Prof. Shaikh Abusufiyan is an Assistant Professor at Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus, School of Pharmacy (AIKTC-SoP). He has completed his master’s degree in Pharmacology and is currently pursuing Ph.D. He has over 12 years of teaching experience. He is recipient of Anjuman-I-Islam best teacher Award and was felicitated by Association of Pharmacy Teachers of India. He is the recipient of the best paper award for his oral presentation on “Teratogenic effect of Ficus glomerata in zebrafish'' in the symposium. He is also the recipient of two minor research projects grants of Mumbai University. He has published 12 papers in the journals of national and international repute. He acts as a lead coordinator for three AICTE-ISTE approved six days refresher programs under the theme of translational drug discovery. He acts as a convener for a three days national conference on "Innovative Teaching and Exuberant Learning".

School of Pharmacy, AIKTC

What keeps you connected with the education sector?

“Gives me the opportunity to explore new dimensions”

Students during their course of learning bring in new ideas, open up new perspectives and different dimensions. Giving the right direction to their viewpoint is very important and this is where the teacher plays a major role. I love interacting with students, exploring new dimensions of learning, and working with the students. Teaching is my passion and when you know your passion then it becomes apparent to spend your time joyfully and I think that keeps me connected with the education sector. This campus is a second home for me. My journey to this campus started even before its inception. I was part of the planning team for laboratories and other infrastructure for AIKTC-School of Pharmacy. I had a wonderful experience working as a teacher at this campus. This campus has given me enormous experience and taught me many lessons, and helped me to explore my love for being a teacher. 

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“To teach students and understand their pulse and expectations”

My role towards students is not just to teach but also to ensure that learning is happening. According to me, learning won’t happen unless you touch the heart of your students. As a teacher, we should be able to read the students, understand their pulse, and expectations. The current generation is generation Z, they are much smarter, they are tech-savvy, expect flexibility in learning, and are very creative. Traditional pedagogy doesn’t work and most of the time it fails to keep them engaged. Make the best use of innovative pedagogy, technology that can engage these students, so as a teacher our main responsibility is to understand students, give the right direction, provide appropriate mentoring, and teach accordingly. 

Do you have any extracurricular programs to enhance the skills of the students?

“To expose students to the real-world challenges by providing them extracurricular activities”

Of course. Extracurricular activities play a vital role to connect students with their peers, professionals, and society. According to my taking up real-life societal problems and providing a solution for the same is the best extracurricular activity that every student should take up. This will enable students to think critically, communicate with different stakeholders to understand their issues and work in a team to provide a solution to a complex societal problem. Every student should provide a solution to at least one real-life societal problem during his graduation. If this happens then the day is not far where educational institutes become a source of all solutions and our students become solution providers.

How does the curriculum of the institute ensure that the students are being prepared for the future?

“Provide students with the perfect blend of curricular and extracurricular activities”

At AIKTC-School of Pharmacy, we follow the curriculum of Mumbai University. In addition, we have a good blend of many curricular and extracurricular activities to ensure that human values, national integrity, professional and personal developments, and emotional intelligence are inculcated in our students. We encourage activity-based, project-based, and experiential learning which give students exposure to real-life problems. Every student gets the opportunity to work in society through well-structured extension, NSS, and UBA activities. Every year we celebrate pharmacy week as a part of the celebration of World’s Pharmacist Day.

How do you make the Course Curriculum industry-oriented?

“To bridge the gap between the practical and theoretical skills of students”

Starting the session with the questions and giving a clear idea about learning outcomes make students more curious. The students instantly want to know whether sessions have helped them to learn or not. Adding self-graded quizzes, fun quizzes, activities, giving worksheets to solve, think pair share sessions, simulated experiments discussion forum, giving industrial case studies make students learning more practical and industry oriented.

What are the approaches you bring in apart from curriculum to teach the students?

“We focus on ‘Learning by doing’ approach”

Learning by doing is much better than learning by listening. Bringing various activities such as flipped learning followed by think pair share sessions and discussion forums help to take students learning to the next level. Also, giving case studies trigger critical thinking in the students. Taking students on virtual or physical tours and industrial visits adds great value to their understanding of recent instruments, appliances, and tools useful in the pharmacy profession. Allowing students to organize events is the best intervention that we do at our campus. It gives real-life experience to become the best team player, leader, and also organizer. Our many events are managed and organized by the students.

Check School of Pharmacy, AIKTC Courses & Fees

What would you like people to know about your institute they may not know?

“Provide students with an integrated learning ecosystem”

Our institute is a minority institution that is built to provide an integrated learning ecosystem for students from all communities. Our School of Pharmacy is part of an outstanding technical campus where students are trained & taught by well-experienced teachers to attain their full potential. We have the best infrastructure needed for providing professional education in the Pharmacy.

What are some of the biggest challenges both for higher education?

“Enormous change during post-pandemic is the biggest challenge”

The biggest challenge that I see today is the enormous change that is happening post-pandemic. There is a need to develop a self-paced, flexible, blended, or hybrid mode of learning. Also, now through the online mode of teaching, the teacher's knowledge efforts become accessible outside the classroom and now as a teacher they are addressing and connecting with global learners having no boundaries. So maintaining quality teaching at par with the global requirement will be a challenge for all higher educational institutes.The best teaching staff, excellent infrastructure, wonderful learning ecosystem is the greatest strength of AIKTC-School of Pharmacy.

Click School of Pharmacy, AIKTC Placements

Any suggestions you would like to give to the current youth and the aspiring students?

“Students should dream big and set long-term goals”

The current youth should start dreaming big, keep patience, correct their attitude, set long-term goals, and then plan and execute them. One day the dream becomes a reality. Also, Identify your weakness, work on it and convert it into your strength before you graduate. You must have the right intention of serving and contributing towards a healthy society. Do remember to contribute back to society in general and this nation in particular.