HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA

HIGHER EDUCATION IN India
(For Paper 2 GS: On Education)


* CRISIS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

* Human Resources Hourglass Structure

* Archaic Examination System

* Rigid Curriculum and lack of electives

* Universities exit from undergraduate education

* Poor quality teaching, inbreeding, and lack of appraisal

* Islands of Excellence, Oceans of Mediocrity

* Withdrawal of state and defacto privatization

* Implications of Overseas Purchase of Education

* Absence of Regulatory Framework

* Lack of Leadership

* CHALLENGES

* OPPORTUNITIES

* CRITICAL REFORMS

* NCHER Bill

* Foreign Institutions Bill

* The Accreditation Bill

* The Malpractices Bill

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary or third level education is the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology. Higher education also includes certain college-level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools, and career colleges, that award academic degrees or professional certifications
CRISIS OF HIGHER EDUCATION


1. Human Resources Hourglass Structure

The structure of our human resources is in the form of an hourglass. There are a huge number of mid and top level professionals such as doctors, engineers and lawyers of an indifferent quality that the society cannot accommodate or put to productive use. Yet there arent enough number of professionally trained semi-skilled people such as electricians, plumbers and mechanics to fulfil the societys requirements. At the bottom are the millions of unskilled, illiterate workers
The past two decades witnessed a phenomenal growth in the number of so-called professional institutions producing graduates who dont have skills that can be gainfully employed for producing the kind of goods and services that India needs. educated unemployment is on the rise, as these graduates are not equipped to become wealth creators. .

1. Archaic Examination System

The examination system for higher education is archaic and disgraceful. The stress is often on testing the students memory and rote learning This one size fits for all kind of an examination system does not leave any room for either continuous appraisal during the term of the course, or for testing the students creativity, application of knowledge and problem solving skills.In the current higher education setup, excepting for elite institutions such as IITs and IIMs, the teacher doesnt have any role in evaluating the students performance.

1. Rigid Curriculum and lack of electives

The higher education curriculum is extremely rigid, centrally defined and doesnt leave any room for individual choice or experimentation. This resulted in creating a rigid academic atmosphere, with artificial divisions of various disciplines, and pre-determined combinations of courses on offer excepting the IITs and similar elite institutions Even within a course, what has to be taught and what textbooks to study are prescribed, leaving no room for the teacher to be creative in designing the course

1. Universities exit from undergraduateeducation

One of the worst anomalies that crept into Indian higher education system is that universities are completely removed from undergraduate education.

1. Poor quality teaching, inbreeding, and lack of appraisal

2. Islands of Excellence, Oceans of Mediocrity

While it is impressive that we succeeded in creating world-class institutions such as the IITs and IIMs, there is a lot of collateral damage attached to this success. The disproportionate allocation of meagre resources to these islands of excellence resulted in the neglect of other public institutions which turned them into oceans of mediocrity.
A vicious cycle has now set in. Poor quality higher education is producing many graduates who often lack conceptual clarity and the capacity to apply knowledge for finding creative solutions. As a result, both wealth creation in society and school education suffered. As such graduates become school teachers, youngsters are graduating from schools without the basic knowledge and understanding of subjects which are necessary to benefit from college education. The few good teachers are in great demand in coaching institutions preparing students for entrance tests for professional courses including IITs.

1. Withdrawal of state and defacto privatization

Without any serious debate or preparation, the state opened the gates for private provision of higher education. private for-profit higher education institutions were allowed as a matter of routine

* Very little investment went into pure sciences, education or humanities as they are perceived to be of non-professional character and are not in much demand.

* With increasing fees and donations in the pvt colleges keeps the poor and middle class away. In the absence of demand from vocal middle classes and the consequent lack of political pressure, the states abdication of education of education sector is accelerated, resulting in a vacuum that is filled by a large private for-profit sector.

