Dr. Neeru Jain is a self-motivated individual with strong planning, organizational, and leadership skills. She has completed her Bachelors in Commerce, Masters in Business Administration, and a course in Jewellery Designing. She sincerely supports and invests in high-quality educational and research programs. Her passion is to educate students and polish them into versatile personalities, fostering brilliant gems for the world of jewellery, which can shine in every market scenario.

IIS University

Being the HOD of the Jewellery Designing Department, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

The roles and responsibilities of being a HOD are diverse and necessary for a healthy teaching-learning environment. These include setting curricula-based learning goals for students; monitoring students' performances; supporting and aiding slow learners and disabled students; identifying and providing new techniques to improve learning; provide guidance and counseling to students for career betterment. The HOD must also be able to effectively handle emergencies and conflicts, and organize events, visits, exhibitions, and guest lectures. They should also ensure a safe and clean environment for students, and promote professional and personal development opportunities for students and faculty members.

How do you establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty members?

Efforts must be made to create an environment of trust and respect with the students and fellow faculty members. It is essential to pursue cooperation with the students and fellow faculty members and make time to bond with each other.

How do you try to bring in a practical approach to subjects and make them industry-oriented?

Practical approaches are applied to subjects to make them industry-oriented through several methods including industry-based learning, focusing on developing an industry-in-classroom approach wherein students are given real-life situational projects to work on.

Other methods undertaken are Internships, Field visits, Guest lectures, Exhibitions, Workshops, interactions with different industries, and providing good placement to students.

Internships through which Students get opportunities to work with industrial staff, understand their habits and approach toward problem-solving.

To aid practical experience, students are familiarized with manufacturing, designing, testing, and analysis of products, CAD, etc., and are also made aware of the structure of the industry, its scope and job responsibility, its departmental functions, and much more. Students also develop industrial skills such as Leadership, Team work, Conceptual skills, or Time Management by participating in different national or international level competitions.

How do you strategize the curriculum, and how often is it updated to suit student requirements?

The curriculum is revised every two or three years using input and feedback from students and other faculty members gathered on the curriculum. In this dynamic an evolving domain it is necessary to stay on top of new trends, practical changes and the content is updated to reflect such shifts, while also adding more new methods or technology to the teaching-learning process.

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What are your views on the placements and higher education of the students from your department?

Jewellery designers with experience or professors earn a suitable pay package reflecting their years of experience, but after pursuing a jewellery design course, graduates of this programme can also earns well. Some students choose to be entrepreneurs, and can go far in this domain depending on their efforts, abilities, and inventiveness.

How do you help your student cope with the highly competitive world?

It’s important for students to cope with the competition in the real world and we prepare them by building their self-awareness and enthusiasm, inculcating team spirit, which is useful in competitions. We also make efforts to create a threat-free environment where students can experiment and learn safely, as well as to provide work-integrated learning opportunities.

Do you have any extracurricular activities/ programs to enhance the students' skills or expose them to real-world challenges?

Students participate in community outreach activities, extension activities, and exhibitions organized by the department.

What re the challenges you faced/ are facing to uplift the quality of education of your department?

In the post-pandemic world, the focus has been on reorienting ourselves and working beyond the limitations that we faced in the past two years. While we have been able to use technology to bridge the gap to a certain extent, the practical side of this course needs to be strengthened to help students realign their ideas of the future. So the aim now is to create sustainable structures of education towards a better future.

What are the interventions and approaches you bring in apart from the curriculum to train/teach the students?

Several the interventions and approaches can be applied for industry-based learning to focus on developing an industry-in-classroom approach, giving students real-life situational projects to work on. Other practices include Internships, Field visit, Guest lectures, Exhibitions, and Workshops.

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What valuable advice would you give to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

Jewellery Designing is as challenging a field as it is rewarding, and students should continue improving to keep their skills updated and relevant. It is important to pursue one’s passion and support it with good internship opportunities, work-study programmes or other opportunities that supplement their work. Additionally, it is important that students should find a balance with their personal life.