Interview of Rajkumar Buyya , Director, University of Melbourne, Australia

Q1. How are you feeling staying in Gwalior?

Ans.Of course, it is good.I visit India 3 times in a year.There are many historical places in Gwalior, i enjoyed visiting those places. whenever i come to India, i relive my old memories.

Q2.As you have been in University of Melbourne since 2002, what are the differences in teaching techniques between universities of India and Australia?

Ans. I don't think that there is much difference but the only difference is that in foreign countries students get more exposure and work on a lot of practical assignments and projects.They have big classrooms with the variety of students.It feels like a conference.I feel more connected with my students in a small class as it is easy to interact with them and know them personally.It is easy to maintain discipline in a small class.

Q3.What improvements or advancements would you like to suggest for Indian universities?

Ans. The Indian teaching is good but they can emphasise more on practical learning and lab work, in a big class it should be arranged in a more systematic manner.

There should be a relative grading system so that an average student can also pass,but there should be some tough questions so that one can easily differentiate the intelligent ones.

Q4.What innovations in teaching and research training programs you have introduced to enhance the learning experience of Melbourne students and other students?

Ans. In subjects, we mainly focus on research orientated teaching.During my teaching,i try to acquaint my students with the latest research and technologies so that they can learn about it by themselves.

Q5.What is the vision of cloud computing?

Ans.Cloud computing is about computing services.Cloud is a market oriented distributed computing system consisiting of a collection of interconnnected and virtualised computers.

You don't have to be a filmstar,you can easily post your videos and everyone can access to such services. Now, you can rent a server like linux etc. and when you develop an application you keep in mind that you are targetting the world market.So, the question is how are we going to handle such a mass number?and the simple solution is cloud computing.

Q6.Sir, as you have received "Bharat Nirman Award" and "Mahatma Gandhi Award", could you please share your experience.

Ans. They do this to support and motivate the upcoming authors with good specifications,so that India can connect with the other countries also.This is about helping others when we are involved in the colaborating projects so that we can connect better.

Q7.How did you feel when your first paper got published?

Ans. It was very exciting when my first paper got published, the first one always gets remembered. Effort is necessary whether the paper is first or last. Whenever people ask me about my research work the first thing thing that comes to my mind is my first paper or a recently published one. As they say first ones are always remembered.

INTERVIEWD BY- MANVI GUPTA
                             HIMANSHI KALRA

PHOTOGRAPHER- SURYA PRATAP SINGH