Title of the Practice:

Initiatives towards environmental consciousness and sustainability at CHARUSAT

Objectives of the Practice:

• Creating awareness and familiarizing the youth about the environmental issues of the locality through unique learning experience and skill development
• Develop as a model organization involved in executing best practices towards environmental consciousness and sustainability through research-driven approach.

The Context:

CHARUSAT is motivated to design and explore the intersections of environment and learning, by supporting development of interventions that advance the wellbeing of both students and the environment. The initiative is to involve faculty members and students with diverse expertise and skills from across different constituent institutes, who can contribute to develop unique knowhow about the environmental problems prevailing in the wider surroundings. Their collective efforts are in turn expected to provide innovative models of research, analysis and partnerships; robust enough to not only sustain at CHARUSAT campus but also to inspire similar efforts on other campuses in future and gradually influence the lives of the social community.

The Practice:

Campus Initiatives:

• Green Campus and Natural Environment: Conscious efforts to develop and maintain lush green campus through exclusive gardening contracts and regular tree plantation drives
• Biodiversity Management: Biodiversity assessments of campus to improve the quality of campus environment and to enable students to understand environmental issues in a practical way. ‘Silence zones’ identified to ensure noise-free environment.
• Clean Campus: Wide-spread installations of wastebins; regular restoration of natural water reservoir; exclusive house-keeping contracts for routine cleanliness on campus
• Solid Waste Management: Segregation of Dry and Wet Waste, Incineration of Paper and Organic Waste, Composting, standard disposal mechanisms for e-waste and biomedical waste Biodiversity assessments of campus to improve the quality of campus environment and to enable students to understand environmental issues in a practical way. ‘Silence zones’ identified to ensure noise-free environment.
• Water Management: Rainwater harvesting through surface water detention and ground water recharge; regular drinking water quality assessment Wide-spread installations of wastebins; regular restoration of natural water reservoir; exclusive house-keeping contracts for routine cleanliness on campus
• Wastewater Management: Part of campus sewage/ wastewater is treated using constructed wetland system and canna plantation. The sewage pond is managed by installing Sprinklers for DO regeneration and enhance natural purification.
• Green Initiatives: Use of solar power; digital paperless examination, Energy-efficient fittings -sensor-based lights, switching to LED lights; Energy and Green Audits of the
• MoU with Centre of Environmental Education to enable technology and knowledge sharing
• Restricted use of fuel-driven vehicles on-campus, provision of bicycles for routine transit, construction of walkways, no-honking and no-smoking policies, discouraging.

Institutional Initiatives:

Curriculum/ Learning: The M. S. Patel Department of Civil Engineering of CSPIT offers different courses in the field of Environment such as:

• Environmental Sciences (All Programs University-wide 1st/2nd /3rd Semester)
• Environmental Sustainably & Climate Change (All Program 3rd Semester)
• Basics of Environmental Impact Assessment (All Program 4th Semester)
• Air Pollution and Control (Civil-5th Semester)
• Environmental Engineering-I (Water Supply Engineering, Civil 6th Semester)
• Environmental Engineering-II (Wastewater Engineering, Civil 7th Semester)
• Environmental Pollution & Control (Focusing on Industrial Pollution Civil -7thSemester)

Establishment of SDG Handprint Lab:

Unique SDG Handprint Lab designed for Higher Education Institutions is an initiative to familiarize students about 17 SDGs, their targets and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and getting them to act at the local level.

The overall approach and strategy of the lab is based on the goals, targets and indicators of the SDGs; which involves seven steps:

• Orientation to SDGs, Handprint and the Programme
• Selection of SDG Targets
• Investigation (Baseline study)
• Developing Project Strategy and Plan of Action
• Handprint Action in the community
• Impact Evaluation & Project Report
• Evaluation, Certification and Exhibition

Community Initiatives:

• Encouraging students to work with local communities of the CREDP, CHARUSATadopted villages in areas like solid waste management, reduced plastics use, and conversion of plastic waste as well as paper waste to more valuable products
• “Environmental Service-Learning” facilitating studies regarding environmental health problems in the local communities and steps needed to mitigate them.

