NITK Conference explores AI’s transformative role in higher education
In Short
Around 60 delegates from universities, colleges and industries across the South Zone attended the conference and shared institutional, departmental, industrial and career-level practices related to the themes of the meeting.
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NITK Conference explores AI’s transformative role in higher education
Mangaluru: Friday saw the South Zone Conference on the Strategic Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education being held at the Digital Library of NITK Surathkal. The Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi, partnered with the institute to organise the conference, along with three NITK units — the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the Department of Information Technology, and the Department of Mathematics and Computational Sciences — with support from USDC Global, Bengaluru.
Around 60 delegates from universities, colleges and industries across the South Zone attended the conference and shared institutional, departmental, industrial and career-level practices related to the themes of the meeting.
The opening remarks were delivered online by AIU President Prof. Vinay Kumar Pathak from New Delhi. AIU Joint Director (Research) Dr. Amarendra Pani and NITK Director Prof. B Ravi also addressed the gathering, highlighting the ways in which AI is reshaping the future of higher education.
The sessions covered four key areas. AI-enabled teaching and learning was addressed by Prof. Karthik Raman of IIT Madras, who heads Computational Systems Biology research at the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI. Governance and data-driven decision-making was discussed by Dr K Visalini, Director of R&D at VIKA Park, who is known for having lectured ISRO scientists at the age of 15.
AI in research and innovation was presented by Sarath Kummamuru, Technology Head at Bharat Connect, who previously held positions at Airtel Payments Bank and Razorpay.
Later, Kummamuru joined an afternoon panel discussion with Prof. Raja Subramanian, Senior Vice-President at USDC Global, Bengaluru, which collaborates with universities on curriculum design and technology integration. The panel examined curriculum development, future skills and the ethical issues raised by AI in education. Subramanian also conducted a standalone session.
The technical programme then moved to a group activity based on the delegates’ experiences and concluded with the valedictory session.
