Indian higher education at a crossroad

Education is the prime mover of the society. It determines the role and approach for the modernisation of society and the nation at large. Since ‘development’ is the buzz word for the advancement of our nation, the quality of our education is of paramount importance along with access and equity to tap rich dividends from our demographic capital. Higher education has to be assessed from a broader perspective in the context of various types of changes in the micro and macro environment. With globalisation and liberalisation, we are players in the global arena. We need to relook at the contents of our educational system and the quality of curriculum transaction, research and development to enhance the quality of education through an effective quality management system.

Quality Scenario

There is tremendous quantitative expansion of higher education institutions since independence. However the quality is deteriorating. It is commonly observed that on an average, Indian colleges and universities do not perform a commendable job and are definitely not world class. An analysis of institutions reveals that only a fraction of them are accredited during a span of 20 years. There is no program accreditation except for the technical institutions. The mind set of most of the higher education institutions is to adopt a laissez-faire approach with no aspiration or motivation to assume additional responsibilities for quality improvement.

There are many quality gaps with respect to curriculum design and development, teaching, learning and evaluation, research consultancy and extension, infrastructure and learning resources, student support and progression, governance, management and leadership. Research and Development is the weakest link in the higher education system. Innovations in higher education system is very insignificant. No wonder, in spite of the large number of higher education institutions in the country, we  do not figure in the first 200 world class institutions by the expert ranking agencies. 

Quality Management System: the need  to reform

Our higher education system needs reforms in many aspects:

- The enrollment rates have to be significantly improved to reach the status of a developed nation ( 30-50%).

- Financial resources have to be enhanced for the large number of state establishments.

- Teacher quality needs to be enhanced through multiple training options.

- Appropriate vocational education programs relevant to the needs of the society have to be identified and implemented to enhance employability of graduates.

- Utilise resources optimally for academic growth and excellence.

- Fortify existing institutions to make them more productive enterprises with reference to a student’s academic growth and career advancement.

- Better utilisation of ICT infrastructure in academics and administration.

- Curriculum to meet the global challenges through the competencies and skills developed among the students

Employers often feel that graduates are not employable. The educational system of the country need to produce knowledge workers who are competitive and innovative. Therefore, it is easy to surmise that most of the current higher education institutions which focus on the attainment of a discrete body of specialist knowledge is no longer relevant. Employers now want their workforce to be flexible and innovative, demanding them to be capable of learning new skill and acquire relevant knowledge as the need arises.

Educational institutions therefore, must establish a Research Consultancy Center involving faculty, professionals, students and industry, where work on few technologies and discovery is facilitated. The focus has to be on commercially viable research and consultancy.

Quality System

The Higher education system needs to increasingly focus on the importance of quality assessment, assurance and enhancement. The changes in higher education should be much more accountable to all their stakeholders, not least to the students.

Challenges

- Higher education institutions should undergo a continuous need assessment. They should assess the major requirements of stakeholders of the higher education system, in order to sense their changing needs, expectations and perceptions of the forces driving the change. They have to have an effective management information system to enable them to make quick and relevant decisions.

- Students are encouraged to be active participants in the learning process. Therefore, there should be more student focus in the curriculum, curriculum transaction and other management aspects. Students need to develop critical reflective thinking skills, the ability to make one’s own informed judgments in a world in which multiple educational outcomes like complex cognitive skills, ability to apply acquired knowledge of complex life problems, appreciation of human differences, practical competence skills and a coherent integrated sense of identity, etc. exists.

- Promoting employability of graduates is a key. Work experience can be very valuable in helping students to obtain the right orientation. This would enhance the marketability of the educational programmes.

- Prospective students differ in terms of their financial capabilities. Therefore differential fee structure and availability of assistantship/scholarship/loan etc should be very useful.

- The adoption of information technology both in academics and administration is a must. Information and communication technologies through the internet and satellite transmission have opened up avenues of development in educational delivery modes which should be engaged by all institutions.

- The role of the teacher will change to a facilitator. Only a facilitator would be able to improve a student’s receptivity to knowledge, by influencing their perception of nature, limits, certainty and utility of knowledge.

- It will require an efficient and effective managerial system through programmes of human resource development. It will also need a very different decision making structure from the present bodies of the university. Hence, it will need a radical change in the structure and constitution of its management bodies, if decision-making becomes time bound and professionally oriented.

- The universities have to become manageable in size. Its span of control have to be reduced with more and more decentralisation. With decentralisation, autonomy of the colleges, and even departments of universities, will have to be promoted while ensuring accountability. This probably is the only way to make the system effective in all respects. 

- Various subsystems in the education system will have to synergize in a major cooperative effort to make our system innovative and competitive with the best in the world. New patterns of governance and leadership capable of responding to the changing scenario and emerging challenges have to be evolved.

- Since technology is transforming the work place, requiring greater technical skills for a growing number of jobs, there is a need to reorient the academic programmes to help them develop necessary skills and expertise to function effectively in a technologically enabled work place. It is important that the skills have economic value content beyond the specialized knowledge that it enjoys in their area of specialisation.

What  needs to be done?

- Considering all these issues, there is a strong case for transformation which is possible only by quality assessment of the higher education system as a whole, consisting of programs, teaching and learning, research & development, human resources, financial resources, facilities & infrastructure, organisational aspects, leadership and management practices and governance including processes, policies and structure- all aimed at balancing interests of all stakeholders.

- Quality Management System has to be planned and implemented in a holistic way. This can be done only through systematic processes and private public partnership. Processes have to be transparent and institutions of repute, whether industry or private organisations, including international players, can be involved in the whole process. First of all targeting all 38000 institutions for accreditation will be a herculean task. Given the large size of the Indian higher education system, the biggest in the world in terms of the number of colleges, it is imperative to work out an ‘E-assessment methodology’. Low performing institutions have to be assisted to improve their quality. Government agencies should be able to facilitate that process.

- Private and international partners should be able to organise the lead audit for capacity building of the above threshold institutions and bring them up to the world class category.

- Private and international players can facilitate the other institutions to be assessed and accredited with adequate capacity building processes to achieve excellence in the quality space. If we set benchmarks for the top level institutions, the idea will penetrate down the line and it will be possible to elevate them to a higher level. The whole exercise should revolve around capacity building for higher education institutions to achieve their objectives and compete with world class institutions.

The author is the former Vice Chancellor of  SNDT Women University Mumbai & Former Senior Education Consultant, NAAC, Bangalore