students and I am hugely proud of the University of Birmingham’s education partnerships in India. I am, therefore, delighted to launch a unique and prestigious fully funded scholarship, including accommodation expenses, for students in India. The Lord Karan Bilimoria (Chancellor’s) Scholarship will include a full tuition fee waiver and accommodation costs up to the duration of the programme for the winner, as well as four runner-up awards of a £5,000 tuition fee waiver. I will also be personally mentoring the successful candidate. The scholarship is only open to Indian students applying for postgraduate study programmes at the university’s campuses in Birmingham and Dubai. 

Candidates must have a valid offer of study from the University of Birmingham. Candidates should have an excellent academic track record and demonstrate that they have overcome challenging circumstances. They should also have an innovative idea that can solve some of the complex challenges facing both the UK and India. Our university’s motto is ‘per ardua ad alta’ which translates as ‘through adversity to high things’. This is a sentiment which inspires us, as we begin our search for scholarship candidates who have beaten the odds to achieve academic excellence and can demonstrate an innovative idea with the potential to solve any of the complex challenges facing both India and the UK. I look forward to meeting the successful candidate and it will be a particular pleasure to mentor them as they set out on their voyage of educational discovery with the University of Birmingham and become successful leaders.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
EdexLive
www.edexlive.com