The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : Reconstruction of higher education in India

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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Leader Page Articles

Reconstruction of higher education in India

V.C. Kulandaiswamy

Higher education in India is ill-equipped, fragmented, and outdated. The affiliating system, a curse, must go.

IN THE modern world with a high obsolescence rate, every system must periodically undergo mini-revolutions. If that does not happen, the system must necessarily experience a major revolution. Higher education in India has successfully resisted all attempts for reform that was contemplated in two National Policies (1968 and 1986); recommended by the Higher Education Commission 1948 headed by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan; and numerous Committees and Commissions thereafter.

If it is to remain competent, meet emerging challenges, and serve the needs of the nation, it has necessarily to undergo a major revolution. Higher education needs a far-reaching structural reconstruction.

The present structure of higher education is not only outdated but is also inherently weak and unequal to the task. Any effort at improvement, keeping the structure as it is, will certainly not yield the desired results. The reason briefly is as follows.

All over the world, higher education is in university institutions: they are big campuses with a critical mass of student and staff strength and can sustain large libraries, modern laboratories, and advanced centres with adequate infrastructure. An institution like MIT has 3000 faculty members and 30,000 students.

Higher education in India is fragmented, scattered, and takes place in nearly 16,000 institutions called affiliated colleges, many of which are tiny and a trace better than higher secondary schools. They do not have libraries worth the name. Most of them have a faculty strength varying from 100 to 200 and the number of faculty with doctoral qualification is pitiably low or nil in many cases. These institutions of higher learning perform only classroom teaching, preparing students for examinations like tutorial colleges. The affiliating system, which dominates the Indian scene, has long been given up even in the country of its origin. It does not exist anywhere in the world barring India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Unfortunately, the entire higher education in India takes place only in the ill-equipped, understaffed, affiliated colleges as can be seen from the fact that 89 per cent of undergraduate students, 66 per cent of post-graduate students, and 82 per cent of faculty are in the affiliated colleges.

We have the peculiar and unhappy situation of substantial post-graduate education (66 per cent) in colleges that have no research whatsoever. Only nine per cent of research scholars are in the affiliated colleges. Can anyone knowledgeable in higher education understand, much less accept, post-graduate education leading to M.Sc., M.A., M. Phil, and even Ph. D. degrees in institutions that have no sanction for professorial positions (affiliated colleges are entitled to have only different grades of lecturers), no research scholars, and no semblance of any research, much less basic research.

But this academic wonder is happening in India — growing strong, multiplying, unchecked and unrepented. Consequently, it is not only our under-graduate education but also a substantial part of our post-graduate education that is poor in quality.

Too few universities

India has a broad base of higher education with a few, very few, sporadic peaks. We do have a few professional institutions and unitary universities that border on centres of excellence, but they are too few for a country of this size. India has, as of 2001-2002 (according to an University Grants Commission report) 213 universities and 52 deemed universities. This number is very small for the size of India and for meeting the emerging needs of advanced research, as can be seen from the following comparison. Japan, a relatively small country, has 684 universities, 512 of them private. The United States has 2364 universities, 1752 of them private, offering four-year degree programmes and above. The United Kingdom has 104 universities and 231 autonomous institutions that can award degrees. Germany has 330 universities.

What is worse, in India the major universities are burdened with the academic administration of affiliated colleges. For instance, Andhra University has 405 affiliated colleges; Osmania University 390; and Anna University 232. The position is nearly the same in the case of most of the major affiliating universities. The duties of an affiliating university involve enormous administrative responsibilities, unproductive in academic terms.

Besides the acute paucity of funds, a lack of autonomy, and the burden of affiliation, the general universities suffer from the obsolete composition, powers, and functions of the university authorities like the Board of Management, the Academic Council, and the Senate.

In all the advanced countries, universities and university-level institutions constitute the strong centres of research. It is a universal phenomenon because universities alone have a continuous flow of young and fresh minds and an atmosphere highly conducive to talent and creative effort. Unfortunately, the share of higher education in research in India is pitiably low. This is reflected in the following allocation of funds (as of 1998-99) for laboratories and research institutions: the Central sector 62.5 per cent; the State sector 8.0 per cent; the public sector 5 per cent, the private sector 21.6 per cent; and higher educational institutions a mere 2.9 per cent. The share of higher education must be at least 10.0 per cent. The higher education sector, which should make a substantial contribution to the promotion of innovation and the development of new technologies is not yet an important partner in this national effort.

The situation calls for serious remedial action and the creation of a new era of university research. The national laboratories may be doing a commendable job but they are no substitutes for university research.

We have to consider the quantum of manpower with higher education needed for achieving a developed nation status by 2020. The advanced countries are moving towards mass higher education. The following information about the proportion of the relevant age group (18-23) entering higher education in some of the advanced countries may prove the point (2000): U.S. 80 per cent; Canada 88 per cent; Australia 80 per cent; Finland 74 per cent; and the U.K. 52 per cent. In general, the advanced countries have more than 50 per cent of the relevant age group in university level education.

India with nearly 300 universities and 16,000 colleges has only seven per cent of the relevant age group entering the portals of universities. This number has to be augmented if we are to become a developed nation: it may have to be at least 25 per cent by 2020. Governments, by themselves, will not be able to meet this need. It is necessary to welcome and encourage the participation of the private sector, but on a selective basis and with safeguards to ensure quality.

Steps in restructuring higher education

Urgent reforms: The reconstruction may be effected in three steps. The higher education system in India is characterised by extreme rigidity and a total lack of flexibility. As the first step, introduce semester system in all the educational institutions; bring major examination reform by adopting continuous internal evaluation and well-defined academic auditing; and adopt the credit system.

Medium term reforms: The outdated affiliating system is a curse on our higher education system. It has converted colleges into coaching centres and teachers into mere tutors. Steps must be taken to liberate the higher education system from the emaciating effects of this curse. Autonomy must be granted to as many deserving colleges as possible. Colleges marginally falling short of autonomy requirements must be helped to fulfil the requirements and gain autonomy. For each major university having a number of affiliated colleges, an autonomous Board of Examinations under the full charge of a Pro-Vice-Chancellor must be established. The Vice-Chancellor and the Board of Management of the university must be concerned only with the university departments and autonomous colleges.

Long term reforms: The real weakness of the higher education system is in the structure itself. Higher education must be in universities and the outdated, anachronistic affiliating system must vanish from Indian soil. We must have a much larger number of university level institutions: We may set a target of about 2500 university level institutions for 2020 and fulfil it in the next 15 years. We must pass the pending Private Universities Act, especially to prevent the haphazard development of private universities, which has already started. We have currently a scheme of funding five universities identified as institutions with potential for excellence. This number must be increased to 50 or more.

We may adopt the following steps to augment the number of university-level institutions mentioned earlier. The Central and State Governments must set up, on a planned basis, more universities. There must be encouragement to establish private universities with adequate safeguards to ensure quality and healthy management. Many deserving colleges must be granted deemed university status; many good colleges must be given autonomy. In the case of colleges that do not qualify to become deemed universities or autonomous colleges by 2015, a five-year scheme must be prepared to transform them into junior colleges offering job-oriented diploma programmes after +2. The affiliating system must cease to exist after 2020.

The Government must, in all seriousness, draw up a plan and programme of action, allot the necessary funds under the mission "Reconstruction of Higher Education," and implement it in three successive five-year plans.

(Dr. Kulandaiswamy is a hydrologist of international renown; former Vice-Chancellor of Madurai-Kamaraj University, Anna University, and Indira Gandhi National Open University; and a Tamil poet. He is currently Chairman of the Tamil Virtual University.)

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