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|  More Universities Will Mean Greater AccessDoes India need an additional 600 universities and 35,000 colleges as envisioned by HRD minister Kapil Sibal? How can the government reach these ambitious targets? Academicians mull over the questions.
While welcoming the proposal, Prof. P. B. Sharma, vice- chancellor, Delhi Technological University ( DTU) said that this is necessary to empower India and its steadily growing economy in the new knowledge age. “ India has emerged as a major destination for the services sector as well as for high- end science and technology enterprises for design and new product innovation. This is evident from the rising KPO and BPO sectors, the growing software industry and also from the establishment of design and R& D centres by several multinationals in India,” he said. However, Sharma underlined the need for ensuring world- class education in the country. “ The focus in India should not merely be on increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio ( GER) but also to ensure that it is able to achieve its target of making great institutions and achieving world- class education and research standings.” What we need today is accessibility to good institutions to ensure the growth of the country’s GER, which at 11 per cent is quite disappointing. We need to push that up and for that, good institutions should be accessible to rural areas, said Dr. H. S. Ballal, pro chancellor, Manipal University, and chairman, Higher Education, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( FICCI). In this regard, private participation can help, offered Ballal. “ Given the fact that a larger number of educational institutions are required to meet the ever increasing demand for higher education, which the government alone may find difficult to fulfill, regulated private partnership in education may be a viable option,” he said. “ We have seen some good academic institutions, from private quarters, emerge in the country like BITS Pilani and ISB Hyderabad. However, one has to realise that it is not just the land, buildings and money that produce quality education. Institutions require a visionary management, enlightened minds of faculty and inspired students to make it an institution of high acclaim,” he added. Our country is home to 540 million people under the age of 30. Soon, 19 per cent of our population, an estimated 235 million, will be in the higher education group, said Ballal. “ But the present scenario in the country is not as bright as it should have been considering the fact that we, after China and the United States, are the biggest higher education providers in the world,” he added. This is not going to be an easy task, said Sharma. “ This is not an easy challenge given that we have tested the upsurge in technical, managerial and other professional education sectors by undermining quality of education and research. The prime question is: how do we amend our ways and prepare ourselves to cruise on the pathways of world- class education and research in a country which has a vast diversity in institutions and in the quality of teachers and students?” he asked. If the focus remains on multiplying institutions and maximising profit rather than enhancing academic quality, we will have sub- standard institutions in great numbers in our country, which will do more harm than good to the country’s knowledge economy, said Ballal. Meera Ramachandran, principal, Gargi College, agreed. “ It’s a fact that due to the ever growing population in our country, we’ll need more colleges and universities in the country in the near future. But at the same time, we should also focus on diversifying the curriculum to include other things that will be of help to the students’ growth,” she said. “ For instance, the focus could be on developing the students’ entrepreneurial skills or providing vocational education to them. http://www.indiaacademic.com/ The problem also lies in our inability to inspire talented students to turn towards teaching profession even in engineering, medicine, management and other professional courses, felt Sharma. “ During my 40 years of association with higher education in India and abroad, including 12 years at IIT Delhi (http://www.indiaacademic.com/ # # # India Academic seeks to become a meeting point for students, instructors, and all those who are concerned. With a huge information of schools, colleges and universities. http://www.indiaacademic.com End
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