Other Initiatives:

• Solar power panels have been installed on terraces of selected building so as to meet partial energy demands of the campus through renewable energy sources.
• Calculation of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint of the college by students; and steps to make the campus carbon neutral and reduce GHG emissions.

Evidence of Success:

• Over 70% of the campus area is covered with greenery. This not only has helped maintain cooler climate but also in preservation and harmonious co-existence of avian and faunal biodiversity in the region
• Increased use of bicycles and pedestal walkways for transit across campus.
• Over 200 students have been sensitized and mobilized through SDG handprint lab, to employ their skills to strategize and work with community towards finding sustainable solutions
• NABL Accreditation of Environmental Engineering Laboratory: This lab at M. S. Patel Department of Civil Engineering, CSPIT has been accredited in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories-NABL India in the field of Chemical testing (Water/ Wastewater/ Ambient Air/ Stack Emission/ Hazardous Wastes/ Noise) with total accredited 60 tests/ parameters. The accreditation is granted for two years and is valid till 25.11.2020
• Environmental Audit Cell: CHARUSAT has been recognized as a Schedule –I Environmental Auditor by Gujarat Pollution Control Board from Sept. 2017. Since 2017, CHARUSAT has handled the Environment Audit of more than 120 big and medium industries across the Gujarat
• Close to 35 % power demand of the campus is met through solar energy using maximum capacity as per government policy
• About 43 % rainwater is harvested at CHARUSAT campus
• As per Green Audit, 3.25 Tons CO2 emission/student/year, which is much lesser than average Indian and Global CO2 Emission by University Student
• Pilot projects have been undertaken to replace plastic with natural material by developing bamboo bottles, jute bags and folders etc
• Waste water and compositing plants are functionalized

Problems Encountered and Resources Required:

• Mass sensitization of youth about the significance of SDGs and public support is difficult
• More financial support is required to implement environment-friendly practices on a larger scale
• More structured interface for effective community involvement is necessary
• Innovative planned initiatives to be designed to engage faculty and student

Title of the Practice:

Human Resource Development and People-First Approach

Objectives of the Practice:

• Empower the human resource as major core-capacity dimension by inculcating,enhancing and developing diverse competencies
• Create a work environment conducive for all the stakeholders enabling mutual growth and development
• Achieve and sustain organizational goals through people-first approach

The Context:

CHARUSAT has identified three core performance areas to deliver as a responsible organization viz. (i) Research, Development and Innovation (ii) Teaching-LearningEvaluation and (iii) Extension and Community Services. Human resource is realized as a major chassis driving the university’s all-round growth and development. Rich human resource directly and indirectly associated with CHARUSAT includes employees including teaching and non-teaching staff, students, parents, donors and philanthropists, service providers and local community. The purpose of the human resource development towards achieving the organizational goals is manifold including achieving academic excellence, administrative efficiency and contributing its share as a responsible organization in societal uplift.

The Practice:

CHARUSAT steers the human resource enrichment through integration of liberalized HR policies, training for professional and personal improvisations and bottom-up leadership involving constituent institutes and its human resource components to actively contribute in decision making and institutional management. The goal is to foster a progressive, flexible, amicable yet dynamic work culture allowing a decent work-life balance. Directed efforts are extended through Prin. B I Patel Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC), Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Charotar Rural Education Development Programme (CREDP) as well as through autonomous functions of its component institutes.

A continuous practice (individual or group centric), adopted across various strata involves following stages:

Faculty development initiatives:

Empowering the inherent and acquired potential of the faculty pool is quintessential. Constant emphasis and efforts to enhance the competency of faculty is ensured through:

• 100 % academic autonomy and feedback-driven improvisations, enabling continuous enrichment of faculty capacities, outlook and the overall process
• Fostering professional development at two levels (i) polishing vocational, soft and communication skills through induction/orientation programs and faculty development programs (FDPs) themed on counselling, professional etiquettes, spiritual discourses, education management, academic leadership; Competitive examination to improve language proficiency (English, French) etc. (ii) guidance and assistance for upgrading technical/scientific caliber through self-identified industry exposure and domain knowledge trainings, autonomy in choosing research areas and collaborations as well as full financial support for research-related activities through dedicated budget allocations
• Incentivizing faculty members for their research outputs
• Active involvement of faculty members in management and administration

