Higher Education World Over For decades now, India has survived with an increasingly mediocre higher education system. Now, as it strives to compete in a globalized economy, in areas that require highly trained professionals, the quality of higher education becomes increasingly important. So far, India’s large educated population base and its reservoir of at least moderately well-trained university graduates have permitted the country to move ahead. But the competition is fierce. China, in particular, is investing heavily in improving its best universities, with the aim of making a small group of them world class in the coming decade, and making a larger number internationally competitive research universities. Other Asian countries are also upgrading higher education with the aim of building world class-universities. Taiwan, which is a major designer and producer of IT hardware, is considering merging several of its top technological universities to create an “Asian MIT.”
To compete successfully in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, India needs enough universities that not only produce bright graduates for export but can also support sophisticated research in a number of scientific and scholarly fields and produce at least some of the knowledge and technology needed for an expanding economy.
Higher Education in India
Higher Education in India has evolved in distinct and divergent streams with each stream monitored by an apex body, indirectly controlled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. There are 415 universities/ institutions, mostly funded by the state governments. However, there are 20 important universities called Central universities, which are maintained by the Union Government and because of relatively large funding, they have an edge over the others. The engineering education and business schools are monitored and accredited by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) while medical education is monitored and accredited by the Medical Council of India (MCI). Like-wise, agriculture education and research is monitored by the Indian Council for Agriculture Research. Apart from these, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) controls all the teacher training institutions in the country. The country has some ace engineering, management and medical education institutions which are directly funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Union Government. Admission to all professional education colleges is done through all-India common admission tests of which the IIT-JEE, AIEEE, CAT and CPMT are the most popular ones. Most of the institutions reserve a small percentage of seats for foreign students.
In order to join the developed economies, India desperately needs to build a strong higher education system. At present there are many problems that plague the higher education system in country: inadequate financial support, lack of clarity in mission, ineffective administration and managerial inefficiencies, lack of transparency in recruitments etc.
Faculty and Infrastructure scenario
Veerappa Moily, the chairman of the overseeing committee appointed for the implementation of reservations for OBCs, conceded that faculty shortage is a big concern, and he attributed it to the not too attractive pay packages for teachers.
There’s undoubtedly a huge shortage of quality teachers. A recent survey when there was no OBC quota shows that the nation’s seven IITs need about 900 additional faculty members. Now, with the OBC quota and the increase in the number of students, this number will only rise. In leading technical colleges across the US and Britain, the faculty student ratio is 1:6, while at present, most IITs just manage to scrape up a 1:12, often going to 1:14.
Meanwhile, it is also felt that the number of medical students has come down as a result of reduction in postgraduate seats for want of faculty. In Mumbai medical colleges for instance, the seats, which were 1,900 in 2001 have been reduced to 450 in the year 2008. In the case of central universities and the affiliated colleges, the scene is even grimmer. Here, there is no decrease in the number of students, but there has hardly been any increase in new faculty recruitment. The UGC, which is the funding body, has laid down rules (almost archaic) that stipulate that the teacher-student ratio be 1:20 for BA (Pass), 1:15 for BSc (General) and 1:12 for BA/BSc (Hons) courses. Any violation of these norms will result in decreased flow of the UGC grants. Under these
circumstances, many colleges have resorted to capping faculty, which may have adverse impact on the standard and quality in imparting education.
Some of the central universities like the University of Delhi have decided to limit the OBC reservations to 9% annually so as to reach the full target in the next three years. The three-year concession for full implementation is indeed a boon for the universities. It will allow time to find solutions to the faculty shortage crisis.
Government of A.P and Private Colleges Well Geared for Increased Intake
Inspite of the many problems identified above, most private colleges (M.B.A, M.C.A Eng. Pharmacy) in Hyderabad that this magazine talked to, claimed to be well geared for the increase in number of students. Here is the exact status of a few of the colleges with respect to impact on resources and their predictions on placements etc.
Dr.Shekhar, principal of The Arjun College of Technology and Sciences, spoke to us at length about the impact of the increased intake in the coming years.
The college has already added new buildings, augmented the computer and lab facilities and recruited new faculty. In addition, it maintains a database of faculty members and can always dig in to that to meet any new demands. The existing ratio of faculty to students is 1:15 well within the AICTE/JNTU stipulation of 1:20.Regarding labs and other facilities, Dr Shekar explained that while 36 hrs of lab time were available every week, a batch of 60 students needed only 6 hrs of lab time/ week. The college regularly organises placement counselling for its students and recently invited Prof KVJ Rao, from the St. Martin College of Engineering to counsel students regarding placements. It also has in place various MoU’s with Open Kite and other organisations to help achieve its target of 100% placements. The college and its collaborators see no significant impact on salaries and placements because of the increased intake in the coming years. By Dr.Shekhar’s estimates the average. salary for graduates would hover around Rs.20,000/ month and the high demand from the industry would prove good for students in current and future years.
