Every civilisation has ushered to its successful merits with repetitive up and down or back and forth linear motion. One of the factors that could make this venture a possibility is a novel attribute possessed by humans – The Art of Un-Learning!
Being one of the most intriguing phenomena, unlearning has set the world in a transgressive motion, propelling a socio-intellectual development.
But did you ever imagine what triggered this change? Some might dig up historical bibliographies to scout for the reasons that made human society evolve into its deserving entitlement. But the prominent question asked by the global forum is, “what made humans cross the barriers and become a possibility to reject their own limitations, unlike other species?”
Discovering answers to these questions, many scientists, evolutionists, and bio-physicians dipped their noses into the social architecture of human beings and later elucidated the world with insights into the human mind. Upfronting these marvels of society, it became significant that nurturing the psyche at an earlier age can enhance as well as bolster socio-economic development. Realizing such an objective, a German psychologist – Wilhelm Wundt, established the very first psychology laboratory in 1879. This has been a remarkable step in the world of psychology. Spreading its wings to every corner of the world, psychology has paved the way for many professions, many theorists, and a few critics too!
As it set foot in God’s own country – Kerala – in the Indian sub-continent, it found Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth as its harbor. The deemed to be university facilitates ancient, contemporary, and modern knowledge of psychology to its students, researchers, and professionals, which is ultimately revamping the world for the better.
Spearheading this transformation is the university’s Vice Chancellor – Prof. Ajay Kapoor. Known for his inclusive and standout leadership, he has exemplified the true meaning of ‘success through excellence’.
Let’s take a walk through the enlightening journey of Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth and learn the art of educational leadership!
From Inception to Excellence!
Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth (CVV) was conceptualized in 2016, the birth centenary year of the inspirational and visionary founder of Chinmaya Mission, who is not only a renowned Vedantic master but also a teacher par excellence, Swami Chinmayananda. CVV was notified as a Deemed to be University under the ‘de Novo’ category on16 January 2017.
CVV has been a renowned torchbearer for the preservation of Indian cultural heritage and its knowledge traditions through higher education. Briefing about the college operations, Prof. Ajay Kapoor says, “We are currently operating from two campuses: the main campus, known as the Chinmaya Eswar Gurukula (CEG) campus, is located at Adi Sankara Nilayam, Ernakulam, Kerala, and the second campus, called Chinmaya Naada Bindu Gurukula (CNBG) campus is located at Chinmaya Vibhooti (Kolwan, Pune, Maharashtra).”
The institutes’ core mission is to blend India’s ancient and time-tested wisdom with present-day knowledge fields. Striking a careful balance between the conventional and the new, the University offers common streams of programs with unique electives and supplementary subjects with an intent to mold the youngsters of today into well-rounded, responsible, valuegrounded young adults who contribute to the nation and the world at large. The University has commenced its intensive campus development on a 50-acre plot acquired nearby in Onakkoor, Ernakulam, and is succeeding towards quality education while stepping ahead into the future.
3 Pillars of CVV’s Success
Like every educational institute built on a foundation of its ethos coupled with a farfetched vision and mission of spreading knowledge, CVV has proved to be the torch bearer in the psychology discipline. Known for academic excellence, Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth is known to adhere to its principles while facilitating quality education.
Mission:
As a Deemed to be University, the institute envisions exceeding excellence in higher learning and research to explore, conserve, and share the contemporary significance of Indian Cultural Heritage and Indian Knowledge Traditions (IKT). CVV aims to integrate the practices of modern pedagogical advances with the beauty of the traditional gurukula model of learning.
“Our Gurukula model enables students to solve contemporary challenges while guiding them to leave a positive impact on the world as confident and cultured contributors to socioeconomic development,” marks Prof. Ajay Kapoor.
Vision:
Renowned for its cultural underpinnings, the University has deep roots in cultural wisdom and guides its students with the vision expressed by its symbolic quote, that speaks:
vidyayā rakṣitā saṁskṛtiḥ sarvadā saṁskṛtermānavāḥ saṁskṛtā bhūridāḥ (Knowledge protects culture forever; cultured people share abundantly.)
The Guiding Light – Prof. Ajay Kapoor
Being a visionary, Prof. Ajay Kapoor is leading with inclusive leadership and leaves no stone unturned to revamp the educational quality facilitated by CVV. He has achieved educational excellence through his academics as well as the experience gathered from his leadership role in the education space.
After completing his engineering degree at IIT BHU and doctorate at Cambridge University, Prof. Kapoor joined academia. He is a known researcher and has presented around 325 papers/reports, three books, several patents, and a university spinout company.