Student development initiatives:

Students are dynamic and the most important human resource for any educational organization. CHARUSAT ensures holistic development of its students through:

• Student-centric academic practices- curricula at par with national and international standards, blended learning-based pedagogy, outcome-based education, career development initiatives
• Fully funded industrial visits/clinical training/participation & paper presentations in seminars
• Orientation programs to facilitate smooth transition into higher education systems
• Ensuring socio-psychological and spiritual wellness through robust mentor-mentee system and spiritual discourses
• Facilitating multi-dimensional development through extracurricular activities and specialized courses on ‘Liberal Arts’ and ‘Creativity, Problem solving and Innovation’
• Building teamwork and leadership skills through active involvement in management of routine academic processes, students clubs and community services
• Appreciating their academic achievements through prizes, scholarships and gold medals
• Discussing the students’ progression through regular parents’ meetings

Development initiatives for non-teaching staff:

• Lab technicians are trained for building and maintaining digital records, instrument operations, efficient lab management and are involved in decision making
• Conducting motivational sessions on work-life balance, communication skills, etiquettes, importance of code of conduct
• Sensitizing attendants and supporting staff through healthcare awareness programs

Community development initiatives:

As an Institutional-Social Responsibility, the long-term agenda is to build the capacity of the rural community and improve the socio-economic quality of life

• Educating and training the rural community through CREDP, CHARUSAT
• Encouraging and supporting girl child education through special scholarships and parents’ counseling
• Equal opportunities and financial assistance for higher studies through philanthropy to support the progression of students from economically constrained background
• Sensitization camps, door-to-door surveys and community activities to promote personal and public hygiene, pre and postnatal maternal care, awareness on mental health, statelevel antiaddiction drives, national level campaign like Swachha Bharat and Swasth Bharat, etc
• Employment and support to small-scale businesses for the local rural community
• Training to auto-rickshaw drivers, security personnel, food vendors etc.

Special initiatives during Covid pandemic:

• Introducing work-from-home modules and flexi-timings for employees
• Full and timely salaries for employees; fees payment relaxations for students as a conscious effort to alleviate financial burdens
• Well-prepared, efficient and smooth shift to online academics through integration of IT in pedagogical innovations; well-proctored exams using Exam-from-Home module of customized softwares
• Door-to-door delivery of books to students; remote access to online learning resources
• Covid-care center set-up at CHARUSAT hospital in collaboration with Government of Gujarat
• Educating local community towards following lockdown protocols and preventive measures through NSS-CHARUSAT initiatives
• Vaccinating the frontline employees

Evidence of Success:

Faculty enrichment and staff mobilization

• More than 100 faculty members have been appreciated under Research Paper Awards Scheme
• Visibly enhanced multidisciplinary projects and inter-institutional collaborations
• HRDC-CHARUSAT has organized over 100 induction/developmental programs for enrichment of faculty, non-teaching and support staff, during last five years.
• Efforts to enhance domain knowledge and industry exposure has reflected in improvisation in academics, research and teacher-student relationships, as evident through feedback from the stakeholders. These efforts are appraised annually.
• The university has financially supported >400 faculty members for participation in national/international level workshops/symposia/conferences, through allocation of Rs. 20,000/- per faculty per year. Research projects worth ~1.3 Crores have been supported through seed grants.
• Organization of tech-fests, conferences/ symposia/webinars/STTPs/guest lectures/industrial visits as well as non-technical events like Convocations, University Foundation Day, Sports and Cultural festival etc. reflects the experience invested by well-groomed faculty in terms of quality of resource persons, content and smooth management.
• Around 115 non-teaching employees have been trained through 13 programs. Trained lab-technicians contribute to effective institutional management through additional roles like admission counseling, organization of various technical/non-technical events and other administrative duties
• Around 25 attendants trained through 5 programs are seen adopting a healthier lifestyle and attitude.