Officials at the Global Institute of Engineering and Technology foresee more competition, especially, in placements, but they also add that merit will remain the criterion for students getting placed and hence qualified candidates would not have any problem. Talking about average salary to be expected, they remain optimistic that depending on the candidate’s negotiating powers and performance, salary would not be a constraint. They have also put in place various schemes for helping with placing their students. One such scheme, adopted by many colleges, is the KCP programme that assists in placements.
Dr Satyavathi of MLR Institute of Pharmacy maintained that in most colleges’ standards of infrastructure and Faculty: Student would continue to comply with the AICTE norms. She also clarified that apart from management quota seats all other expansion is controlled by EAMCET counselling and that the colleges had to comply with whatever directives the government gave. Debate on the appropriateness of these norms and their impact on education will have to wait for another forum.
After talking to a large number of private colleges in the state, it was observed that given the guidelines by the A.I.C.T.E, most of the Eng., Medical and MBA/MCA colleges, particularly the new ones in A.P, boast of excess capacity and are well geared for the increased intake of students. In fact it could also turn out to be a boon for many of them.
There is, However, some confusion, in these colleges, on how the implementation of new reservation policy would be made in a phased manner. But given that the college intake is decided through the EAMCET counselling by the Government, few colleges are worried over it. They prefer to wait and watch what the government finally decides in their individual cases.
Dr.K.Raghunath, the camp officer for EAMCET counselling in Eng, B.Pharm and Biotechnology streams, too echoes the views of officials at various private colleges. He endorses the opinion that these colleges are well equipped to handle the increased intake and that merit could be the only criteria when it came to placements and salaries. The government has put in place an elaborate system for the admission process. All details of colleges etc are provided to students and they are directed to the most suitable courses and colleges. This year too, Dr.Raghunath explained that the Government was taking pains to conduct the counselling in an efficient manner and was equipped to counsel the increased number of students.
While the resource labs, faculty situation etc remain similar across private colleges, only about 20% of the 300 or so colleges are actually paying attention to getting students ready for placements, once they pass out. This seems to be the only problem at the private colleges since both infrastructure and industry demands are favourable here. Their real challenge is to get students ready for the industry by the time they pass out. The industry would then easily absorb any increased number of students.
Huge demand for Professionals and Resource Crunches at Elite Institutions
MBA schools have for sometime now been pressed with a huge demand for qualified graduates. IIM-A annually enrolls just 1,620 students in its executive MBA program, against over 8,000 by both HBS and Wharton.
In fact, to accommodate an increase in seats due to the reservation for OBCs, it was agreed by the IIMs that the existing unreserved seats would remain intact and the reservation clause would be honored by increasing the intake.
For many aspiring students the reservation policy has come as an opportunity to try for the seats they missed out last year in these elite institutions. Admittedly, even if this is implemented, it would be a mere drop in the ocean as far as bridging the demand-supply gap is concerned. But it is a start.
Add to that a similar increase in intake for the more than 1,000 private business schools that exist in the country, and we would have made a significant initial impact on cutting excess demand. The second round of increase can be made when new capacities get established. While AICTE norms regarding faculty requirements etc. have created bottlenecks in fully gearing up for expansion in number of students, yet institutions for higher education in country are trying to find ways to increase the output and quality of higher education in India. Given the existing situation, this is a much needed and long awaited development.
Conclusion
It is clear that the higher education system in the country is witnessing a rapid growth and trying to keep pace with industry requirements. While Private colleges and the government mechanisms claim they are equipped to deal with any increase in intake of students, elite institutions like IITs and IIMs will be facing resource crunch, particularly with regard to infrastructure and faculty. However given the huge existing gap in demand–supply of quality professionals, no adverse impact is foreseen on placement prospects.
Prospects for the future One big lacuna that remains in the higher education segment of professional courses like Eng etc. is the lack of emphasis on research. In the long run, this is what could make the most difference to the state of the industry, and there is a great need for giving this much neglected segment a serious thought.
India cannot build internationally recognized research-oriented universities overnight, but she has the key elements in place to begin and sustain the process. We need to give due attention to this lacuna along with efforts to increase social inclusiveness. India will need to create a dozen or more universities that can compete internationally to fully participate in the new world economy. Without these universities, India is destined to remain a scientific backwater.