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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Assessing teachers Consulting top choice for business students |
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Assessing teachers
PARAMETERS of measurement of faculty performance in higher education have been framed and changed from time to time as per the wisdom of policy makers. At present, we have the Academic Performance Index (API) system introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) which, many academics realise, has serious flaws. It is likely this system might also be scrapped and a new system will be implemented. Framing a good measurement of faculty performance system (MFRS) with minimum flaws and maximum effectiveness is a challenge before the thinking community. The parameters prescribed to assess teachers are not some ordinary guidelines, which remain detached from the rest of the academics. In fact, these ultimately decide the quality of teaching, research and other academic activities in higher education institutes which has a direct bearing on the quality of students that are produced; which in turn determines the kind of society we will have. Therefore, setting the parameters of teachers’ performance is a serious, significant and complicated process, which must be given due thought by the policy makers before setting it loose on the academia. Till now we have overlooked several crucial factors. The one and only agenda was to set a certain benchmark or hurdle which a faculty has to jump in order to catch the hefty pay packet on the other side. A good system will look at the intricate linkage of teachers’ performance and students’ performance and pay due attention to it. A good MFRS should address both individual and institutional missions. Institutes need to measure the performance of the faculty for reasons of administration, recruitment and promotion, personnel decisions, and as an essential aspect of the institute’s accountability towards the nation and its citizen. Evaluation of a teacher’s work can be used by the faculty for improvement of their performance, to bring about positive changes in their professional work and to check from time to time the direction their work is proceeding towards, to steer it as per the requirement of discipline, institute and society. MFRS can be drafted in a way that the institutional and individual uses of assessment do not clash but compliment and support each other. The duties of a teacher have been defined as teaching, research and extension. These sweeping terms include infinite number of tasks that the faculty must perform. Teaching can involve, on the one hand, giving instructions in the classroom and performing administrative duties on the other. Research can include doing lab work on one end of the spectrum to inviting tenders and quotations on the other. Similarly, extension can mean writing popular articles and also on-the-field activism. In short, faculty work is extremely complicated and non-linear. Therefore, any MFPs which gives a simple rubric to calculate credits for a few well-defined jobs cannot reflect the actual performance and hence will remain incomplete and flawed. The nature of faculty performance is highly diversified and it depends on the disciplines they are dealing in, uniqueness of their own intellect, their temperament, the opportunities/ chances they have got in their career and several factors out of the control of the faculty. The performance indexes the faculty has been subjected to till now do not acknowledge, recognise and respect this uniqueness and hence are perilous for our education system. In fact, there cannot be a single, rigid, fixed and non-flexible dictate to mark the performance of all the faculty, whether they are teaching mathematics or dance, whether they have put in 12 years of service or 24 years, whether they have flair for teaching or for research. One size fits all is not a good MFRS. An extremely significant aspect of academic work is colleague-ship or collegiality. MFRS should be such that it promotes collegiality, does not damage teamwork and nourish rivalries. Measurements which discourage collaborations, teamwork, credit sharing, cooperation, etc., are sure to destroy the academic culture and prove highly acidic to the environment so conducive to the nurturing of teaching and research. Finally, the measurement of faculty performance should be administered on a totally threat-free, bias-free platform, where the faculty is not judged but should provide formative inputs. In fact, the Latin root of the word ‘assessment’ means ‘to sit beside’. It is well known that panic-stricken individuals perform at a lower level than usual; they become less creative, less innovative, more rigid. How can such a teacher contribute positively for the academic uplift of the institute? Therefore, it is in the welfare of everybody — students, institutes and society — that the measurement of faculty performance takes cognisance of the subtleties of teaching profession and does not devalue it through some hastily drafted, sketchy rules. The writer is Deputy Director, Academic Staff College, Panjab University, Chandigarh
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Consulting top choice for business students
CONSULTING is on top of the mind of most business administration students in India, according to a survey. With a sample size of 1,000 and done across top business schools, the survey said 79.2 per cent students would like to take up consulting as a career. The survey, jointly conducted by Tata Consultancy Services and Association of Management Consulting Firms, said Indian business students were more likely to choose consulting if an internship was offered. Half of them (52 per cent) felt that consulting companies provided global engagement opportunities and for 64 per cent, location of the company was not important. While 28 per cent of students viewed consulting as a potential long-term career, 30 per cent viewed it as a stepping-stone to leadership positions in industry outside consulting. — IANS |
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Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni (Solan) DR Charan Das Mahant, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, visited the university campus recently and took stock of research work being undertaken by scientists. He met university’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.R. Dhiman, and discussed proposals which could be put forth by the university to his ministry. With ample funds available with his ministry for undertaking research to improve the agriculture sector, university scientists were hopeful of receiving liberal support from the minister. Being the lone university in Asia undertaking research in horticulture and forestry, university officials said the minister's visit had helped him gain first-hand assessment of university activities.