1. Implications of Overseas Purchase of Education

More and more Indians, especially from the middle classes are increasingly resorting to sending their children abroad even for undergraduate education. Even more disastrous than the financial implication of this resource drain is the fact that the withdrawal of the vocal middle classes and the accompanying political pressure is a certain death knell for the public higher education system in India.


1. Absence of Regulatory Framework

The state controls where and what kind of private institution will be established. This is mostly done through political patronage and rent seeking behaviour by the quasi-regulatory agencies such as AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) and MCI (Medical Council of India).

* This resulted in an utterly chaotic scenario, and the higher education system is suspended between over-regulation by the state on one hand and discretionary privatization on the other hand.

* There is no independent mechanism for either evaluating the quality of education or the quality of output from both public and private educational institutions.


1. Lack of Leadership

Most public universities and institutes of higher learning are reduced to personal fiefdoms of leading politicians. Once these individuals are appointed, they have to satisfy their patrons by obliging their requests in appointments, promotions etc.This led to a natural decline of these institutions of higher learning.

CHALLENGES

* Equitable and accessible higher education system of high quality

* Foster competition in providing education services and offer choice to the students

* Promote the importance of a true liberal education

* Enhance public financial provision for higher education

* Establish an independent regulatory framework to ensure standards and quality


OPPORTUNITIES

* Young demographic profile, (% of 18-24 age group)

* Hard working, ambitious, motivated youngsters

* Huge demand for quality education

* Culture and society that values education and treasures scholarship

* Parents willing to spend significant resources

* Graduates no longer seek a cushy government job and are willing to compete in the market

* Impressive infrastructure that can be redeployed

* Non-monetary inputs that can make a difference


CRITICAL REFORMS

Given the nature of crisis afflicting higher education in India, a mix of nonmonetary and monetary inputs along with critical structural reforms is the need of the hour. There are many best practices that are in vogue in most western universities as well as the elite institutes in India, that are worthy of replicating. Some of the key reform proposals that are modeled after these widely accepted best practices are discussed in this section

1. Non-monetary Inputs

* Flexible Curriculum and Electives-Freedom of choice, opportunity to win academic distinction and discipline are all fostered at one stroke. This also means that teachers whose courses were not valued became irrelevant, and in effect students evaluate teachers

* Encourage Liberal Education and Humanities-Any society needs a mix of specialists and generalists to fulfill its unique requirements. While the need for science and technology, and vocational and other specialized forms of skill-based education is well-recognized and appreciated, especially in a developing economy, the importance of broad, liberal education is much less appreciated.
By definition, a liberal education is not directly tied to the study of a particular discipline or vocation, but is designed to equip an individual with the cognitive capacity to acquire knowledge in any field of her choice.
A true liberal education will go a long way in producing the kind of leaders and enlightened citizens who will take up a career in business, organizational management, government, politics and academia that are badly needed by the developing world. It is a testimony to the maturity of a highly industrialized and developed nation such as the US, that the bulk of its university graduates major in liberal arts and humanities

* Creative Examination System, Continuous Evaluation

* Test the depth of students knowledge, not breadth

* Test analytical skills, application of knowledge and problem solving capacity

* Test should challenge the students ability to be creative and innovative

* Stress on Evaluation should be done by the faculty who teaches the course
There are many models of creative evaluation and testing that are widely applied across the world that are worth emulating

* Faculty Recruitment and Appraisal

* Continuous appraisal and rating by students

* undergraduate teaching by all faculty

* Effort to recruit innovative thinkers and promote of new ideas

* Encourage rigorous intellectual discourse

* Constant new blood

* Quality of education

* The Eleventh Plan approved by the National Development Council (NDC) provides a three point agenda in regard to accreditation, namely; introduction of a mandatory accreditation system for all higher educational institutions; creation of multiple rating agencies with a body to rate these rating agencies; department-wise ratings in addition to institutional rating.

* Presently, accreditation is not mandatory and there is no law to govern the process of accreditation. There are two Central bodies involved in accreditation of institutions; the National Accreditation Assessment Council (NAAC) and the National Board of Accreditation Board (NBA), which is not possible if made mandatory.