Student progression

• Almost all the first-year students benefited significantly from orientation programs
• Over 330 activities over last five years have benefited career development of ~5000 students annually.
• Academic progression, career prospects and overall wellbeing of every student has been facilitated through mentor-mentee interactions
• Merit-based scholar ships to >1520 students while 151 gold medals have been awarded through convocations in last five years
• Over 7030 and ~4730 students participated in courses on Liberal Arts and Creativity, Problem Solving and Innovations, respectively

Institutional-Social Responsibility

• Six villages-Mehlaav, Malataj, Kaloli, Ghuteli, Dethali Gada, have been adopted through CREDP
• Collaboration with Government of Gujarat for conducting clinics and health surveys
• Initiatives under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan to educate rural women over revoking the social stigma about gynecological issues and environment–friendly menstrual sanitation
• Small-scale businesses including tiffin services, hostel accommodation, pick-n-drop transport facilities, Xerox centers, food and beverage joints, general provision stores etc have been supported on-campus and in nearby areas.
• Over 85% of staff in house-keeping, security, gardening, canteen contracts and maintenance sectors of operations, are employed from the local rural community
• MoUs signed with ~72 schools to train staff/students/parents

Outputs in pandemic situations

• Successful adherence to academic calendar
• Number of research initiatives (paper publications/writing project proposals/webinars) significantly increased during the work-from-home schedules
• Online summer trainings were also organized for students
• Several students were supported financially for sustained education

Problems Encountered and Resources Required:

Human resource development, although a massive determinant of organizational growth, is sensitive owing to diversity with respect to gender, socioeconomic backgrounds, educational qualifications and individual life goals. Following constraints and challenges are faced while implementing the developmental initiatives

Employee specific:
1. Addressing diverse needs of the faculty members, within limited training modules
2. Time constraints in scheduling trainings within the academic calendar, balancing with lesser quality time for innovations in academics and research
3. Availability of qualified resource persons with desired frequency and specializations
4. Tangible mapping of the outcomes and efficacy of training modules
5. Difficulties in motivating employees to engage in training and self-development and align with organizational vision and mission

Student specific:
1. Managing diversity of learning abilities and socio-economic background
2. Assimilating vernacular medium students into English medium education regime
3. Mobilizing students from the mindset of ‘individualistic-learning’ to ‘peer-learning’
4. Tight academic schedules leaves less time for recreational activities
5. More financial resource flow required to support the meritorious but economically constrained students

Community specific:
1. Difficult convincing rural community over the long-term benefits of participating in university initiatives
2. Limited ventures for university-community partnerships restricts opportunities to explore the rural potential
3. A more focused collaboration under development initiatives by Government of India may help the university to propel rural development

Title of the Practice:

Unique courses to embed multidisciplinary in academic programs

Objectives of the Practice:

• To develop a student-centric curriculum and credit framework to consolidate the choice-based credit system with a multidisciplinary approach.
• To nurture well-rounded graduates possessing intellectual, social, physical, emotional, and moral capacities.
• To impart a more holistic education integrating high quality teaching with research and community engagement, enabling them to address real-world challenges with a multidimensional approach

The Context:

CHARUSAT pursues educational excellence through quality academic, research and social contributions. It strives to achieve the same through continuously evolving teaching-learning practices by developing innovative curricula that blend courses covering locally/globally relevant scientific/technical fundamentals and advances with the credit-based courses/projects/co- and extra-curricular activities. These opportunities extend to areas such as the environment, humanities, community services, and value-based education, allowing students to shape their professional and holistic potential. This approach aligns with NEP-2020 as a whole and the subsequent ‘Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programs’ recommended by UGC in 2022. Both endorse the importance of multidisciplinary education and emphasize the role of a dynamic curricula in offering ample opportunities to the students to choose course combinations that enhance their employability prospects while pursuing their academic and personal goals.