Prof. Ajay Kapoor’s research work has won him many prizes in the United Kingdom and Australia, and he is on the editorial board of IMechE Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. Recently, Prof. Ajay Kapoor was rated within the top 2% of researchers in the world in his subject area. He served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia and expanded Swinburne’s international research engagement with Joint Research Centres in India, China, and Malaysia. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and the Cambridge Commonwealth Society.
In the past, Prof. Kapoor has held senior appointments in the United Kingdom at Newcastle University, University of Sheffield, and Leicester University. He led the American Society for Mechanical Engineers − UK and Ireland Chapter as Chairman. Been on the Swinburne University Council and has been a Board Member of VCAMM, Australia.
Since the inception of Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth (CVV), Prof. Ajay has served on the Board of Management and in March 2019, was appointed as Pro-Chancellor of CVV.
Inside the CVV Campus!
The institute nurtures the mental wellbeing of its students with various programs. The psychology programs focus on the skill development of budding mental health professionals. The programs are designed to develop the undergraduate and postgraduate attributes listed by the American Psychology Association. The skills are Knowledgebased Communication, Scientific Inquiry and Critical Thinking, Ethical and Social Responsibility in a diverse world, and Professional Development. The courses in both the programs are designed in such a way so as to enhance the skills. Additionally, these skills are developed through add-on certificate courses, seminars, workshops, etc.
Inculcating Holistic Development
The University believes in the overall development of students and has incorporated various pedagogies that instill team bonding through its cocurricular activities and community service initiatives. Students on campus are motivated to explore and learn through multiple activities that assist them in tuning in and exploring their potential, be it on or off the campus. CVV encourages students to form groups and clubs to meet their cocurricular and extra-curricular needs.
“The clubs are run entirely by the students with faculty support when needed. For instance, the students of the Minor Course ‘Science of Sustainable Living’ launched the environment club ‘Jeevanam.’ Themembers take up sensible environmental activities and projects with the vision of influencing, engaging, and promoting sound environmental behavior in their peers, parents and neighborhood communities,” says Prof. Ajay Kapoor.
He adds, “Service is an important aspect of life, and at CVV, we place a high value on instilling the spirit of service in our students. The SEVA (Service, Empathy, Virtue, and Attentiveness) project at CEG facilitates opportunities for students and professors at the institute to work together to assist the local community. The CNBG’s popular CSR programme is a rural community-based development programme that provides free music lessons to youngsters from nearby communities. It aims to offer a crucial dimension to children’s early development by stimulating their natural creative and artistic abilities. This initiative benefits over a hundred youngsters in thirty villages. In November 2021, CVV launched a wing of the National Service Scheme (NSS) to provide more push to service.”
Empowering Students with Skill Development
CVV is aware of its ethical commitment to its students, which is to help them shine in their particular knowledge domains while also equipping them with a variety of soft
skills that will qualify them for deserving jobs. CVV has built a fullfledged and extremely dynamic Centre for Training, Placement, and Corporate Relations, complete with a full-time Director, with this in mind.
The students receive training in a variety of fields, including strengthening their employment skills by equipping them with skills such as:
- Communication Skills
- Leadership Traits
and Life-coping Skills enabling them to handle interviews with ease.
Prof. Ajay Kapoor notes, “Training programs and workshops are designed to professionalize students in relation to their studies. The Centre makes extra efforts to closely monitor the students’ performance, and through crash courses in soft skills, it is possible to get additional employability abilities. The Placement Centre has taken on the duty of recruiting academic and corporate professionals to train students and then place them in top companies through campus interviews.”
Envisioning the Future
CVV has a lot of interesting plans for the future, including developing new courses, cooperating with major national and international organisations, building a brand new state-of-the-art campus, developing social programmes to reduce disadvantages, and much more!
“Psychology has great scope in the future especially since the nation has passed a new Mental Healthcare Act and introduced the Allied Healthcare Professions Bill. In view of the new National Education Policy’s expectation for universities to offer more professional courses, CVV is trying its best to make its courses more NEP compliant,” says Prof. Ajay Kapoor.
Words of Inspiration
Sharing his advice to students about the future scope of the discipline, Prof. Ajay concludes, “Conventionally, students were only guided to take clinical and industrial psychology. But there are upcoming areas like Neuropsychology, Forensic Psychology, Educational Psychology, Sports Psychology etc. Students can also be guided to take up these branches.”