Horticulture mission
The annual meeting of the Horticulture Mission for the North-east and Himalayan states was held at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, where 70 delegates from farm universities of Himachal Pradesh, IARI, Research Station, Shimla, and CPRI, Shimla, took part. Dr K.R. Dhiman, Vice-Chancellor, was the chief guest on the occasion and Dr Bir Pal Singh, Director, Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla-cum-Nodal Officer, Mini Mission-I, guest of honour. Dr R.C. Sharma, Director, Research, while addressing the delegates said a gene bank comprising comprehensive collection of fruit varieties collected from various states of India like Jammu and Kashmir and Uttrakhand, and as well as abroad has been developed. This will enable the scientists to undertake research and develop new varieties adhering to Nauni conditions. Funds provided under the Horticulture Mission enabled the university to develop this gene bank which will help the university to improve various temperate fruits.
International conference
A team of university scientists comprising Dr N.B. Singh, Director Extension; Dr Sanjeev Thakur, Professor; and Dr J.P. Sharma, Assistant Professor, attended an international conference on “Improvement and Livelihood through Billow and Poplar” at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun, recently. The scientists presented their work undertaken in the university at the conference. Dr N.B. Singh has also been nominated as chairman of a working group on “Poplar and Billow Genetics, Conservation and Improvement” for a term of four years. His nomination to this prestigious working group is considered a big honour for the university.
Elevated
Dr Kulwant Rai Sharma, who was the first Ph.D student from the College of Forestry, Nauni University, has been elevated as Head of Department of the Forest Products after Dr R.C. Rana attained superannuation. Dr Sharma was serving as Professor in the department earlier and he has written a number of books on various topics relating to forestry. — Contributed by Ambika Sharma |
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Grading with red ink upsets students
LONDON: Teachers, please note! The iconic red ink you use to grade students may actually upset them, according to a new study. The study by researchers from the University of Colorado showed students think they’ve been assessed more harshly when their work is assessed in red ink compared to more neutral colours like blue. “The red grading pen can upset students and weaken teacher-student relations and perhaps learning,” sociologists Richard Dukes and Heather Albanesi said. Researchers said red was associated with “warning, prohibition, caution, anger, embarrassment and being wrong”, the Daily Mail reported. As many as 199 students were shown one of four different versions of a fictitious student’s essay which had been marked, graded and commented on by a lecturer. Some got a high quality essay, given an ‘A’ grade, complete with positive and negative comments in either red or a blue-green pen. The other volunteers got an essay that clearly was not as good and was given a ‘C’ grade, again with both positive and negative comments from a teacher writing in either red or blue-green. The volunteers were more likely to think the teacher writing in red was harsher than the one in blue — even though their grades and comments were identical, the study said. — PTI
UK universities told to woo primary-school children
LONDON: UK’s universities should target children from the age of seven if they are to be successful in their attempts to woo more students from disadvantaged areas, the government’s university access tsar said. Professor Les Ebdon, Director of the Office for Fair Access, is urging all universities to draw up plans for working with primary-school children to raise their aspirations and ambitions towards higher education. “The evidence is piling up that long-term sustained outreach work is one of the keys to widening participation and fair access. There are a number of pieces of research that back this up.” He was full of praise for one university, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music in Deptford, South London, which arranges “Trinity Teenies” music and dance sessions for children from the age of two for families in the local community — a deprived area. It has just celebrated a major success by awarding a student who started going to the classes at the age of five a full-time degree place. — The Independent
Authorities rubbish Madonna’s
school-building claim
BLANTYRE (Malawi): Malawi education authorities have challenged a claim by American pop queen Madonna that her charity last year built 10 new schools in the poor southern African nation. “The schools Raising Malawi claims to have constructed were already in existence,” Education Minister Eunice Kazembe said. “Raising Malawi only built 10 classroom blocks and not schools. People should know the difference between the two.” In December Madonna’s charity in tandem with global non-profit buildOn announced the completion of 10 schools, claiming they would provide education to 4,871 children. — AFP |
