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On Course For A Wiser India

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The recent opening of Delhi's T3 (new international airport terminal) is a chapter of jubilation in India's infrastructure story. Built in a record 37 months at $3 billion, this engineering feat exemplifies how India's infrastructure challenges can be overcome with technology and funding. However, there are three caveats — India requires much more than just physical infrastructure; technology and funding are not the only enablers necessary; and long-term goals are much more difficult to set and follow up on. Unfortunately, India's higher education infrastructure seems to be crippled by debilitating circumstances on all three counts. The Slip Is Showing With over 25,951 colleges and 504 universities, India has the largest number of higher education institutions in the world. At 13.64 million students in universities and colleges, another 3 million enrolled in distance learning programmes and over 1.4 million in degree level programmes in technical education, India also has the third-highest aggregate enrolment after the US and China. However, India's 12.4 per cent gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education as claimed in the HRD (Human Resource Develoment) ministry's Report to the People on Education 2009-10 is half the world average, one-third the average of BRIC countries, and one-sixth that of developed countries. Between 1980 and 2007, enrolments in higher education in India grew at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 5.39 per cent compared to 13.07 per cent in China. Making the grade at 15 per cent GER by 2011-12 requires a growth of 7.5 per cent in higher education enrolment for all states with the population in the age group 18-23 growing at 2 per cent throughout this period — a near impossibility. <table style="width: 200px;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="10"> <tbody> <tr> <td><a href="/businessworld/sites/default/files/enrolment_pu.gif"><img src="/businessworld/sites/default/files/enrolment_200x348.jpg" width="200" height="348"></a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Considering that Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh will account for 40 per cent of the increase in the age-group of 15-59-year-olds with only 10 per cent share in GDP growth, there will be an increasing migration of knowledge capital from these states. On the other hand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh will account for 45 per cent increase in GDP with less than 20 per cent addition to the working population. So, making higher education inclusive by bringing about parity in GER across both genders, various population sub-groups, religions or even between urban and rural populations is  a pipe dream. For India, achieving higher education target numbers is paramount but the quality of higher education is equally critical. Treat The Disease, Not The Symptoms While GER is the most important metric to target, it is not a solution. Many studies have pinned the blame for this decadent state of affairs on lack of reforms, where state universities have old syllabi, decrepit infrastructure and are mostly focused on arts, commerce, science  courses that do not impart employable skills. It is also true that almost half of India's higher education institutes have come about in the past 10-15 years, through private enterprise. So, it may be surmised that private institutes have also not contributed to the quality aspect of higher education. According to a survey by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), about 90 per cent colleges and 70 per cent universities are of middling or poor quality with depleted and inferior faculty, libraries, computing facilities and other support infrastructure. Missing Quality Standards In a changing world, quality standards are dynamic. What is world class today may become irrelevant soon. Ten-year-old course content, little or no industry focus in skilling and poor research environment are only the tip of some cold facts that threaten to sink India's knowledge voyage in high seas. Quality research is not on the agenda of any of the stakeholders — students, teachers, institutions, state and central governments, or even the private sector. India ranks a lowly 13th among nations with less than 2.6 per cent share in published research papers between 1994 and 2004 compared to 38.5 per cent for the US, 10.3 per cent for Japan, 9.5 per cent for Germany and 8.6 per cent for the UK. China, a relatively late entrant in academic research, pipped India to reach 9th position with 3.9 per cent share. Also, each paper published in India during this period was cited 3.17 times on average compared to 13.01 for Switzerland, 12.31 for the US, 11.7 for the Netherlands, and 10.54 for the UK. None of India's universities, colleges or technical institutes rank amongst the top 500 universities in the world, save two of the 15 IITs. break-page-break China has 30 institutes in the same list. Outcomes of the research create opportunity to develop completely new industries, and these opportunities create human capacity to develop more higher education institutes, as happened in India with the IT boom in the 1990s. R&D is the engine as well as the fuel that powers higher education. In India, the engine itself needs overhauling. Of the Rs 84,000 crore allocated in the 11th Five-Year Plan, not even Rs 30,000 crore have been spent in the first three years. ‘Tomorrow-Ready' Knowledge Economy As time is running out for the 11th Five-Year Plan, numbers may get misreported in the misplaced enthusiasm to meet GER targets. The government must prevent misreporting and accreditation of sub-standard institutions while promoting self-governance and private participation. Importantly, inclusiveness should not become an alibi for lack of quality. Thankfully, the HRD ministry is showing some urgency in adapting the National Knowledge Commission and Yashpal Committee reports. Both the committes have recommended reforms in existing universities and have proposed coalescing of functions of professional bodies, with variations in emphasis. While National Knowledge Commission has suggested a structure with UGC and a regulatory body, Yashpal Committee prefers a single commission that subsumes all professional bodies including UGC with a distinct mandate for research apart from higher education. Both committes have highlighted the need for at least 1,500 more universities to meet a GER target of 15 per cent. Importance of upgraded curricula, periodic assessment processes, and recruitment and retention of quality faculty have been highlighted. Also, we should set up research centres at select central universities to benchmark and plan their higher education programmes against global institutes of excellence. It is equally important that we develop a centralised inventory of skills, vocations and cross-disciplines that will be necessary in the next 10-20 years. Research–academia–industry–private funding must form a strong alliance to not only build institutions of tomorrow, but also shape the higher education and research of the future. <table style="width: 600px;" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="10"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img src="/businessworld/sites/default/files/higher-education_600x432.gif"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> With one of the most educated leaders of the world at the helm, India today needs to make the best of this opportunity to reap its demographic dividend, lest generations to come curse us for building a nation that has world class airport terminals to travel to Harvard, Cambridge and Tsinghua universities but not a single centre of excellence for higher learning to prevent this exodus. The author is director of Lucid Solutions (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 23-08-2010)