Ans1:
--The higher education is a prime mover of knowledge and plays a key role in social welfare and overall growth of the society. But unfortunately, the higher education system in India, suffers both from irrelevance and ineffectiveness.
1. The main reason behind them seems to be a high level of politicisation at governance, leadership, teacher and student levels. All major stakeholders in the traditional university are politicised to a large extent and that tends to apparently contribute to the poor performance of a university.
2. Another reason can be seen as the usually low level of budget allocation to the education sector, which has always been a negligible portion of the GDP.
3. Also, vocational education is given lesser importance, and the syllabus contains mostly theoretical learning, which is largely irrelevant in professional sector.
--The various recent instances of political interferences, including that in Nalanda University, choice based credit system, curtailing the autonomy of IIMs, show that govt is doing little to show its support to the higher education system. All such measures may lead to deterioration of the system in the long run.
--On the other hand, some of the progressive steps taken include:
1. The recent increase in budget allocation to R&D sector, will encourage the scientific research in universities.
2. Ongoing student exchange programs also make the students aware of the better practices adopted in the education system in other countries.
--Education serves as the basis of development in any country and to reap the benefits of the present demographic dividend, it is imperative for the govt to boost this sector
Ans2:
Global reports indicate that very few institutes of India are in the top 200 list worldwide. This is unfortunate for a country with historical legacy of being the linchpin of higher education. Moreover, the number of students opting for higher education in India is low compared to other developing and developed countries. Numerous students prefer higher education in foreign universities than indian. These issues call for analysing the challenges of our higher education.
Some of them are :
1) Most of the public institutes of higher education provide only certificates rather than degrees. These certificates do not hold equivalent value of a degree and resuktantky receive less placement offers and job packages.
2) Funding for higher education has been low compared to other countries. This resulted in cash crunch, poor laboratories, low number of faculty, poor faculty training etc.
3) Politcial interference in appointment of directors, board, faculty is also present. Lack of autonomy is a major reason for poor performance.
4) Private institutes have low standards, charge exorbitant fees and teaching quality is sub standard with poor infrastructure an laboratory facilities. Regulation of these institutes is minimal and prone to corruption. Numerous over lapping jurisdiction of state and central bodies is a reason for that.
5) Emphasis on research and industry linkage is low. Collaboration with foreign institutes is also minimal.
The government has taken several measures to address these issues. The NID act and SPA act have made these institutes as national importance allowing them to grant degrees and empowering them to open branches. The central universities act aims to establish more universities in far flung areas. Introduction of CBCS along with giving universities autonomy in making changes to curriculum and course structure is laudable. However, these measures should also be accompanied by giving institutes more autonomy along with increased accountability. That is the way forward.
--The higher education is a prime mover of knowledge and plays a key role in social welfare and overall growth of the society. But unfortunately, the higher education system in India, suffers both from irrelevance and ineffectiveness.
1. The main reason behind them seems to be a high level of politicisation at governance, leadership, teacher and student levels. All major stakeholders in the traditional university are politicised to a large extent and that tends to apparently contribute to the poor performance of a university.
2. Another reason can be seen as the usually low level of budget allocation to the education sector, which has always been a negligible portion of the GDP.
3. Also, vocational education is given lesser importance, and the syllabus contains mostly theoretical learning, which is largely irrelevant in professional sector.
--The various recent instances of political interferences, including that in Nalanda University, choice based credit system, curtailing the autonomy of IIMs, show that govt is doing little to show its support to the higher education system. All such measures may lead to deterioration of the system in the long run.
--On the other hand, some of the progressive steps taken include:
1. The recent increase in budget allocation to R&D sector, will encourage the scientific research in universities.
2. Ongoing student exchange programs also make the students aware of the better practices adopted in the education system in other countries.
--Education serves as the basis of development in any country and to reap the benefits of the present demographic dividend, it is imperative for the govt to boost this sector
Ans2:
Global reports indicate that very few institutes of India are in the top 200 list worldwide. This is unfortunate for a country with historical legacy of being the linchpin of higher education. Moreover, the number of students opting for higher education in India is low compared to other developing and developed countries. Numerous students prefer higher education in foreign universities than indian. These issues call for analysing the challenges of our higher education.
Some of them are :
1) Most of the public institutes of higher education provide only certificates rather than degrees. These certificates do not hold equivalent value of a degree and resuktantky receive less placement offers and job packages.
2) Funding for higher education has been low compared to other countries. This resulted in cash crunch, poor laboratories, low number of faculty, poor faculty training etc.
3) Politcial interference in appointment of directors, board, faculty is also present. Lack of autonomy is a major reason for poor performance.
4) Private institutes have low standards, charge exorbitant fees and teaching quality is sub standard with poor infrastructure an laboratory facilities. Regulation of these institutes is minimal and prone to corruption. Numerous over lapping jurisdiction of state and central bodies is a reason for that.
5) Emphasis on research and industry linkage is low. Collaboration with foreign institutes is also minimal.
The government has taken several measures to address these issues. The NID act and SPA act have made these institutes as national importance allowing them to grant degrees and empowering them to open branches. The central universities act aims to establish more universities in far flung areas. Introduction of CBCS along with giving universities autonomy in making changes to curriculum and course structure is laudable. However, these measures should also be accompanied by giving institutes more autonomy along with increased accountability. That is the way forward.
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