tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201542792024-03-17T20:23:39.267+00:00Sunday PostsBooks; People; Ideas : These are few of my favourite things. As I live between day-to-day compromises and change-the-world aspirations, this is the chronicle of my journey, full of moments of occasional despair and opportune discoveries, of connections and creations, and, most of all, my quest of knowledge as conversations.Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.comBlogger2135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-38690411289040846012024-02-07T16:01:00.002+00:002024-02-07T16:01:13.591+00:00From skills to capabilities: Changing the language Are skills dead?
It is awkward to ask just when everyone is talking about skills.
In our post-GPT age, the consensus is that while ‘higher education’ may
be over, we are entering the age of ‘skills’. Governments worldwide
are pouring money into skills education, multinational agencies and
think tanks are publishing reports on which skillsSupriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-24313662726682025812023-12-25T12:56:00.004+00:002023-12-26T20:54:18.076+00:00Chronicles of a search: Reflecting on 2023I have learnt a lot in 2023 and want to put that learning to use in 2024.Chiefly, I have tested and clarified some ideas I have had. I got involved in Higher Education somewhat accidentally. Mine did not follow the career paths of my colleagues - a graduate degree leading to a university job - but rather an unsual one: A technical job leading to a career in professional trainining, which in turn Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-11601577284243431412023-12-22T14:11:00.002+00:002024-03-17T20:11:47.728+00:00Chronicles of a search: Finding my callingAs the year approaches its end, I am travelling around in Europe by train. The apparent pointlessness of my everyday life is pretty obvious from the distance. The usual vocabulary - revenue, valuation, strategy etc. - appears lame from this vantage point. Walking through cathedrals and works of art that stood for centuries, one can see the boardroom pretentions are empty, just speculators Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-91821990478945513102023-12-12T21:59:00.001+00:002023-12-12T21:59:59.745+00:00Chronicles of a search: Starting from PragueNew years are for new beginnings, and I am readying myself for one.I have lost my way. Comfort had me, somewhat. Despite all my fear of comfort zones, I became too comfortable with what I was doing. And I haven't moved forward in a while.Hence, a full reset is necessary. I have to break away from the slot I got onto. Part intentionally, because I lacked the energy, but partly because I am bored Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-26375156720892919262023-10-24T09:38:00.002+00:002023-10-24T09:38:26.909+00:00Chronicles of a search: What's moral?I am lately in the question of morality. I almost know that it doesn't matter. History tells us clearly that the sense of morality is historical (what was right in one age, was wrong in another) and mostly relative (based on the person's station in society and context). Yet, a sense of morality is the bedrock on which our certainties about life stands: If there is no right or wrong, it is almost Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-34395239203301823602023-09-19T13:34:00.000+00:002023-09-19T13:34:03.450+00:00Chronicles of a search: BecomingWe are the stories we tell about ourselves.I am one of those writers in search of a story. That story has not appeared, yet. But I am always crafting one.In this, it is not the start that confounds me. It has already begun - I am in it! The reason I have never written because I can not end it. Because I lack courage. Around me, so many stories begin and end everyday. In fact, I also see Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-75581803579269289062023-09-15T11:14:00.001+00:002023-09-17T17:27:13.847+00:00Chronicles of a search: something got to changeI spend a lot of time speaking with educators. Most of these conversations are about two things: How the world is changing and how higher education does NOT need to change.The assumption is that there is an unmutable core of higher ed: Some type of transcendent purpose beyond the question of practical application and economic returns, beyond here and now, something that can not be or should not Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-63337247879687125412023-08-01T10:00:00.000+00:002023-08-01T10:00:27.538+00:00Chronicles of a search: Building a model of enterprise educationI have been on the road for almost two months and now heading back to London. As I write this using the inflight wifi, I have a strange feeling: London is no longer home. It feels just like another stop in a much longer journey, the time for which may have come now.The last year was rather exceptional in my life. This time last year, two things happened. We were doing a little project, as Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-68503775993334336732023-05-27T17:07:00.007+00:002023-05-27T17:07:59.544+00:00Rethinking Higher Education: Five building blocksIt has been repeated so many times, it is now a cliché: Our next thirty years will not look like the last three decades! If anything, ever since the end of the Cold War, it was mostly peaceful, mostly prosperous for most of the world. However, One can clearly see that some of the building blocks of that world are shifting now and a new ideas environment is emerging. We don't have to be pessimistsSupriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-76473577099203255132023-05-21T15:57:00.001+00:002023-05-21T15:57:44.221+00:00The AI turn in education An AI turnIn conversations about education these days, something about ChatGPT must be mentioned. Otherwise, the speaker appears out-of-date. Like the MOOCs a decade ago, everyone seems to have an opinion about it. Everyone thinks that this is going to change education beyond recognition. One can guess what happens next. This is what we saw with MOOCs; It was changing all education; shortlySupriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-60666832960833123342023-04-02T11:15:00.014+00:002023-04-02T11:33:28.576+00:00Finding my callingThe last year was chaotic for me. My father passed away, and this resulted in a profound shift of perspective. For the first time in my life, I felt disconnected from India. I did not know before what India meant to me. Like other immigrants, I saw it as a source of nostalgia; and like others in International Education, I saw it as an economic opportunity. I wanted to go there once in a while, Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-88580488458391674252023-03-16T02:21:00.004+00:002023-03-16T02:21:42.925+00:00Private Higher Ed: The hidden sectorI switched my career to what I thought was Higher Ed (in reality, private training) about thirteen years ago and never stopped being fascinated about it. My fascination, however, is always about how little Higher Education sector knows about itself and wants to learn.A lot has changed in the last thirteen years though. About when I was getting started, a number of studies started coming out. ThisSupriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-31528624952621397332023-02-19T19:42:00.000+00:002023-02-19T19:42:10.629+00:00ReconnectingIt has been a while I blogged, but my life has completely changed during these couple of months.Overall, these changes have been positive. An idea that a colleague and I developed became a company by itself and received investment. We were pursuing this possibility for several months, but in the last twelve weeks or so, it actually happened. The other change that happened is in my role. Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-10474815195359799002022-12-28T21:55:00.004+00:002022-12-28T21:55:47.915+00:00Day 2: ConfusionJourney is an over-used metaphor.It presents a particular relationship between space and time. But the inherent assumption in a journey is that one moves forward. At a time when someone feels going in circles, journey is not a good metaphor to cling to.Such is my situation. After a long time, perhaps the first time in my career, I have lost the enthusiasm for my work. I have always traded Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-20991304642961658842022-12-26T19:49:00.002+00:002022-12-26T19:49:28.081+00:00Day 1: WanderingI am still wandering. But I have one dilemma to add to my list of dilemmas.This is about my political belief. I am one of those liberals who feel increasingly homeless. At a time when everyone is choosing sides and all conversations are increasingly ideological, my attempts feel increasingly futile. My biggest trouble is that I don't know what's right or wrong anymore. All 'experts' seem Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-62495514390733157082022-12-25T15:10:00.000+00:002022-12-25T15:10:14.259+00:00Returning the blog to bloggingI am officially ending 2022 in my life.It was one of those years which one would wish to forget, but can't. My father's illness and death dominted the year, but also my work project which took shape. But even on that front, it was a series of misjudgements that I would remember, rather than anything that I achieved. As I approach 2023, I seek to correct, recover and rebuild.One of the key things Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-30063059383395360432022-11-16T12:36:00.000+00:002022-11-16T12:36:01.860+00:00'23: Setting the agendaI got into private higher education by mistake. Like any outsider, I looked at the prospect of setting up a college and got excited. It was only when I got inside and started understanding how private higher ed worked, I realised that it was a mistake. I sometimes think I was courageous to carry on and try to change things from inside; other times, I recognise the sheer futility of the enterpriseSupriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-46446607377635440362022-11-09T13:14:00.000+00:002022-11-09T18:00:12.539+00:00Reset for 2023I may be wrapping up 2022 a month in advance. This has been the most terrible year in my life, and I would like to make this a short one. Particularly as I embark on a new start, possibly in a few weeks, I would rather get into 2023 mode.My 2022 is, on balance, a failure. Beginning of the year, I was working towards two projects: Setting up a new institution in London and transforming an existingSupriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-39291590948144577012022-09-23T13:51:00.004+00:002022-09-23T13:51:53.965+00:00Indian Higher Ed: Indian or Global?My work is in international education. So my mantra is that education must be global! If we are not preparing our students for the global workplace, we are doing them a disservice, I say! However, an interesting conversation with an young colleague made me pause and think. Her point, on reading India's new National Education Policy, was that the policy talks a lot about being Indian while Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-39799287476760249422022-08-20T09:48:00.001+00:002022-12-10T01:05:07.671+00:00How to prepare for the apocalypseA lot of my work is about preparing our students for the future. Under the general banner of employability, I have a fairly boxed-in view about the future. We deal with college students and prepare them for jobs. Slightly ambitiously, we try to prepare them so that they can be masters, rather than slaves, within the context: You should be able to choose what you will do, and once you get the job,Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-58906448168160653302022-08-18T06:31:00.000+00:002022-08-18T06:31:32.572+00:00Conceiving a writing projectI am working on an idea of a book I want to write.This was in my mind for a while, though I conceived this differently. Initially this was meant to be a joint project, more as a self-development book for aspiring students. After the momentum for the same fizzled out, I had to re-concieve, not for the original commercial purpose but more as a personal meditation on what kind of professionals we Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-17993522748285125842022-08-14T07:46:00.000+00:002022-08-14T07:46:46.998+00:00Not another course, please!Courses are convenient. For any school, college or university, they are a good way to allocate time and resources. They can be fit into calendars, planned for and measured against set criteria. Therefore, the educational institutions really are the houses of courses!This was the framework I operate within, and if truth be told, resent. I see this as a case of inverted priorities: moving away fromSupriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-85825914133840312622022-08-13T23:18:00.000+00:002022-08-13T23:25:11.551+00:00On making a reading listIt is a rather strange time for me to work on my reading lists, but reading list is a strange thing for me to work on. If anything, in a time like this when my priorities are changing, a reading list is a great place to start.I consider it my strength that I have many interests. My mind seeks patterns, across topics and contexts, and my flow moments are those when I stumble upon similarities Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-37852683243333372762022-08-12T17:21:00.000+00:002022-08-12T17:21:11.207+00:00Ready player oneI am living through this profound sense of ending - of my identity, my project and partnerships - and now, as a coping strategy, looking to shift my vision to the future. Enough of thinking about and analysing the mistakes that got me here; I am now thinking how to get out and what to do next.I know there is no easy escape. There are so many interconnected things I can't just walk away from. But Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20154279.post-64268559028440422942022-08-10T15:47:00.001+00:002022-08-10T15:47:01.950+00:00A note to myselfI write this on a sad afternoon when I feel the weight of the world.I grew up being told never to be weak. I accepted hardships would come. One would be tempted and led ashtray. The character, which was supposed to be key, was all about standing up to all these difficulties, denying the temptations and be steadfast about one's own purpose. This is how I lived so far.But I lost my way. I think Supriyo Chaudhurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05447230684750188797noreply@blogger.com0