1 Dr. Swati Mujumdar Principal Director, Symbiosis Open ... - SCDL

Dr. Swati Mujumdar
Principal Director, Symbiosis Open Education Society
Director, Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, Pune, India
After obtaining a degree of Bachelor of Computer Science from one of the most prestigious
colleges of India, Ferguson College, Pune, Ms. Swati Mujumdar completed an M.B.A. in IT
from, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, a B School ranked amongst top 5 in India.
She then went on to obtain her Master’s in Computer Science from Ball State University,
Indiana, USA.
Swati was awarded PhD degree in the Faculty of Management for her thesis “A study of the
significance of Vocationalization of Education & Skill Development in India with special
reference to the State of Maharashtra”
Swati stayed on in USA for over 12 years to obtain a very rich experience in various facets of
information and communication technology by working in several leading companies. She
returned to India in 2001 and joined her father, one of India’s famous educationists Dr. S.B.
Mujumdar, in furthering the cause of education through Symbiosis, a nationally and
internationally reputed educational institution. She joined as the Director of the distance
education arm of Symbiosis called Symbiosis Center for Distance Learning (SCDL), an institute
which has been imparting many programs through distance mode since 1994.
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Almost single handedly and working with all aspects of administrative and operations
responsibilities, she has raised the stature of this institute to international repute. It is only
because of her total and unstinted devotion & commitment to the development of this institute
that today SCDL has more than 200,000 post graduate students from all states of India and 42
different countries. Her endeavor has been to take education to the remotest corners of our
country by providing affordable education to all sections of the society.
Swati has published case studies on the innovative use of ICT in education in the UNESCO,
Asia-Pacific Journal and a book published by Deloitte Consulting, USA.
Swati is very passionate about vocational education and skill development. Early in 2009, Swati
took the initiative of setting up the Symbiosis Community Colleges in villages neighboring Pune.
Over 400 needy and disadvantaged students including women, and school drop-outs have made a
successful career after passing out of the Symbiosis Community Colleges. In 2011, under her
leadership, Symbiosis established a Vocational Junior College with the primary objective to
develop skilled based competencies blended with life coping skills in students.
Swati recently chaired an 11- member Committee constituted by the Government of Maharashtra
for formulating the vocational education policy for the State and for introduction of vocational
education from school to college levels. The Committee’s report was recently been accepted by
Hon’ble Chief Minister, Maharashtra and will soon be tabled in the State Cabinet. She has also
worked on various State and Central Govt. committees concerning skill development and
vocational education including the Govt. of Maharashtra, MHRD and Planning Commission.
Swati was recently elected as a member of the prestigious Executive Council of Asian
Association of Open Universities, an association for promotion of Open and Distance Learning
in Asia. Swati will represent India and South Asia in this Association.
She has been a recipient of the ‘Sanganak Sarathi IT Award 2010’ from Sarathi Foundation and
‘Excellence in Education’ award from Top Management Consortium for her noteworthy
contributions to the field of education.
Swati is invited as a key note speaker on many occasions and has presented several papers and
ideas in National & International Conferences including:
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1. Presentation - ICT in Distance Education at UNESCO - APEID Conference, Bangkok,
June 2008.
2. Key Note Address – “Building Literacy in India through distance education”, at the
Global Forum organized by International Council for Open & Distance Education,
UNESCO & AAOU, Shanghai, October 2008.
3. Paper - Innovation practices of ICT in Distance Education – 4 th World Teacher Day – 12 th
UNESCO – APEID, conference, Bangkok, March 2009.
4. Paper - Harnessing the power of ICT in Open and Distance Learning System – 23 rd ICDE
World conference on Open and Distance learning, the Netherlands, June 2009.
5. Was ‘Paper Reviewer’ and Co-Chair for papers submitted and presented by academicians
at the 23 rd ICDE World conference on ODL, the Netherlands, June 2009.
6. Case study on the efficiency, usability and learn-ability of various components of the
Open and Distance Learning System – Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for
Asia (CEMCA) – Journal Edu Comm Asia – Vol.14 No.4 June 2009
7. Presentation on ‘Use of ICT in Education for Improving Quality’ at the conference of
Presidents of Thailand Universities, organized by Commission on Higher Education,
Bangkok, September 2009
8. Case study ‘Use of ICT for ODL / Blended Learning / Research / Administration &
Management’ for UNESCO published in UNESCO Asia Pacific Journal Jan 2010.
9. Presentation on “Innovation in ICT for Open & Distance Education” at the EDGE – 2010
(Emerging Direction in Global Education) Conference, Delhi, March 2010.
10. Case study on Use of ICT in Distance Education & e-learning – Case Study on
Symbiosis, published in a book on e-learning strategies by Dr. Nick Van Dam –
Founder& CEO, Deloitte, USA.
11. Paper and Presentation on Technology in Aid of Distance Education in AACE – Global
Learn Asia Pacific, Penang, Malaysia, May 2010.
12. Working Paper – Assessing usability and learn-ability of online education in rural India.
13. Co-chair for 2 sessions of paper presentations at the 23 rd ICDE World Conference on
ODL, the Netherlands – June 2009
14. 24 th Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Conference at Vietman (October
2010) - Abstract & Paper submitted on “Use of Technology to enhance student learning,
assessment and support services.
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15. Common Wealth of Learning (COL) PCF 6 Conference at Kochi, November 2010
Abstract & Paper submitted on “Technologies for Scaling up ODL Programs”.
16. Chair of Best Paper Award Committee at Asian Association of Open Universities
(AAOU) Conference at Vietnam, October 2010.
17. Paper Reviewer for SHUSHER 2012, an IEEE recognized conference for papers
submitted in the area Education & Management.
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