Higher Education

The government’s commitment to setup a Central University in each State to lend a helping hand and ensure that each district gets a college is a welcome development. The plan is to set up 30 universities across the country to make available higher education to a larger segment of the population as also to raise its standard. This comes close on the heels after the government’s decision to have more specialized institutes on science and technology.
Importantly, the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) had recommended that opportunities for higher education are not adequate and that there should be 50 national universities and a total of 1,500 universities nation-wide that would enable India attain a gross enrolment ratio of at least 15 per cent by 2015.
Presently the country has 20 Central universities – 18 funded by the UGC — but these are spread over nine States, Delhi and Pondicherry. One Central university will be located in each of the 16 uncovered States, while 14 new ones will come up in States which provide land free of cost in attractive locations. As for degree colleges, the Central government would provide all help to the States to start 370 new ones and strengthen 6,000 in districts, where the gross enrolment ratio is low.
Meanwhile, the Planning Commission has proposed a seven-year special Plan (2007-14) which includes setting up eight new IITs, seven new IIMs, 20 NITs, 20 IIITs and 50 centres for training and research in frontier areas. Of the IITs, three are already operational. Five Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research have been set up. As for technical education, expansion and upgradation of 200 such institutions in various States has been envisaged. The plan for higher and technical education will start in the 11th Plan and spill over to the next without being diluted. Funding of Rs 1.31 lakh crore is proposed for the seven-year Plan, whereas the NKC wants an outlay of 1.5 per cent of GDP for higher education alone.
Since Independence higher education has been marked by a steady expansion of colleges and universities, setting up of distance education system and several initiatives to promote access and equity. The annual growth has been estimated to be around 3.5 to 4 per cent per annum which, however, is far from actual needs. As such, the enrolment ratio has not been satisfactory and is estimated at 9.1 per cent. The government hopes to raise it to at least 15 per cent by 2012 which is way behind the 40-50% figure of the developed countries.
University education as such has not been lagging behind in quality, but its reach is limited because of the ever-increasing population. India was once regarded as one of the premier centres of scientific and historical research in the Asian continent. It can boast of the best universities like in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai and Central universities such as the JNU, Viswa Bharati and Benaras Hindu University. Then there are specialized institutions for scientific and technical educations like the IITs, which are of a high order. Management institutions such as IIMs and private colleges like Manipal University and Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University too have attracted foreign students. In fact, engineering education has found recognition with the country recently being made a provisional member of the Washington Accord, a 10-member global apex organization.
In recent times, induction of new disciplines for study and research is attracting many more students. These include environmental science, disaster management, computer applications/engineering, informatics, forensic science, hotel and tourism management, religious studies and biotechnology. It is important that the centres for higher education must keep pace with changing times and, courses for which there is both a need and demand have to be formulated. Likewise, private participation in higher education should be welcome as a segment of the population can meet the high costs involved.
However, higher education is also under criticism because of declining standards, parochialism, dogmatism and lack of sincerity of both teachers and students. Ramachandra Guha, well-known critic and historian, has observed that from the 50s to the 80s, major debates about Indian society and history were centred in the country. But even though Indian scholars lead the debates even today, they are more likely to work in western universities and publish their papers in their journals.
Another development is of specialized universities or institutes. The South Asian University is one such example and is to be set up shortly with both students and faculty from all the SAARC nations. The government is also considering setting up the Workers’ Technical University in Hyderabad (with 13 regional centres) catering to an estimated three lakh workers/students a year. It would be one of its kinds and shall ensure that the 40-crore workers’ population, of which 98 per cent is in the unorganized sector, is able to upgrade its skill and meet the demands of industry.
This apart, there is a proposal to revive the 800 year-old Nalanda University having an international character with seven schools (with 4,530 students and 453 faculty members), offering integrated post-graduate and research programmes in informatics, development studies, social sciences etc.
Clearly, advancement of knowledge and human resources are now acknowledged as pre-requisites for social and economic growth. The country’s brain drain needs to be checked and more qualified scientific and technical personnel are required to sustain the growth momentum of 8+ per cent over the coming decade. Thus, higher education has not only to be expanded but quality must meet desirable standards.
In order to augment the quality, several commissions have been constituted, including Radhakrishnan, Kothari, Rastogi and the recent-most NKC. According to the latter, there is need to transform existing institutions and thus has outlined some essential steps: universities should restructure/revise curriculum at least once in three years; annual examinations should be supplemented with continuous internal assessment (25%); research must be encouraged through changes in resource allocations, reward systems and mindsets; infrastructure that supports the teaching-learning process such as libraries, laboratories and connectivity need to be upgraded on a regular basis and innovativeness introduced; appointments of Vice Chancellors must be freed from direct or indirect intervention of State governments, while Academic and Executive Councils, which slow down decision-making process and at times constitute an impediment to change, need to be reconsidered on a priority basis; and modernizing higher study through national and international developments and experiences and freeing the system from any parochial or dogmatic outlook so that organizational management of a high order could be ensured.
As we march ahead, the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission has rightly focused on giving due priority to higher education and ensuring that backward regions are not deprived of the opportunities. Moreover, new institutions and upgradation of existing ones will go a long way in reaching education to all regions of the country as also to all sections of the community. —INFA