The Practice:

Realizing the potential of a well-rounded youth towards national development, the university has taken increasing initiatives since 2014, to enrich the curricula for undergraduate programs across all disciplines with unique courses aiming to shape the creative and social capabilities of students, while cultivating scientific/technical skills. Moreover, suitable partnerships and collaborations have been established for more effective transactions of these courses.

Since 2014, the university has been making concerted efforts to enhance the undergraduate curricula across all fields of study. The aim is to nurture well-rounded students who possess not only scientific and technical skills but also creativity and social competence. In pursuit of this goal, the university has introduced a range of unique courses designed to shape students' cognitive and interpersonal abilities. Furthermore, the university has formed strategic partnerships and collaborations to facilitate the effective delivery of these courses. The ultimate objective is to contribute to national development by producing graduates who can make significant contributions in their respective fields while also being socially responsible citizens

Course-1 : Liberal Arts

In a remarkable move during 2014, CHARUSAT undertook an initiative to infuse liberal arts into the curricular components, with an aim to invest more in fostering the holistic development of students

Ideology: The course was introduced with an idea to inculcate and enhance the art of expression in young minds. Education in STEM, supported with diverse courses in liberal arts, could enable students to obtain a wider perspective towards society and empower them with the skills essential for life-long learning.

Course description and transaction: Under the umbrella of Liberal Arts, around 10 different courses including Painting, Photography, Dancing, Sculpting, Media and Graphics, Dramatics etc are offered as options to 1st Year undergraduate students of all the academic programs. The course is transacted through workshops and training sessions conducted by renowned experts invited from reputed institutes while it is evaluated through continuous and end-semester evaluation systems. The creations at the end of the course are then publicly exhibited on-campus.

Course-2: Creativity, Problem Solving and Innovation

With an objective of training the learners to deal with the contemporary problems and encountering them with innovative and creative solutions, this course was introduced in the undergraduate curricula in 2017 and is offered under ‘Dr. Anil and Asha Patel Endowment Chair’. The course patron, Dr Anil Patel is an internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary R & D expert from USA.

Ideology: The course intended to integrate four inherent abilities in individuals namely Memory, Understanding, Thinking and Imagining, with the whole idea to transform the memory and understanding-driven learning to imagination-driven learning and its application.

Course description and transaction: The meticulous course design involved two major aspects

1. Training for the faculty members: Groups of faculty members from CHARUSAT were trained through Faculty Development Programs. Their feedback was considered to improvise the course content and transaction guidelines. Subsequently to promote the practice, faculty members from other colleges/universities have been trained over a period of 3 years
2. Offering the course to the students: The course was introduced as a mandatory 2-Credit course (15 weeks, 2h/week) in the curriculum of early semesters of all undergraduate programs under the course structure of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is strategically divided into components like lectures, videos, individual and group activities followed by feedback. The course evaluation is purely continuous, emphasizing independent involvement of the students in the entire process. At the end of the course, the students are made to choose a problem, design and propose the solution as a team work and present their efforts in the form of a model or posters. A tinkering lab has been established to fabricate ideated solutions and to support entrepreneurial ideas if any.

Course 3: SDG Handprint Lab

Community engagement and environmental consciousness are the core performance areas aligned with the University Vision and Mission. In the pursuit of the same, the university has established an SDG Handprint lab, one of its kind initiatives in India, in collaboration with Centre for Environment Education (CEE).

Ideology: With respect to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a set of 17 goals has been identified by the United Nations. The idea is to sensitize the students towards creating awareness and strengthening actions towards fulfillment of these SDGs. This could in turn help students realize and identify the areas where the knowledge gained could be applied to derive solutions to community issues.

Course description and transaction: It is developed as a 2-Credit course (2h/wk) offered as a University (Generic) elective to the students of 3rd semester of UG programs across all disciplines. The content involves orientation of the students towards the UN-SDGs, analysis of the statistical and geospatial information about the environment in the local rural vicinity, design project strategy and action plans involving the communities. The course essentially follows the handprint pedagogy to signify positive actions and commitment. The course evaluation is carried out through continuous and end-semester evaluation components.

