Higher education needs to meet higher expectations

Contributed for The Tribune

SOME learn to earn, while there are others who earn to learn, and are ready to take risks at any cost. Does India have an excellent higher education system or is it struggling in a sea of mediocrity?
After having worked with a reputed TV channel for almost three years, one day Rahul decided to quit and joined a media course. Having got a seat in one of the premier institutes of the country, he still isn’t sure if he has been provided with the best of education. Is it something to do with an international university tag or lack of opportunities here in India that are putting pressure on today’s youth? But the real issue is, why should our students seek to go to foreign universities? So, what are the real issues that are hindering the growth of higher education sector in our country? Is it infrastructure or a lesser number of institutions? Certainly not! At least by looking at the increasing number of Central universities, deemed universities and last but not the least, private institutions who offer the so-called ‘value-for-money’ degrees. So, is it to do with the higher level of research study and learning as compared with foreign universities? Overall, the higher education system in India is not at par with international standards. There are really some good institutions here, but not good enough for our growing population. The European system of higher education, introduced in India by the British in 1857, seems to be losing its charm among today’s generation. Educational and research standards in our universities have suffered a downslide, and this problem needs to be looked into seriously. Look at China, it has funded about 100 of its universities very heavily to make them strongly research based. India needs some world-class institutions as it is a very large and growing economy. Besides, there is another bigger threat — our higher educational institutions of enormous importance have been suffering from political interference too. There is no denying that our students have the potential of doing excellent research and contributing richly towards learning. At least, looking at the kind of writers, thinkers, engineers and scientists that we have, we can say there are a lot of brilliant people in the country, but many of them still prefer to study abroad as they fail to find top-level institutions here. Aspirations for higher education have been quite high in India right from the beginning. Higher education has been the principal instrument in transforming a country from underdeveloped to a self-sustained developed nation. But with the changing times, challenges in higher education are no longer nation centric. They have already attained global dimensions. With the explosive growth of knowledge in the past century and with the development of hi-tech tools of information and communication technologies, competition has become a hallmark of growth all across the globe. Knowledge is not only going to be the driver of Indian economy, but also it is going to permeate into all the strata of Indian society for a better quality of life and living conditions. Therefore, it’s high time that India rose to the occasion and revamped the higher education system to be more vibrant, competitive, meaningful and purposeful. Besides, there is absolutely no substitute to quality of higher education, although the country has been faced for a long time with the serious problem of meeting the quantity needs of our society. It’s time to do away with the defective recruitment system, deal with unemployment, fill vacant posts, stop brain drain and try to cash in on learning rather than on number of educational degrees. Let’s build world-class universities in this world-class nation.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130212/edu.htm#1