Events & Issues

New Delhi, 9 March 2015

Higher Education

QUALITY, MARKET NEEDS VITAL

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

The Budget announcements of at least 15 new Central higher education institutions are a clear indication of the Government’s resolve for expansion in this sector. The Finance Minister stated the Government planned six new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in different States, one Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Karnataka and two IIMs in Jammu & Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh. 

Apart from these, two Indian Institute of Science Education & Research in Nagaland and Odisha, pharmaceutical institutions in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and a Centre for Film Production Animation & Gaming in Arunachal Pradesh are planned. While this spread of specialized higher education is, no doubt, welcome, the shortage of teachers, lack of infrastructural facilities have not been addressed.

Academic scholars have also pointed out the need to upgrade standards in the institutions and make some of these centres of excellence as per priority. Over the past decade, the Government set up eight new IITs and proposed five more, excluding the Budget announcement of another one. But most of these haven’t started in full swing. Moreover, five IIMs announced in July are yet to take off. 

Apparently, the new IITs are limping due to inadequate campus infrastructure and other related facilities. Some academics are worried that such rapid expansion of institutions named after India’s globally acclaimed brand may not bring good name to the country if these don’t live up to expected standards.

However, the proposal for new AIIMS may be considered extremely necessary, as specialized and quality treatment in addition to medical education is crucial. Last time, Arun Jaitley had proposed four AIIMS that are yet to come up. Merely making announcements may get applause but without necessary and timely grants and facilities these would smack of lack of sincerity.

Keeping in view the expansion plans, it was quite natural to make adequate budgetary provisions. But the allocation for education (for the financial year 2015-16) has slipped from Rs 27,656 crores to Rs 26,855 crores and that for existing IITs from Rs 3896 crores to Rs 3538 crores. Experts believe it would indeed be difficult to set up six new IITs in the coming financial year as a fund crunch is imminent. On an average, one IIT costs Rs 1750 crores and one IIM nearly Rs 1000 crores.

Reviewing the higher education scenario, it is distressing to note that only few of the 600 universities and 32,000 colleges have yet to get letters of accreditation from the National Assessment & Accreditation Council (NAAC) within a six-month period, which the University Grants Commission had notified in March last year as these haven’t applied so far.

As on October 25, 2013, only 179 universities and 5224 colleges had valid accreditation. An assessment of NAAC found, “only 11 per cent accredited institutions are A grade while 71 per cent are B grade. Rest 18 per cent of the accredited colleges and universities are in the lowest grade, i.e. C.” The deficient is a reflection on the quality of the institutions. Raising serious questions about the quality, 89 per cent of the institutions are graded ‘average’ or ‘below average’. However, other problems identified include finance and infrastructure crunch that adversely affect the assessment and lowers the grade.  

Over 20 million students are enrolled in higher educational institutions in the country out of which 6 per cent study in the 44 Central universities and their affiliated colleges. However, questions are raised time and again not only about the quality of education imparted, but the relevance of the present curriculum in meeting present day requirements. A reorientation and review of syllabus needs to take place every year in each subject.  

At the same time, despite the spread of education in 10 years between 1999-2000 and 2009-10, the graduate and above segment of the urban population declined by 5 per cent among males while it increased by 10 per cent among females. This too calls for an overall change in the academic atmosphere as per demand of the market forces.

Simultaneously, there is need to give priority to research in science and technology as the country’s contribution was a mere 3.5 per cent of scientific publications in the world in 2010, way behind China, which had an impressive 21 per cent. Both quality of teaching and poor research output appears to have contributed to their low rankings by international agencies like Times Higher Education and Quacquarelli Symonds, released recently.

No Indian university figured in the top 200 while IITs appeared in the 200-350 range. The universities of Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Pune were way below in the 800 range, whereas dozens of universities from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and South Africa fared much better.

Recall, both the President and Prime Minister have regretted the poor research output at a recent NIT conference in New Delhi, echoing what academicians have long described as a historic neglect. “There is need to emphasize research and innovation in NITs. Out of the total student strength of 71,000 in NITs, there are only 4000 Ph.D students. In IITs, there are only around 3000 Ph.D students in the total student strength of 60,000”, Pranab Mukherjee had noted, emphasizing that clear strategies to encourage research and development must be evolved which leads to innovation and patents.

It goes without saying that new areas to study and research have to be opened in institutions of higher learning. These could be climate change, biodiversity, medical geology and environmental pollution, molecular physics, nuclear physics, mineral physics, tourism management, water resource management as also manufacturing technology in specific industries and cloud computing.

While expansion of higher education through deemed universities is also welcome, questions arise to their procedures of admission and the high fees charged – not to speak of the existence of the so-called management quota. There are reports of the rich and powerful using their resources to admit their wards in these universities even though they are unable to fulfil the admission criteria. Thus, meritorious students are left behind to accommodate the privileged groups only because of money power.

Another aspect of the problem is that higher and specialized professional education is going beyond the means of the middle class, not to speak of the lower segments of society. A large number of good students have to go to the private/deemed universities where the rates charged are very high and sometimes even beyond their means. In such a scenario, more government institutions and universities offering specialized courses need to be opened, specially in semi-urban and small towns, to facilitate spread of education among the middle and lower segments of society. 

To conclude, it is necessary for the Government to allocate more funds for the expansion of higher education so that the country can offer specialized technical knowledge and make a mark in the international arena. One may refer to the suggestions of the high-level committee headed by Prof. Yash Pal (in 2009) which, among others, called for increased funding for higher education, stricter regulation and monitoring of private entities. These need to be implemented at the earliest, without any further delay. ---INFA

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