New Delhi: "Professional education comes with great challenge. Teachers need to inculcate inquisitiveness in a student and encourage him/ her to think differently. It is a dangerous part of education to teach students that there is only one way of approaching a problem," said Prof. K. K. Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU).

Prof. Aggarwal was speaking at the inaugural session of the National Conference organized by the Industry Institute Partnership Cell (IIPC) of the University School of Management Studies, GGSIPU on the theme of 'Professional Education in the Knowledge Economy'.

Speaking at the conference, Prof. A. Bhattacharya, Principal, Delhi College of Engineering (DCE), remarked that the generation of knowledge can be linked to the economic revival of the country. He said, "The motto in life should be to take the country ahead. Think how your contribution can boost up the pace of development."

The full-day conference provided a common platform to academicians, corporate leaders, management practitioners, scientists, researchers and students to deliberate on various issues and challenges, such as, attracting good faculty, improvising pedagogic tools, introducing reforms in education, developing infrastructure, reforming student assessment system and so on, which are imperative for effective delivery of professional education in this complex and highly competitive global environment.

Emphasizing that classrooms are becoming devoid of what is happening around, Prof. Pankaj Jalote, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) said, "We need to start linking education to society and especially to the industry because at end of the day, education leads to jobs as well."

All the speakers at the conference were of view that there is a greater need for interaction between academia and industry to bridge the gap between what is taught in the classrooms and what is relevant to the industry.

The research papers presented at the conference were moreover, released in the form of a book entitled Professional Education in Knowledge Economy, on the occasion.