Advances in Technological Innovations in Higher Education : Theory and Practices

The evolution of technology in education can no longer be comprehended simply by looking at the use of computers and networks. Technology is not just a supplementary tool to the conventional method of education. Education has to undergo a complete transformation with technological innovations for the sustainability of quality education as a system and not in silos. Sustainability in education also necessitates a more workable strategy to realize socially viable educational policies and practices which can focus more on personalized learning. Due to various factors like emerging technologies; changing needs of the learners; policy reforms for enhancing employability; and emphasis on uninterrupted education as in the case of the pandemic scenario of COVID-19, there is a need to steer a major transition in the education system. The education system has to be real and proficient for it to be instrumental to nurture an informed and knowledgeable society.

This book on technological innovations in higher education is organized, largely, based on the diversity of higher education ecosystems that are supported by technological innovations. Various author viewpoints give insights into the full potential of technology as well as its risks in interrelated areas of higher education to work towards sustainability of value-based quality education across the globe.

Adarsh Garg: Professor at GL Bajaj Institute of Management and Research, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Greater Noida and Visiting Professor at Delhi Technical University, Delhi. Prior to joining GLBIMR, she has worked with organizations like Galgotias University, WIPRO Tech, GE, IMT Ghaziabad, Punjabi University, Patiala. She is currently supervising 8 Ph.Ds; published over 50 research papers in refereed international/national journals and Conference proceedings. She is a member of various professional bodies like Computer Society of India ,Member ACM-Computer Science Teacher’s Association. She has 24 yrs of teaching, corporate and research with the areas of her interest as Business Analytics, Data mining, Business Intelligence, Python, MIS, e-learning, Project Management.

B.V. Babu: An acknowledged researcher and renowned academician, Dr B V Babu (Born on 15th February 1961) has 36 years of teaching, research, consultancy, and administrative experience (as in 2021). He did his PhD from IIT Bombay. He is currently SelfEmployed as Consultant on Quality Assurance in Higher Education and a World Bank Sponsored Project HEQEP (Higher Education Quality Enhancement Program) since 2017. Earlier, he was the Vice Chancellor of Graphic Era University-Dehradun (2016-17), Vice Chancellor of Galgotias University-Greater Noida (2014-16), Pro Vice Chancellor of DIT University-Dehradun (2013-14) and founding Director of Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) at JK Lakshmipat University-Jaipur (2011-2013). Prior to that, Dr Babu served at BITS Pilani for 15 years (1996-2011), and held various administrative positions. Professor Babu is a distinguished academician and an acknowledged researcher with an h-index of 43 & i10-index of 118 and over 17,329 citations (as in April 2021). He is well known, internationally, for his algorithm, MODE (Multi Objective Differential Evolution) and its improved variants. Besides several highly-cited publications in International journals, he also has three well-accepted textbooks (published by Springer, Germany; Apple Academic Press, USA; and Oxford University Press, India) to his credit. He supervised 10 PhD candidates and currently guiding 2 PhD candidates. He is a member of various national and international academic and administrative committees.

Valentina E Balas: Valentina E. Balas is currently Full Professor in the Department of Automatics and Applied Software at the Faculty of Engineering, “Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Electronics and Telecommunications from Polytechnic University of Timisoara. Dr. Balas is author of more than 270 research papers in refereed journals and International Conferences. Her research interests are in Intelligent Systems, Fuzzy Control, Soft Computing, Smart Sensors, Information Fusion, Modeling and Simulation. She is the Editor-in Chief to International Journal of Advanced Intelligence Paradigms (IJAIP) and to International Journal of Computational Systems Engineering (IJCSysE), member in Editorial Board member of several national and international journals and is evaluator expert for national, international projects and PhD Thesis. Dr. Balas is the director of Intelligent Systems Research Centre in Aurel Vlaicu University of Arad and Director of the Department of International Relations, Programs and Projects in the same university. She served as General Chair of the International Workshop Soft Computing and Applications (SOFA) in eight editions 2005-2018 held in Romania and Hungary. Dr. Balas participated in many international conferences as Organizer, Honorary Chair, Session Chair and member in Steering, Advisory or International Program Committees. She is a member of EUSFLAT, SIAM and a Senior Member IEEE, member in TC – Fuzzy Systems (IEEE CIS), member in TC - Emergent Technologies (IEEE CIS), member in TC – Soft Computing (IEEE SMCS). Dr. Balas was past Vice-president (Awards) of IFSA International Fuzzy Systems Association Council (2013-2015) and is a Joint Secretary of the Governing Council of Forum for Interdisciplinary Mathematics (FIM), - A Multidisciplinary Academic Body, India.