Course 4: Foundations in Basic Sciences

Two courses entitled ' FS101-Foundation course on Mathematics and Physics' and 'FS102 Foundation course on Chemistry and Biology' are introduced as mandatory courses in the curriculum from AY 2021-22. The course is being developed through philanthropic inputs from Dr. Kalpendu Shastri, CEO at AAYUNA, Inc, USA.

Ideology: Given that basic sciences pioneer most of the scientific and technological developments, these courses are aimed at inculcating scientific inquisitiveness, critical thinking, analytical skills and problem-solving approach. The idea is to develop a scientific perspective to address various social and environmental issues.

Course description: The course is offered to 1st year UG students across all academic disciplines, as a mandatory 2-Credit course (2h/wk). The course is transacted across 50-54 batches of 25-30 students each to ensure efficacy. The course content includes experimental demonstrations, virtual illustrations, computer simulations as well as critical thinking and problem-solving activities like group discussions and projects. Subsequently, other learning experiences like field trips, workshops etc may be included. The evaluation scheme for a total of 100 marks includes 50 Marks continuous evaluation + 50 Marks End semester evaluation, which can be via one of the two modes (i) Preparation of working model and an attractive poster (ii) Multiple components like Quiz, Presentation + report on new topic and Group activity, as per students’ choice.

Evidence of Success:

Liberal Arts:

• Over 14,700 students have benefited from the workshops and sessions conducted by about 47 experts from reputed institutes over the past seven years.
• At the end of the course, students have been sensitized with the abilities to recognize their creative talents and pursue them with joy, enthusiasm and satisfaction.

Creativity, Problem Solving and Innovation:

• "Anil and Asha Patel Endowment Fund for a Course on Creativity" has been created at CHARUSAT with the help of a philanthropic donation of over Rs. 2.86 crores so far.
• About 100 faculty members from CHARUSAT have been mentored by Dr Anil Patel.
• Over 10,840 CHARUSAT since past six years have been trained through this course,with an encouraging feedback.
• Under the proposed CHARUSAT National Training Centre on Creativity joining Dr Anil Patel’s ‘Gyaan Daan’ initiative, over 370 faculty members from other educational institutes like Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Marwadi University, CVM University, VV Nagar; P P Savani University, Surat; Uka Tarsadia University, Bardoli; RK University, Rajkot; Navrachana University, Vadodara; Ganpat University, Mehsana, Ganpat university, and Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar have been trained.

SDG Handprint Lab:

• A dedicated lab space has been developed on-campus to implement various handprint activities as a part of the MoU with CEE.
• Diverse activities like awareness programs on environment conservation, tree plantation drives etc. have been conducted in the nearby villages.
• A total of over 300 students have been involved and motivated to create awareness and handprints in the rural vicinity, towards creating a sustainable environment.

Foundation courses in Basic Sciences:

• A total of over 5000 students have been sensitized so far through this course.
• A collaboration has been established with Saras 3D to upgrade the learning experience for this course, through development of diverse virtual modules.

Problems Encountered and Resources Required:

• Persuading the students to accept these courses as value addition to the conventional curriculum implemented
• Limited mechanisms to translate these initiatives into mainstream of academics and organizational operations
• Limited time amidst the academic schedules restricts the impactful implementation of the above courses

Title of the Practice:

Unique courses to embed multidisciplinary perspectives in academic programs

Objectives of the Practice:

• To develop a student-centric curriculum and credit framework to consolidate the choice-based credit system with a multidisciplinary approach.
• To nurture well-rounded graduates possessing intellectual, social, physical, emotional, and moral capacities.
• To impart a more holistic education integrating high quality teaching with research and community engagement, enabling them to address real-world challenges with a multidimensional approach.

