Associate ProfessorKrithika Randhawa

Krithika firmly believes that students are equal partners in the educational process and should be provided with opportunities to actively participate rather than passively learn. Based on this teaching philosophy, which Krithika adopts across various undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA and executive education programs and as a PhD supervisor, Krithika considers herself a facilitator of learning rather than an expert 'sage on the stage'. Her approach is research-inspired and practice-oriented, exposing students to the latest research topics in the field along with their practical applications.

Program Leadership

As the Program Convenor for the University of Sydney's flagship Major in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Krithika oversees a multidisciplinary curriculum designed to equip students with the skills necessary to thrive globally and advance the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. She has also developed, coordinated and delivered multiple courses focusing on innovation, entrepreneurship, strategy and design thinking within various Business programs, including UTS' Executive MBA and Bachelor of Business Administration (Indigenous) programs that challenges (Indigenous) Australian professionals to design entrepreneurial solutions to address business and social problems.

Innovative Teaching Practices

Krithika's teaching pedagogy creates vibrant learning environments through engaging, student-centred approaches that integrate research and emphasize active participation and hands-on experiences. For example:

• Krithika collaborated with Sydney Genesis and UTS Startups to create unique work integrated learning experiences enabling over 2000 students thus far to work on 50 real start-ups to tackle challenges and drive innovation. The solutions developed during this collaborative project have been directly applied by the founders, delivering significant impact to the startup ecosystem and society at large. This project has also inspired several new students to act on their ideas and turn into studentpreneurs.
• Krithika implemented a scaffolded assessment structure that has been recognized at the 2023 Education Innovation Awards and featured in a Teaching@Sydney article. This approach, where students deliver interim pitches and receive feedback, was praised for enhancing their learning experiences. She has integrated the "pitch" portfolio as an authentic assessment method, simulating real-world entrepreneurial scenarios that boost students' active learning and problem-solving skills.
• Krithika has also integrated her research findings into her courses, enriching content with real-world applications and aligning coursework with contemporary concepts. Additionally, she has made expert contributions to leading, award-winning programs, influencing professionals, educators, and institutions through innovative, research-led teaching practices that have been widely adopted.
• Krithika's efforts have inspired students to participate innovation competitions (e.g., HULT), pursue startup internships, and embark on careers in innovation consultancy or successful entrepreneurial ventures. Many of her former students, including gradutaes of the BBA (Indigenous) program, have commercially launched and scaled their start-ups. She has guided students from diverse faculties such as Commerce, Science, Engineering and IT to apply their learnings to real-world startups.

Supervision

Krithika has supervised five PhD students to completion and currently supervises four other doctoral students. Her (former) doctoral students have achieved notable recognition, including the 2022 Best Dissertation Award from the International Society for Professional Innovation Management (the largest global community of innovation researchers and professionals); Best Paper Award in the 2022 R&D Management PhD Colloquium; and Most Inspirational Paper Award in the 2022 European Academy of Management (Strategic Management Track). She was honoured with the 2023 SUPRA Supervisor of the Year Award, highlighting her commitment to nurturing her students' success.

Contributions to Teaching and Learning Scholarship

Her innovative teaching practices have been featured in a Teaching@Sydney article and have led to invitations to deliver talks on transitioning to online learning and exploring alternatives to face-to-face presentations. She has published articles on pedagogical tools such as using "oral pitch" as an authentic assessment, achieving top views in the Open Educational Resource Collection compiled by the UTS LX Lab under the Creative Commons Licence. She has delivered a lecture on Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing for Henry Stewart Talks, a globally recognized provider of digital educational content. Furthermore, she contributed expert video content to "Leading in a Post-Crisis World", an award-winning program at the University of Sydney.