siliconindia | | April 20198The global nature of educa-tion today requires Indian Higher Educational Insti-tutions (HEIs) to acceler-ate themselves towards a more refl ec-tive & application-based approach to learning. This would ensure higher rates of employability and the abil-ity to harness the challenges posed by the infl ux of automation, big data, artifi cial intelligence and many oth-ers. According to experts, it is not that the millennial generation does not like learning, they surely do. It is just that they may not like how they are being taught currently. It is upto us as academic institu-tions to sustain and build on the de-mographic dividend, lest it becomes a demographic nightmare with poor skills and depleted motivation levels amongst the younger generation. Stu-dents at higher-level degree courses often face great diffi culty in under-standing the application of concepts than remembering those. This pecu-liarity manifests later as a source of frustration amongst employers who would like candidates to demonstrate economic value from day one itself. An immersive experiential ap-proach is now being implemented by the younger forward thinking educa-tional institutions in India to differ-entiate themselves, as well as their student crop in the highly dynamic world of work. The author is a fi rm proponent of the above approach to learning that is not based around a piece meal strategy but infused into the DNA of the institution. Individ-ual fl ashes of creativity and intel-lectual brilliance is existent in many institutions, but an organisation wide consistency in higher educational standards is the need of the hour if the above mentioned approach needs to be impactful. Sadly, experiential learning is far more prevalent as a buzzword than as a meaningful prac-tice in the educational fi rmament. So, what is experiential learning exactly?Experiential learning is inargu-ably one of the most powerful forms of learning. It is learning through ex-perience or more precisely through refl ection on doing. Is it something new? Not exactly. From a very young age, we've all had an encounter with experiential learning when we tried to walk, fell and of course started walk-ing again. In the end, it all became possible. My daughter was learning MOVING TOWARDSEXPERIENTIAL LEARNINGBy Dr. Vishal Talwar, Dean, BML Munjal UniversityIN MY OPINIONAn alumnus of Manchester Business School, Dr. Vishal has research & consulting interests in customer portfolios, marketing resource allocation, and consumer ethics. He has been awarded a doctoral scholarship by the Shell Oil Company. Prior to Joining BMU, he was the Head of Campus (Mumbai) and Assistant Dean with S.P. Jain School of Global Management.Dr. Vishal Talwar
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