* Consequently, an institutional structure to ensure mandatory accreditation needs a legal basis for it to have the force of law. It is expected that with the passage of the legislation to provide for accreditation of higher educational institutions and to create a regulatory authority for the purpose many of these issues will be resolved at least for some time to come.

* Problem Solving Research
Most Indian universities are particularly deficient in meaningful research of any kind. As a result of this absence of academic rigor, poor communications, and lack of relevance, academia have become increasingly marginalized in shaping public discourse and solving real problems in the societal, scientific and technological domains. Innovative funding mechanisms, and other incentives to promote high quality, problem-solving research in both technology related fields and humanities need to be evolved. Emphasis on reasoning and analysis and good writing skills at school level are obviously vital to make productive research possible at university level

1. Monetary Inputs

* Enhanced Public Expenditure

* Financing Higher Education -The bulk of public expenditure on higher education (in some instances 95 %) in India is in the form of revenue expenditure and is barely enough to meet the faculty wage bill. There is little scope left for any capital expenditure

* We need to evolve sensible and viable financing mechanisms to meet the demand for quality education, through higher investments public or private, and to guarantee uniformly high quality education which fosters innovation, creativity and wealth-creation. Therefore, while access should be based on talent and motivation, costs should be recovered to make quality education sustainable

* The notion of free, mediocre quality education has hurt all sections of society. Those who can afford are now fleeing the system, those who go to state institutions are under-performing for no fault of theirs; and the poor in society are subsidizing the not-so-poor for higher education. This model is clearly unsustainable and wrecked our higher education system.

* Regulatory Framework The need of the hour is to create a regulatory framework that will encourage investment from a diverse range of sources in higher education infrastructure and at the same time ensure that every student will have equal access to these institutes of higher education

* The greatest hurdle that we have to overcome to create a robust regulatory framework, is to change the minds of our decision makers

* With the rapid growth of privately funded institutions the nature of their governance system has become an area of major concern. The issue of internal governance of the institution in terms of the processes connected with admissions, registration, examinations, evaluations, scheduling and a host of other functions are also matters that need closer attention in ensuring quality.


1. Structural Reforms


* Differentiation of Higher Education Institutions

* The structure of current system of higher education presumes that everyone in the higher education system need a 3 or 4 yr college degree. There is no room for the majority of youngsters, who might be on the lookout for acquiring a skill that is readily marketable and which will get them gainful employment. This structure doesnt leave much room for flexibility, choice or experimentation of any kind

* The Indian vocational education system is based on polytechnic colleges providing diploma education in engineering, and industrial training institutes providing skilled workers to industry. Both suffer from a fatal flaw, as they are delinked from the mainstream education, and a student cannot change her mind mid-course, nor can the credits be automatically transferred to pursue undergraduate education in a university

* The need of the hour is bring about a qualitative differentiation in the structure of higher education, with the following objectives

* Offer flexibility and choice for students

* Offer strong vocational and skill based courses (diploma) of shorter duration

* Facilitate vertical mobility, i.e. people who with a 2-yr diploma can use that credit to earn a 3 or 4 yr college degree at a time of their choice.

* Couple the vocational courses with internships in partnership with industry
There are two models that are worth studying and emulating. One is the much-acclaimed German model of vocational education. The other is the equally impressive American model of Community colleges.

1. Politics, Governance and Education
State can, and should, also be a positive institution to create basic infrastructure, develop natural resources, and most of all to provide quality school education and effective primary health care. Much of the debate on education is centered round rewriting history or detoxification of textbooks. The great debates are about the location of a temple or a mosque, or past insults and private injuries, or perpetuation of barbaric practices andshunning of modern, humanistic vision. Obscurantism is zealously guarded, and the clear stream of reason has lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.Perverse status-quoism and the game of blame-throwing on our campuses have cost the nation dearly
In case of centrally funded government institutions such as IITs, IIMs, Central Universities, IISERs, NITs etc., it is reasonably certain that the interference and control of the government is minimal. Usuallythe governing boards and the heads of these institutions have the freedom to evolve their academic policies and strategies except in areas where it concerns the fundamental national policies (for example reservations; pay commission norms etc.). The governing boards of these institutions include just one or two officials of the Central Government. At the same time there are also several central institutions with high proportion of government official in their governing bodies where the interference effect is high and troublesome. This is particularly worrisome in the case of state-funded institutions.

