HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA - EDUCATION
News: Autonomy oils the wheels of higher education excellence
What's in the news?
● None of India's
institutions of higher education appears in the list of top 100 universities of
the world. Reason for this is lack of sufficient autonomy - academic, administrative and financial.
● Autonomy is regarded as a necessary and sufficient condition to attain excellence.
Why is Autonomy essential?
Various examples from India and throughout the world highlight how crucial autonomy is.
India:
● In
the 2023 QS World University Ranking,
three higher education institutions from India are ranked in the top 200
globally, three more are in the top 300, and two more are in the top 400.
● Only
one institution is ranked among the top 400 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and Times Higher
Education (THE) rankings.
● Well
all these institutions belong to the Institutions of National Importance (INIS)
category such as IITs.
● These institutions are well funded, they enjoy greater autonomy and they fall outside the regulatory purview of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
World:
● The
best universities in the world are continuously sensitized about the importance
of their autonomy and are trained and enabled to make their own decisions.
● For
example, The European University
Association (EUA), prescribes a 'university autonomy tool' that lets each
member university compare its level of autonomy vis-à-vis the other European
higher education systems across all member countries.
● The EUA creates composite scores and evaluates every nation in Europe by concentrating on four autonomous areas such as organizational, financial, personnel, and academic.
National Education Policy (NEP) and Autonomy:
● The
NEP considers a lack of autonomy as one of the major problems of higher
education.
● Thus,
to transform the higher educational system in India, it emphasizes the need for
institutional autonomy.
● It
argues for a 'light but tight regulatory framework and insists that the new
regulatory regime would foster a culture of empowerment.
● It
also talks about a robust system of accreditation, all higher education
Institutions would gradually gain full academic and administrative autonomy.
● But the selective implementation of the policy is not helping to achieve this autonomy.
Go back to basics:
INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM:
● India’s
higher education system is the third
largest in the world, next to the United States and China.
● The
Higher Education sector has witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of
Universities/University level Institutions & Colleges since Independence.
● Some institutions of India, such as IITs, NITs, IIMs have been globally acclaimed for their standard of education.
ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION:
1. Lower enrolment ratio:
● There
is a huge gap between those who move out from school and those who enroll in
higher education systems, which really need to be bridged.
● India’s Gross Enrolment
Ratio (GER) is around 27.1 percent which is 6
percent lower than the world average and it is 50 percent lesser than countries
such as Australia and the US.
● India
has the largest population of young people (100 million) between 17 to 19. When
around 27% students enroll into higher education institutes which translates to
20 million, which is very low.
2. Issues in regulation and autonomy:
● In
India, apart from UGC (University Grants Commission) there are several
regulatory bodies like AICTE, MCI, BCI, NCTE and those under state governments.
● These
individual bodies move in different paths, creating various hurdles like exams,
teaching methods for students. So we need to bring all important regulatory
bodies on a common platform and develop a common understanding and strategy for
managing the change.
3. Lack of research centric approach:
● Most
of the Indian higher education system lacks
a strong teaching-learning process and research.
● This
is the reason why no higher education institution of India figures in the
global top 200 higher education institutes around the world.
● India
has barely 119 researchers per million of the population as compared to Japan
which has 5300 and US which has 4500.
4. Lack of good faculty:
● Shortage
of quality faculty is proving to be a great stumbling block in the
transformation of higher education in India.
● According
to a government report, there is a massive need for expansion in higher
education, but there is also a lack of deserving Ph.D. candidates for faculty
positions in higher education.
● This
has created a shortage of almost 54
percent in the faculty talent pool in higher education, such a deficiency
will greatly prove to be a stumbling block, which is mainly due to the bad
decisions taken by policymakers, bureaucrats, and university administrators.
5. Lack of new teaching methods:
● The
Indian higher education system has been following the lecture drive method for
several years. This has turned ineffective and not sufficient in many areas.
● Besides,
there is a lack of teacher's learning and development areas which should be in
the form of educating them. There are no approaches like mentoring, spot
visits, practical educational tours and involvement in research projects with
peers.
6. Increase in profit making institutions:
● Though
private players in higher education contribute significantly to the growth of
the sector, the profit intent of these institutions has threatened the very
basic foundation of social development goals.