The Context:

CHARUSAT pursues educational excellence through quality academic, research and social contributions. It strives to achieve the same through continuously evolving teaching-learning practices by developing innovative curricula that blend courses covering locally/globally relevant scientific/technical fundamentals and advances with the credit-based courses/projects/co- and extra-curricular activities. These opportunities extend to areas such as the environment, humanities, community services, and value-based education, allowing students to shape their professional and holistic potential. This approach aligns with NEP-2020 as a whole and the subsequent ‘Curriculum and Credit Framework for Undergraduate Programs’ recommended by UGC in 2022. Both endorse the importance of multidisciplinary education and emphasize the role of a dynamic curricula in offering ample opportunities to the students to choose course combinations that enhance their employability prospects while pursuing their academic and personal goals.

The Practice:

Realizing the potential of a well-rounded youth towards national development, the university has taken increasing initiatives since 2014, to enrich the curricula for undergraduate programs across all disciplines with unique courses aiming to shape the creative and social capabilities of students, while cultivating scientific/technical skills. Moreover, suitable partnerships and collaborations have been established for more effective transactions of these courses.

Since 2014, the university has been making concerted efforts to enhance the undergraduate curricula across all fields of study. The aim is to nurture well-rounded students who possess not only scientific and technical skills but also creativity and social competence. In pursuit of this goal, the university has introduced a range of unique courses designed to shape students' cognitive and interpersonal abilities. Furthermore, the university has formed strategic partnerships and collaborations to facilitate the effective delivery of these courses. The ultimate objective is to contribute to national development by producing graduates who can make significant contributions in their respective fields while also being socially responsible citizens.

Course-1 : Liberal Arts

In a remarkable move during 2014, CHARUSAT undertook an initiative to infuse liberal arts into the curricular components, with an aim to invest more in fostering the holistic development of students.

Ideology: The course was introduced with an idea to inculcate and enhance the art of expression in young minds. Education in STEM, supported with diverse courses in liberal arts, could enable students to obtain a wider perspective towards society and empower them with the skills essential for life-long learning.

Course description and transaction: Under the umbrella of Liberal Arts, around 10 different courses including Painting, Photography, Dancing, Sculpting, Media and Graphics, Dramatics etc are offered as options to 1st Year undergraduate students of all the academic programs. The course is transacted through workshops and training sessions conducted by renowned experts invited from reputed institutes while it is evaluated through continuous and end-semester evaluation systems. The creations at the end of the course are then publicly exhibited on-campus.

Course-2: Creativity, Problem Solving and Innovation

With an objective of training the learners to deal with the contemporary problems and encountering them with innovative and creative solutions, this course was introduced in the undergraduate curricula in 2017 and is offered under ‘Dr. Anil and Asha Patel Endowment Chair’. The course patron, Dr Anil Patel is an internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary R & D expert from USA.

Ideology: The course intended to integrate four inherent abilities in individuals namely Memory, Understanding, Thinking and Imagining, with the whole idea to transform the memory and understanding-driven learning to imagination-driven learning and its application.

Course description and transaction: The meticulous course design involved two major aspects

1. Training for the faculty members: Groups of faculty members from CHARUSAT were trained through Faculty Development Programs. Their feedback was considered to improvise the course content and transaction guidelines. Subsequently to promote the practice, faculty members from other colleges/universities have been trained over a period of 3 years
2. Offering the course to the students: The course was introduced as a mandatory 2-Credit course (15 weeks, 2h/week) in the curriculum of early semesters of all undergraduate programs under the course structure of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is strategically divided into components like lectures, videos, individual and group activities followed by feedback. The course evaluation is purely continuous, emphasizing independent involvement of the students in the entire process. At the end of the course, the students are made to choose a problem, design and propose the solution as a team work and present their efforts in the form of a model or posters. A tinkering lab has been established to fabricate ideated solutions and to support entrepreneurial ideas if any.

Course 3: SDG Handprint Lab

Community engagement and environmental consciousness are the core performance areas aligned with the University Vision and Mission. In the pursuit of the same, the university has established an SDG Handprint lab, one of its kind initiatives in India, in collaboration with Centre for Environment Education (CEE).

Ideology: With respect to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a set of 17 goals has been identified by the United Nations. The idea is to sensitize the students towards creating awareness and strengthening actions towards fulfillment of these SDGs. This could in turn help students realize and identify the areas where the knowledge gained could be applied to derive solutions to community issues.

