`Many pitfalls in private university structure'
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"You are given training in a narrow area and your foundations are not good. This is the defect with the private system."
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Arun Nigavekar, Chairman of the University Grants Commission.
SYSTEMIC CHANGES are not easy to bring about, particularly in the higher education sector, but technology has been successful in doing that. And for good.
India, according to the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Arun Nigavekar, has made radical changes in the last 10 years which no other country has. Here, Dr. Nigavekar talks about the changes that are taking place, about private universities, assessment and accreditation process etc.
"When we started the quality movement in higher education, there were enormous misapprehensions that it will not work. That India cannot think of quality as it was a Western idea. But the way technology is moving, the change it is bringing is going to force not only the education sector but also the entire economy in a different direction.
"I had said in 1994 that the geographical boundaries would disappear and I had used the phrase `education without borders.' Today, they are using the word `borderless.' Borderless education is that which is offered from one geographical base to another geographical location like the British Management programmes taken by Indian students here.
Technological push
"I had also said then that the scenario in India would change and we will have private education providers in the legal frame of conventional universities. They now call it private universities. Borderless education, foreign universities, private universities, all these have happened in this one decade and it is due to the technological push. And if such things are happening — globalisation of education — then it becomes imperative for any nation to maintain quality.
"People mix up globalisation and internationalisation. Globalisation has something to do with the trade of education i.e. foreign universities coming and marketing here and vice versa. Internationalisation is something more aligned to academic activity such as advancement of curriculum, research exchanges, teacher training etc.
"At UGC, when we started working on quality, there were two distinct assignments: to define quality in higher education and the process of judging quality. Defining quality here is not as simple as overseas, as the threshold levels are higher in the latter. Here, it is a question of numbers.
"Take 1953 as a reference point. In 1953, there were 25 universities, today all inclusive (state, private, deemed etc.,) there are 306. In 1953, there were 700 colleges, today the number is 15,464. There were 100,000 students and it is 9.4 million now. In 1953, there were 15,000 teachers, it is 4.60 lakh now. It is still not sufficient. The access ratio is poor.
Fastest growth
"But nowhere in the world, no country has witnessed such a growth in higher education. Not even China. Our growth rate is the fastest. Of the 9.4 million, 22 per cent are first time graduates in their families. In 1950, it was 0.005 per cent. It has been a substantial change and the education system, by and large, has been fair. Access is important.
"Quality is at the core of any education system. I realised there are seven interested parties in quality education: the first being the student, then the teachers, non-teaching staff, parents, employing agencies, funding agencies (either government, private) and the society in general. They are the seven beneficiaries.
"The students have certain aspirations from the system. It may be driven by economic considerations, knowledge etc. Teachers also will be looking at it similarly. Teachers have to give their best to the system, they have to expand their knowledge boundary and of the students. For the parents, their expectations are simple: they expect the systems to be time-bound, that exams be held in time, let there be a degree and let the children be safe. An educational system should meet the aspirations of each of the seven beneficiaries and that is the key to quality.
Training in narrow area
"I think there are a large number of pitfalls in the private university structure. I agree that in the public university system, the process of change is slow, but it a comprehensive, consultative process. The comprehensiveness of the curriculum cannot be challenged, whereas in the private sector if you look carefully at the curriculum, the titles appear to be modern, but the curriculum is not a teaching-learning one, but training or skill-oriented curriculum.
"The latter does not help you in the long run. That is because you are given training in a narrow area and your foundations are not good. This is the defect with the private system. They are not going about it in a comprehensive manner. It is something like fast food.
"In a knowledge-linked society, how sound is your foundation, how good you are in the core subjects and how adaptable you are to skills are points that matter. Skills can be acquired, but not foundation in later years. It is not that the private university system does not have advantages. Those who come out of that system will realise it later. It is being marketed in a very innovative way. Every skill is being converted into a programme. A small skill is converted into a two-year programme. To a certain extent, it is a global phenomena. It is some sort of degree delivery system in the fast mode.
"The private universities should look at sound foundation, blending with research. In higher education, unless there is good quality research, there cannot be good education. Public universities should adopt processes which are quicker and for that, the UGC has started giving autonomy to colleges. But there is opposition to that as the mindset of the academicians needs to change.
"They believe that the Government is going to come out of the autonomous institutions and that their financial structure would be affected. Neither the Centre nor the State has any reason to withdraw. Autonomy is going to be functional and academic-oriented. The autonomous institutions can have their own small board of studies and inform the university about the changes effected. Why some of them are opposing is that it would mean more work.
Progressive States
"However, technology is making things happen at an accelerated pace. In fact, the northern States have started realising this. They are much slower than the States below the Vindhyas. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and to some extent Gujarat are the States which are progressive in education. In the last three four years, northern States are getting caught in the whirlwind of change. Below the Vindhyas, the public system has been good and accessible to the people.
UGC monitoring
"The task of a body like UGC enhances quality education. Indirectly, we have come out with regulation and it is binding on the private universities. One difficulty is that education is a concurrent subject. States are making changes more rapidly. Chattisgarh gave permission to 97 universities. After the new Government came in, they brought in regulation and a number of universities folded up and there are now 38. So, we came out with regulation for maintenance of standards and quality.
"Our regulation is mandatory. If they do not accept our regulation, we can say that the degrees offered by these universities do not conform to our standards. We are not seeking academic or financial control of these universities. We just want them to ensure quality.
"The Centre is thinking seriously of revisiting the bill on private universities. If the bill comes through, it will override the State bill and we will have a control. A 12-member committee has been formed. We will be submitting the report within two months. This is essential as private universities also need acceptance. How long will they survive in the market?
"Not all private universities are bad. Anyhow, some of them are approaching us for recognition as society and parents are asking them whether they are recognised.
"The committee has met once and the agenda is to create a legal structure for operation of academic institutions which are fully funded by external agencies.
NAAC process
"The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) needs to develop a process wherein it collects enormous data on an institution and do a large amount of permutation and combination to arrive at a certain judgment, based on microlevel information.
It should be outsourced to agencies as the numbers are too large. NAAC's job is to monitor, to keep checks and balances.
"The Indian education system is going through a turbulent process. At one time, access and equity were important. But in the 21st century, we have to safeguard quality, irrespective of where a student is located in the country. We have become too much dependent on Government support and that is an impediment. It does not mean the Government should pull out. The institution should generate resources on its own.
UGC investment
"We are funding colleges with potential for excellence. There are good institutions, bad institutions and indifferent institutions. The number of good institutions is small, the number of bad is not large, but the number of the indifferent institutions is large. The bad institutions are going to convert into indifferent and indifferent into good. And UGC is going to play a catalytic role. The UGC is going to invest in 150 colleges Rs. 1.45 crore per college. It has already identified 47 colleges.
"Similarly, we are going to invest in universities — Madras, Pune, Jawaharlal Nehru, Hyderabad and Jadavpur. We are putting Rs. 30 crores each for academic development over a period of three years, in addition to their regular grant. In all, we will have 15 universities which would excel in teaching and research."
(As told to R. Chandrakanth)
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