Ever since the nation recognized the value of higher education for promoting economic growth and social development, the pressure for reforms has been escalating. These are formally embodied in two eminent reports brought out in recent years, one by the National Knowledge Commission headed by Sam Pitroda and the other by the Committee on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education headed by Yashpal.


* NCHER Bill
An important measure awaiting political clearance of the Cabinet for introduction in the Parliament is the Bill for the Creation of the National Commission on Higher Education and Research (NCHER) (conforming to the recommendations of the Yashpal Committee Report on Renovation and Rejuvenationof Higher Education In India).
This Bill addresses certain fundamental concerns in the reports of National Knowledge Commission and Yashpal Committee. These two reports draw critical attention to the fundamental academic weaknesses such as

* compartmentalization and fragmentation of knowledge systems,

* absence of innovation in learning methods,

* disconnect with the society and

* too much emphasis on multiplicity of harmful entrance and qualifying tests.

* They reflect concerns on the growing trend in loss of university autonomy damaging the prospect of healthy growth of spirits of enquiry, creativity, and innovation

1. The NCHER is not a regulating or controlling or licensing or inspecting body. Its primary task is to evolve norms and standards for various aspects of higher education including assessment and accreditation, while abolishing several of the regulating bodies dealing with the academic norms for higher education.

2. It restores to the universities the autonomy and responsibility to implement these norms and standards.

3. It mandates the NCHER to consult with all States, Union Territories and other statutory regulating bodies in evolving new policies, procedures, norms and standards.

4. Identification of academic administrators of national standing eligible and qualified to be appointed as Vice Chancellors of universities or heads of central educational institutions. Considering the high degree of dissatisfaction in selecting the heads of institutions, this function assumes special importance.

5. A major task assigned to the Commission is to prepare once in every five years a report onthe state of higher education and research in the various states and submit to the Governor. Similarly, the Commission would present to the President of India, a report on the vision of the higher education and research in the forthcoming decade.

6. The status of Member of the NCHER is proposed to be such as to be free of control by any one Ministry and made responsible only to parliament.

7. An important feature of the NCHER Bill is a provision to review by a committee on eminent persons the performance of the Commission itself about the extent of fulfillment of its goals and objectives and recommend suitable actions. This is somewhat exceptional in the sense that the institutions or organizations created by acts and statues seldom get reviewed and this is one of the major reasons for their deterioration. Hopefully, the various consultative processes that are envisaged between now and its enactment will further enhance the distinctive role assigned to the commission for renovation and rejuvenation of higher education in India.


* Foreign Institutions Bill

The Foreign Institutions Bill appear to have created most controversies. Unfortunately the criticisms about the Foreign Institutions Bill are based on uninformed misapprehensions. Most of the critics tend to ignore the present ground reality of more than two hundred foreign programmes offered in India in various modes. Undoubtedly majority of these are of substandard quality and value. The regrettable fact is no agency in India has an account of the number of foreign programmes, their mode of operation, nature of partnership, quality of instruction, fee structure, protection of students interest and so on. Many of them indulge in glossy and misleading advertisements enticing gullible students with false promises. Available information on them is based on tertiary sources of reports compiled by voluntary organizations.

1. The requirement that these institutions must have at least twenty years of track record in offering recognized and accredited degree programmes in their home country will weed out fly-by-night operators.

2. They have to comply with all the relevant laws of the land.

3. They should deposit a sum of Rs.50 Crores to meet any liability to the students, faculty and others in case they quit or their registration is withdrawn.
On the whole, the need for the Bill is never more acute and should help to prevent the growing chaos in foreign programmes in India.


