Events & Issues
New Delhi, 3
September 2022
Professors
Of Practice
UPGRADING HIGHER
EDUCATION?
By Dr
OisheeMukherjee
The recent decision
of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for engaging experts and professionals
from various fields as professors of practice is indeed a welcome step The
objective, as per the draft, is “to develop courses and curriculum to meet the
industry and societal needs and enable HEIs (higher education institutions) to
work with industry experts on joint research projects and consultancy services
which will be mutually beneficial”.
The initiative is
aimed at bringing in distinguished experts from various fields such as
engineering, science, technology, entrepreneurship, commerce, social sciences
media, civil services, public administration, armed forces etc. and involve
them in developing and designing course curriculum, delivering lectures,
mentoring students in innovation and entrepreneurship, focusing on
industry-academia collaboration, carrying out joint research projects and
holding seminars in collaboration with regular faculty members.
The biggest challenge
before higher education today is to impart skills that are relevant to needs of
industry, farm sector and the like. The obvious idea is to make students, not
just aware of the social and economic realities but make them ready to take up
assignments. But there is also the need to impart quality education, which
unfortunately is confined to few higher education institutions.
Delving into
statistics, there has been growth from about 20 universities in 1950, to about
1040 universities at present. Only around 135 of these institutions are
regarded as Institutions of National Importance (INI). Close to 39 million
students are currently enrolled in the academic institutions with India’s gross
enrolment ration (GER) standing at a little over 27 percent. For Education 4.0
implementation, changes are imperative in the sphere of upgrading
quality.
This could begin at
the curriculum level. The curriculum requires the right mix of technical
knowledge, social sciences, ethics, leadership skills, design elements and it
also needs to be tightly integrated with out-of-class learning. But this
curriculum has to reach all universities throughout the country with an eye on
those located in the backward districts of the country.
The National
Education Policy has come out with some innovative ideas such as permitting
undergraduate students to take courses across all disciplines, launch of four
ear undergraduate degree course, incorporating vocational education in college
curriculum and autonomy to leading colleges. Meanwhile, very few colleges have
so far been granted autonomy and the process definitely needs to be expedited.
Added to this, there is a specific and important suggestion of creation of a
National Research Foundation
However, the basic
problem is the setting up of more colleges in rural and backward areas of the
country but experts are not talking about this. There are suggestions of
amalgamating tiny colleges into one big institution without considering how
students would reach that institution every day. Though the focus is on modernising
education, which undoubtedly is very important at this juncture, there is equally
a need to make available education for all sections of society.
A section of experts
believe that the latest NEP visualises education that is in perfect sync with
the politics of the corporate Hindutva alliance that currently rules
India. The policy believes in privatisation of education, which will
clearly make it more expensive and obviously beyond the means of socially and
economically deprived sections. This also implies that quality education that
the rich and middle class can afford will not be available to the lower
echelons of society.
As is happening
presently, the privileged section has been acquiring education that will enable
them to fill executive and official positions, while others excluded from such
education will be given skills and will join the vast segment of the workforce
among whom limited number of available is rationed out. The globalisation of
capital characteristic of neoliberal capitalism also created a global market
that requires, in turn, a homogeneous education, across countries. This
detaches education, say in India, completely from its Indian setting. Thus, a
student of economics in the country cannot simply understand the Indian economy
without reckoning with the legacy of colonialism.
The present endeavour
to make education more professionalised by laying stress on the vocational
angle and imparting skill education is possibly something which should have
been taken up years ago. The emphasis on curriculum development has to be given
special attention by making education not pedagogic but tuned to the
necessities of industry and society. This indeed is a big challenge and the
sooner this transformation comes the better it is.
However, the autonomy
of these higher education institutions have to be guaranteed which is a vital
need at this juncture. Politicians, both at the Centre and in the States, want
to have a say in universities and colleges as they want to use students for
their political activities. This cannot be allowed to continue and each
institution has to be allowed to develop in its own way. This means they should
be allowed to devise variations from the standard curriculum, keeping in view
local needs and requirements.
The growth of the
university depends to a large extent on the quality of education imparted for
which the faculty has to be of a high order and sincere with their students.
Involvement of teachers with students is very much necessary to ensure that
each one of them – not just those who are meritorious – get the right education
and have no difficulty in understanding. In this connection, dedication and
sincerity are key words which are sadly missing from the vocabulary of most
teachers.
The trend towards
privatisation of education, which will clearly make it more expensive and
obviously beyond the means of socially and economically deprived sections,
needs to be seriously considered and proper rules brought in place regarding
the fee structure. A committee may be set up to ensure that meritorious
students from the poorer sections get benefits to study in private
universities.
Finally, while
institutions should be encouraged and allowed to grow with proper impetus and
support coming from the government, in the long run, universities in backward
areas should not fall behind as this would imply that quality education would
be available only to the rich and middle class, as is happening now. It would
be distressing if only the privileged section acquire education that will enable
them to fill executive and official positions while others excluded from such
education will join the vast segment of the workforce among whom a limited
number of available jobs is rationed out.In fact, the leadership must educate
itself as empowering the young generation is the need of the hour. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
|