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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Why not public-funded higher education?
Campus NoteS
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Why not public-funded higher education? It is an accepted fact now that the sustained growth of higher education is the catalyst for rapid economic development, human resource and human capital formation for the developing countries so as to face globalised competition. However, the Indian higher education system faces daunting challenges relating to quality, inequalities and inadequacies of funds. Since the 80s, higher education has suffered a resource crunch for its deliverance and diversification. Some well-meaning HRD provisions were like drops in the ocean of technological advances sweeping the world in the same period, which otherwise should have been embedded by now. These have resulted in a very adverse social commentary on the state of affairs of higher education in the country. The state funding, which had not kept pace with the increasing cost of education all this while, has further squeezed, with an eye on new dream projects. Although the government has taken initiatives for primary and secondary education, but such increased aid may not translate into improvement unless the linkages for perusal with accessible higher education are made, including all types of post-secondary education. Hence higher educational planning must also take central stage as with the turn of this century, it faces an unprecedented demand for expansion and diversification. This implies that dynamic structural changes with respect to the way knowledge can be produced, disseminated, accessed and controlled. Now, the viability of universities would largely depend upon their ability to change, induce change, help conserve the human value system, develop progressive societies by rising and transcending above economic endeavours. Those universities, which developed sound mechanisms to sustain themselves during political and economic upheavals, have been able to maintain their creative relevance, for a university has to address this issue on its own for long-term societal aims of economics growth through social vision, ethics and managerial skills. Thus, a responsible leadership is the hallmark of higher educational institutes. Though uncertainty is inherent to its system, to live with the uncertainty of change and within this milieu by improving quality, meeting social and economic needs, protecting social values and humanistic perspectives is an onerous task. However, to sustain the ever-evolving higher education and remain socially relevant, the role of stakeholders-governments, students, parents, industries, society at large-becomes imperative as education and research programmes of universities contribute to the development of the local society, region and the nation. Thus, it is the duty of the government and society to ensure that deprivation of resources doesn't take place in these temples of learning. Funding and accessibility of higher education is the most debated topic in recent times. The universities all over the world have been generating resources through government Budgets, grants, tuition fees, etc. Since public and societal support is essential for the domains of higher education, the mobilisation of resources by society will depend upon public awareness and the role of the media to generate funds for the continuity of creative freedom of universities. The availability of substantial non-governmental resources is the only way of ensuring sustainable higher education in universities. Intellectual dialogues on relevant higher education for sustainable development of society and region should become a regular feature and such closer links between higher education and world industries are important for developing countries. The state should always starve for developing civilised society. Today, in the globalised world, the onus on society has increased towards sustainability of higher education because it will be the first casualty with deprivation of relevant education. Hence it is time to reflect on how our society can play its role. In India, there has been a well-ingrained tradition of charity and philanthropy. Individual charity for social cause has been a hallmark of Indian ethos. But these individual efforts collapse as soon the person is out of picture. Particularly in Punjab, collapsed remnants of the individual efforts in philanthropic activities are scattered all around. But if all these resources can be pooled in a public social enterprise for higher education, the reach of social reforms through education will increase manifold and make them sustainable. Society collectively should provide resources to ensure perpetuation of the values it cherishes. The concept of 'social entrepreneurship' as means to sustain higher education in existing universities is the need of the hour. Such efforts will not only sustain the value-added education but also sustain the withering public-funded institutes of higher learning. To ensure people's participation, we only need to redefine charity and translate it into relevant education to perpetuate a value-based system to fulfil these objectives. The writer is Dean, Postgraduate Studies, Punjab Agricultural University,
Ludhiana.
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Campus NoteS Students of different teaching departments at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) have shown scant regard to the ban on DJ system enforced by the university registrar. If the "ban" has made any difference, it is just that the students are now using hi-fi audio systems instead of DJ, which hardly serves the purpose. Students of various departments had complained to the university authorities that the farewell parties in their neighbouring teaching departments were having an adverse impact on their studies. The students specifically mentioned that the DJ systems should not be allowed in such parties. It may be pertinent to mention here that this time of the year is marked with the junior students giving farewell parties to their seniors leaving the department. As all teaching blocks (or buildings) house several teaching departments, it was natural for the students to get disturbed by a party going on in their neighbouring department. Following a number of such complaints, the MDU administration imposed a ban on holding such parties in the university teaching departments during the study time. The time of holding such parties was also fixed, which was after the teaching hours. The use of DJ systems in such parties was completely banned by the administration. However, the ban orders went up in sound notes at the very outset, when the students of a teaching department organized a "musical" programme during the teaching hours. Though they used an audio system instead of a DJ, it hardly made any difference as the nuisance caused by noise to the studious ones of other departments was largely the same. Many students maintained that even if the party was organized after the teaching hours, the "party atmosphere" was created well within the study time with the participants rehearsing their performances or preparing for the show. How much the university administration succeeds in tackling the "noisy" issue still remains to be seen.
Theatre workshop
The Directorate of Students Welfare of MDU organized a theatre workshop on the university campus recently. The Director of Distance Education, Dr Narender Kumar Garg, was the chief guest, while Dean Students Welfare Rajbir Singh presided. Ram Phal Chahal from the Prasar Bharati was the main speaker on the occasion. The theatre experts and other intellectuals present at the workshop expressed concern over the fact that our old traditions, culture and folk media were fast disappearing from the scenario. They pointed out that while today's youth was more influenced by the western culture and forgetting their own. The experts emphasized the need to revive our folk media and rich cultural heritage. Theatre could be an effective means to achieve this, they observed. — Contributed by Sunit Dhawan
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