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When private is necessary
Campus
Notes
Studyscape
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When private is necessary
A lot has been written and argued lately regarding the state of affairs in private universities. Rather it has become the ‘in thing’ to criticise everything that happens in these institutions. If private universities really are that bad, then why is it that the governments at the Central and state levels are acting as a facilitator for the setting up of such institutions?
In 2006 there were about 330 universities, both public and private, in India. By the end of 2012, the number shot up to 660. Thus, almost 330 new universities have been established in the country within a span of six years. The trend is likely to continue for the next decade or so. The National Knowledge Commission has anticipated that in the era of knowledge economy, there is a need for 1,500 universities in the country if India wants to find its rightful place as an emerging power. Since the government does not have resources to meet that requirement, it has to rely on the private sector to meet the demand. However, the question is, “How do we ensure quality of higher education in this environment of sudden expansion?” Today the standard of education in most universities — public and private — is not up to the mark. Our higher education institutions lack a research culture. The main reason for the state of affairs is that our universities lay too much emphasis on the teacher, text and test, and there is too little stress on problem-solving and group collaboration. The faculty has also failed to keep pace with the times. The pedagogy used in our universities is the same as it was in the 1950s. Rote learning has taken precedence over comprehension, application of knowledge and capability to conceptualise. As a result, students passing out of universities are mostly unemployable. This phenomenon is not confined only to private universities, public universities too have failed to maintain the desired academic standards. In such an environment, it is unfair to make private universities the ‘whipping boys’ of the higher education sector and blame these for all the ills afflicting the system. High fees being charged by private universities is often cited as one of the reasons while heaping criticism on these. But the critics fail to take into account the amount of funds the state exchequer is pumping into public higher education institutions. Our IITs, NITs and other national-level institutions are doing well because they get better quality students. A cursory look at the performance of postgraduate- and doctoral-level students passing out from these institutions would highlight the fact that their quality is not much different from the students of the same category passing out of private universities. On an average the government spends about Rs 100 crore on each NIT in the country. The amount spent on the IITs would be still higher. But none of these has any worthwhile record in the form of patents or innovations resulting in product development to justify the huge amount of public money being spent on them. Moreover, if one were to compute the cost of training a student, it would work out to almost the same in the public and private universities. Rather it may be more in public universities. The only difference is that in public universities, the student does not pay directly to the institution. Since the private universities do not get grants from the government, the fees charged are higher and the critics use that as a weapon to levy unfair criticism. If one were to consider the placement records of public higher educational institutions, other than the IITs and NITs, and compare that with the same from private universities, it would emerge that private universities fair much better than public universities. Despite that, the critics say that the government is risking the future of many young students by setting up private universities. It is not to suggest that everything is fine with the private universities; there is plenty of scope to improve. Moreover, there are black sheep who have entered the higher education sector in their quest to make a fast buck. Instead of painting every private institution with the same brush, there is a need for a regulatory mechanism to put the house in order. But the remedy does not lie in creating a stifling regulatory mechanism that makes the operations of private universities unviable. The need of the hour is to arrive at some constructive measures to improve the system. Lately, universities from developed countries have made a beeline to recruit students from the developing and under developed countries. India is no exception. It is a known fact that US, Canadian and European universities, and to some extent Australian universities, welcome Indian students for the high fees they pay to attend various programmes, especially in the fields of engineering, management, medicine and sciences. Without contributions from international students, many universities in these countries would find it difficult to sustain their operations. They are not here for charity. The collaborations that they enter into with Indian universities result basically in a one-way process, with Indian students going abroad for higher studies and finally settling down there as immigrants. There are hardly any collaborative arrangements offered by foreign universities that help to improve academic standards and research activities in Indian universities. In fact, if the standards of academic delivery and research in our