* The Accreditation Bill


1. The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2009, provides for mandatory accreditation of all higher educational institutions through Accreditation Agencies registered under the legislation. The proposal applies to all higher educational institutions including, universities, institutions deemed to be universities, colleges, institutes, institutions of national importance established by an Act of Parliament, and their constituents, imparting higher education beyond 12 years of schooling leading to the award of a degree or a diploma, and whether through the conventional or distance education systems.

2. The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions is empowered to register agencies that would undertake accreditation of institutions in accordance with regulations governing academic quality i.e. the quality of outcomes associated with teaching, learning and research besides quality in admissions, physical infrastructure, human resource infrastructure, research and research infrastructure, course curricula, assessment procedures, placement and governance structures.

3. Existinghigher educational institutions and programmes therein would be allowed a period of three years to obtain accreditation, if not already obtained.

4. The Authority would monitor and audit the functioning of the Accreditation Agencies. Besides the Authority would also register and regulate the working of Accreditation Agencies

5. It also would require higher educational institutions to routinely provide reliable information to the public on their performance, student achievement, faculty availability and qualifications and research publications and so on.

6. There are sufficient provisions in this Bill to ensure accreditation is transparent and reliable with no scope for malpractices. The accreditation rating in future will determine the fate of institutions or programmes as to whether they should be allowed to continue at all, after reasonable opportunities for correcting. Any information about undesirable or deliberate malpractices notonly in academic matters but also in administration and governance process will contribute to adverse rating.


* The Malpractices Bill

It lists all those (mal) practices that will attract the penalty of hefty fines and jail terms. The Bill requires prior announcement and publication of institutional facilities, faculty, procedures for admissions and examination, fee structure and so on. Any willful deviation will attract the penalty. For instance collection of any kind of fees without giving any official receipt will be treated as a major malpractice. Manipulated entrance tests, collection of unaccounted fees, false information about faculty strength, qualification, infrastructure etc., are some of other malpractices covered in this bill.
Name: Arjun Bopanna

HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM-CHALLENGES AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION FOR

HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM-CHALLENGES AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION FOR DEVELOPMENT


* INDIA has one of the largest higher education system in the world + witnessed high growth rate in enrollment of students and institution in the last decade.

* Private sector has played an important role in such growth,accounting for 64% of the total number of institutions and 59% of enrollment in the country,as compared to 43% and 33% respectively a decade ago.

* Central government has given thrust to this sector through five year plan +legislative actions.

* Important bills have been introduced ->higher education and research bill+foreign educational institutions bill+ educational tribunal bill to enhance transparency and quality in the sector.

* Inspite of such intervention ,there are loopholes presenting huge challenge= relatively low GER(gross enrollment ratio) + inequality in acces to higher education by community,gender and geography + lack of high quality research and education institutions.

* During the eleventh five year plan ,significant progress was made in this sector.we can see the progress in three different sections:

* ACCESS:

* Improvement in GER (gross enrollment ratio)-rate of enrollment of students in the institution increased.

* Increase in the number of institution->7new iims+8iits+10nits were established

* Increase in private sector participation->Several private HEIs have been established recently with the support of the corporate sector. These include :
Shiv Nadar University (2011)
Azim Premji University (2011)
Jaypee University of Engineering & Technology (2010)
Dr. K.N. Modi University (2010)
O.P. Jindal Global University (2009)


* EQUITY:

* Additional opportunity for minorities /low income families.

1. Government provided 27% reservation for obcs without affecting general quota.

2. Since 2009-10, government started providing full interest subsidy loans during the moratorium period to student having family income less than rs 0.45mn.

* Support for backward areas:

1. More colleges were established in low enrollment districts.

* Quality:

* Overcoming faculty shortage.

2. Retirement age of faculty increased to 65year .

3. Several fellowship +scholarship schemes for m.phill and p.hd were instituted.

* Reforms in curriculam:
Some states adopted semester system .eg-university of delhi->better hands on and increase in efficiency of students ->student productivity increased.