7. Stagnant curriculum:
● There
is a wide gap between industry requirements and curriculum taught at colleges.
● This
also renders graduates unemployable lacking
in specific skill-sets.
8. Financing:
● India barely spends 2.5%
of its budgetary allocations on education.
This is far below the required amount needed to upgrade the infrastructure at
public institutes.
● Nearly
65% of the University Grants Commission (UGC) budget is utilized by the central
universities when the share of state universities in student enrolments is much
higher.
9. Inclusiveness and equal access:
● Inter-caste
and tribal disparities are prominent in Indian higher education.For Scheduled
Castes, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is 19.9% and for Scheduled Tribes, it is
14.2% as compared to the national GER of 24.5%.
● Muslims
have the lowest rate of enrolment in higher education. Caste-based
discrimination in universities leading to suicides e.g. Rohit Vemula case.
10. Unemployable workforce:
● The
educated youth in India are not employable since they lack the necessary
industry-level skills.
● The
Indian education system does not give priority to the basic foundation.
● Skill
development programs cannot succeed without a basic foundation.
● The government measures to address the unemployment crisis like PMKVY have shown poor results because of this reason.
REVAMPING HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM:
1. Filling up vacancies:
● Government
must ensure filling up of vacancies through more autonomy to the institutions.
2. Creating an enabling atmosphere:
● Research
cannot be improved merely by regulating universities, instead they need efforts
to create an enabling atmosphere for which it is imperative to grant more
autonomy, better funding and new instruments to regulate work ethic.
3. Implementing initiatives:
● New
initiatives like Hackathon, curriculum reform, anytime, anywhere learning
through SWAYAM, teacher training are all aimed at improving quality. These need
to be effectively implemented.
4. Permanent appointments:
● As
India wants to transform its universities into world class institutions, it
must safeguard the interests of young researchers and thousands of temporary
faculty members by expediting the permanent appointments in a time-bound
framework and transparent manner.
5. Incentive:
● One
of the fundamental changes India must institutionalize is a radically new
compensation and incentive structure for faculty members. A flexibility to pay
differential salaries based on market forces and merit must be part of this
transformation.
6. Investment:
● Adequate
investment in the higher education sector is needed. Gap in investment to be
filled by private sector
7. Revamping curriculum:
● It
is important to make curriculum industry-oriented, updated and practical
focusing on skill development. More focus is needed on critical thinking,
analytical reasoning, problem-solving rather than memorizing and writing
skills.
8. Autonomy:
● UGC
should act as a facilitator rather than a regulator. More autonomy to
universities to be provided.
9. NEP 2020:
● Regulation in Higher
Education: Higher education would also be reformed
by setting up Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), a single regulator
for the four verticals to take care of all aspects of higher education:
○ National Higher Education
Resource Centre: For regulating the higher education
sector.
○ National Assessment and
Accreditation Council: To provide accreditation
to higher education institutions.
○ Higher Education Grants
Council: For funding academic and research
activities.
○ General Education Council:
For standard setting of academics in the higher education sector.
● Increase GER to 50 % by
2035:
○ NEP
2020 aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including
vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035. 3.5 Crore new seats will
be added to Higher education institutions.
● Holistic
Multidisciplinary Education:
○ Broad
based multi-disciplinary, holistic UG education with flexible curricula,
creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple
entry and exit points with appropriate certification.
● Multidisciplinary
Educational Research University (MERU):
○ The
policy also envisages phasing out of single stream colleges and instead,
transforming them into multidisciplinary Higher Education Institutions called
Multidisciplinary Educational Research University (MERU).
● The National Research
Foundation will be created as an apex body for
fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across
higher education.
● An Academic Bank of Credit is to be established for digitally storing academic credits earned from different HEIs so that these can be transferred and counted towards final degree earned.
CONCLUSION:
● Thus,
a complete revamp is needed to meet the present demand and address the future
challenge that India is about to face.
● To
reap the diverse culture demographic
dividend and to maintain peace and social harmony among them quality
education with values are the necessary area to focus.
● Our
goal to be a world power, the resolving and restructuring of higher education
is must, then only we will be able to harness the human potential and resources
of nation to the fullest and channelize it for the growth of the nation.
● Youth is the most
important asset for a country their future is the
future of the Nation. So, the government must be compelled to provide basic
education and skills.