Course description and transaction: It is developed as a 2-Credit course (2h/wk) offered as a University (Generic) elective to the students of 3rd semester of UG programs across all disciplines. The content involves orientation of the students towards the UN-SDGs, analysis of the statistical and geospatial information about the environment in the local rural vicinity, design project strategy and action plans involving the communities. The course essentially follows the handprint pedagogy to signify positive actions and commitment. The course evaluation is carried out through continuous and end-semester evaluation components.

Course 4: Interactive courses

Two courses entitled 'Foundation course on Mathematics and Physics' and 'Foundation course on Chemistry and Biology' were introduced initially as mandatory courses in the curriculum from AY 2021-22. The course was being developed through philanthropic inputs from Dr. Kalpendu Shastri, CEO at AAYUNA, Inc, USA. Subsequently, the focus of the course has been shifted to development of the interactive/3D educational content for undergraduate engineering students, through industry partnership.

Ideology: Given that basic sciences pioneer most of the scientific and technological developments, these courses are aimed at inculcating scientific inquisitiveness, critical thinking, analytical skills, and problem-solving approach. The idea is to develop a scientific perspective to address various social and environmental issues. The objective of introducing the interactive pedagogy is to revolutionize the way students learn and engage with educational content; breaking the curriculum rigidity, encourage diversity in student population and support fast-paced learning.

Course description: The course was previously offered to 1st year UG students across all academic disciplines, as a mandatory 2-Credit course (2h/wk). It is now offered to students of technology and engineering as an audit interactive course. A partnership with SARAS3D has been developed, under which a team of around 11 faculty members has been mentored to curate list of relevant topics for creating interactive 3D animations and interactive simulations that will be integrated into educational content, such as textbooks, online courses, and training materials.

Evidence of Success:

Liberal Arts:

• Over 14,700 students have benefited from the workshops and sessions conducted by about 47 experts from reputed institutes over the past seven years.
• At the end of the course, students have been sensitized with the abilities to recognize their creative talents and pursue them with joy, enthusiasm and satisfaction.

Creativity, Problem Solving and Innovation:

• "Anil and Asha Patel Endowment Fund for a Course on Creativity" has been created at CHARUSAT with the help of a philanthropic donation of over Rs. 2.86 crores so far.
• About 100 faculty members from CHARUSAT have been mentored by Dr Anil Patel.
• Over 10,840 students of CHARUSAT, since past six years have been trained through this course,with an encouraging feedback.
• Under the proposed CHARUSAT National Training Centre on Creativity joining Dr Anil Patel’s ‘Gyaan Daan’ initiative, over 370 faculty members from other educational institutes like Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Marwadi University, CVM University, VV Nagar; P P Savani University, Surat; Uka Tarsadia University, Bardoli; RK University, Rajkot; Navrachana University, Vadodara; Ganpat University, Mehsana, and Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar have been trained.

SDG Handprint Lab:

• A dedicated lab space has been developed on-campus to implement various handprint activities as a part of the MoU with CEE.
• Diverse activities like awareness programs on environment conservation, tree plantation drives etc. have been conducted in the nearby villages.
• A total of over 315 students have been involved and motivated to create awareness and handprints in the rural vicinity, towards creating a sustainable environment.

Interactive Courses

A total of over 5900 students have been sensitized so far through this course.

• A collaboration has been established with Saras 3D company to upgrade the learning experience for this course, through development of diverse virtual module.
• Successfully prepared the total text scripts/presentations of 13 topics, majorly of Physics and Mathematics while 04 working models have been designed.

Problems Encountered and Resources Required:

• Persuading the students to accept these courses as value addition to the conventional curriculum implemented.
• Limited mechanisms to translate these initiatives into mainstream of academics and organizational operations.
• Limited time amidst the academic schedules restricts the impactful implementation of the above courses.
• For interactive courses, it is a first instance of collaborating with an industry to develop education content with huge outreach potential. Hence, detailed preparation of the text script communicating sufficiently and correctly to the 3D developer.