* Infrastructure development :

1. National mission on education through ICT(information and communication technology) launched=>many colleges provided with broadband connectivity +low cost computing cum access device-Akash was developed.

2. Focus on modernization of laboratories ,libraries,faculty and staff development,research,innovation ,networking between the intitutions.

* Strengthening research and development activity.
Several bills were introduced during 11th fyp to improve quality and transparency in higher education:


1. Higher education and research bill,2011->aims at consolidating multiple regulations and improve transparency into single regulator =national commission for higher education and research, in place of UGC & AICTE.

2. Foreign educational institutions bill,2010->aims at regulating the entry and operation of foreign institutes in india.a key legislation to encourage private sector participation in india,given the absence of any regulatory framework for FEIs(foreign educational intitutes)
Challenges continuing to plague the sector:
Indias higer education system faces challenges on three front->expansion+equity+excellance.
Expansion: India lags behind its global peers in terms of enrollment of students.
Equity:

1. There is wide disparity in terms of rural-urban ,gender and communities.

2. Access to higher education for all minority social groups is much lower than the national average.

3. There is greater gap between male and female access to HEIs.females are not getting opportunity to pursue higher education ,because of various social barriers.

4. There is also significant disparity across states.some states like tamil nadu and Karnataka provide huge opportunity whereas bihar ,Jharkhand and northeastern states lack such opportunity.
Excellence:

1. There is lack of research activity and shortage of high quality faculty.

2. Students qualifying from higer education institutes lack the high quality skills,which leads to employability issues.
12th fyp key initiative to address these challenges:

Faculty shortage issue:

1. Overcoming faculty shortage.

2. Undertaking faculty training and development.
Infrastructure and technology issue:

1. Shifting from annual to semester examination system.

2. Four year undergraduate cources in place of three year cources=>to provide holistic education and opportunity for exploration +community services+hands on research.

3. Providing high speed internet speed in the campuses.

4. Better lab facilities and libraries.
Internationalization:

1. Institutional collaboration for teaching and research of indian universities with foreign universities=>student will get opportunity to study some part of their cources in foreign colleges=>will get greater exposure and will contribute to innovation and research.ex-manipal university has collaboration with foreign university.

2. Faculty and students exchange programs with foreign colleges =>highly skilled students from foreign universities will conduct workshop in indian campuses =>our student will get benefited +will contribute to make human resource.
Research and innovation:

1. Establishment of research focused institutions.

2. Boosting entrepreneurhip->develop industry-academia collaboration,create national research parks +develop a culture for protection and management of IPRs(intellectual property rights) in HEIs(higher education institutions).

3. Enhancing innovation capacity ->several inter-intitutional centres would be established in different areas of basic and applied research.

4. Opportunity of getting duel degree =>means students can graduate in two subjects.


* Recently the University Grants Commission of India announced that foreign universities would be allowed to set up in India.

* Opens up huge opportunities for the world's greatest and most influential universities to bring a broad set of programs to the Indian market.

* American universities can play a critical role in this growth=>America's colleges and universities have a variety of programs - for undergraduates, graduates, professionals, part-time students, executives, researchers, online students and distance learners.

* The vast majority of American colleges are non-profit. They were set up by private trusts or by religious groups or as land grant universities, launched with US government funds=>means lower fees will be taken from the students =>larger section of student from all classes can have access to variety of cources.


* America - keen to conduct more research with their Indian colleagues, and build the capacity of Indian universities to conduct research. This is critical as Indian universities currently lag behind their global colleagues in research capacity and discovery.


* India should look at the American community college system, which has made a publicly-subsidised college education available to a great portion of society.


Reference websites-URL: http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Higher_Education_in_India/$File/EY-FICC_Higher_Education_Report_Nov12.pdf
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-24/news/42361262_1_indian-universities-foreign-universities-american-universities
by Kunal Raj