universities go up, the number of students opting to go abroad for higher studies will drastically come down. Given our demographic dividend, Indian students nurtured in a good academic environment would still be able to get jobs in developed countries because the latter would need them to join their workforce. Thus, it is in the interests of foreign universities that the standards of higher education in India do not improve. It would help them sustain their own operations and also provide skilled manpower their countries need. In such an environment, instead of indulging in needless controversy of private vs public universities, it is up to us to join ranks to improve the standards of higher education in the country. Both the systems have their strengths and weaknesses. Public universities have better infrastructure, senior faculty, and have access to better resources. However, lack of accountability, poor work culture and unwieldy size are some of the major maladies afflicting the public universities. On the other hand, a short hierarchical chain, manageable size and accountability are some of the features of private universities that could be exploited to improve the standards of higher education. Our policy makers could design measures that could incentivise collaborative arrangements between public and private universities. Similarly, the regulators and the government departments could help in the process of knowledge sharing by giving a boost to cooperation amongst the universities irrespective of the nature of their origin. We must not forget that for centuries, the invaders came and exploited our penchant for mutual suspicions and divisive culture. We may not be vulnerable to a physical invasion in this era of knowledge economy, but our universities are still vulnerable to mutual divisions that could be exploited by foreign powers to their advantage. We need to learn from history. Are we prepared to do that? The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara
University, Himachal Pradesh |
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Campus
Notes THE university authorities have announced to take various security measures on the campus to provide a safe and secure environment to girl students and women employees. According to a spokesperson, effective security measures, including inculcating gender sensitivity amongst students, will be taken up to provide a safe and secure environment to girl students and women employees on the university campus. He said the measures were discussed at a review meeting held recently under the chairmanship of the Maharshi Dayanand University Vice-Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor said any act resulting in indiscipline or errant behaviour of the staff or students towards girl students and women employees would not be tolerated on the campus. He said while CCTV cameras had been installed at several sensitive points, including girls’ hostels, a sensitisation programme would also be carried out in this connection. Professor Rajbir Singh, Dean, Students’ Welfare; Prof. S.S. Chahar, Provost (Boys); Prof. Indira Dhull, Provost (Girls); Prof. S.P. Khatkar, Proctor; Prem Singh, Librarian; Prof. Sunita Malhotra, Chairperson, Sexual Harassment Complaints Committee; Dr S.P. Vats, Registrar; Prof. Amrita Yadava, Director, Women’s Study Centre; and Director and Controller (Security) were among those who attended the meeting. Notably, the meeting was held as a follow-up to the official letter received from the UGC regarding providing safe environment to women on university campuses across the country. Exam rescheduled The university has rescheduled the M.Phil and pre-Ph.D examination earlier scheduled to be held from January 28 on account of administrative reasons. According to the MDU Controller of Examinations, Dr B.S. Sindhu, the examination will now be held on February 15. He said the revised datesheet is available on the university website www.mdurohtak.ac.in. Voters’ Day The National Voters’ Day was observed on the university campus recently under the aegis of the National Service Scheme (NSS) office of Maharshi Dayanand University. NSS volunteers were administered voters’ pledge on the occasion, according to a spokesman. Notified The university has notified the last date for the submission of registration return of the B.Ed/M.Ed (regular course) for the session 2012-2013. According to officials concerned, education colleges affiliated to the university can submit the registration return of B.Ed/M.Ed (regular course) without late fee up to February 14. Thereafter, late fee will be charged as per university rules. — Contributed by Bijendra Ahlawat |
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PATNA: Eight architectural companies, including six from abroad, have shown interest in designing the upcoming Nalanda University in Bihar, Vice-Chancellor Gopa Sabharwal said. “We are happy that eight companies, including two Indian companies, have submitted their proposals for a global competition to finalise the design for the university,” Sabharwal said. She said the shortlisted firms would be called to make their presentation either this month or next month. The university is set to come up on 446 acres in Rajgir, 10 km from the site of the ancient university in Nalanda district, southeast of Patna. The university will be fully residential, like the ancient Nalanda university. It will offer courses in science, philosophy and spiritualism along with social sciences. The project took shape in 2006 at the initiative of then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The ancient university at Nalanda was home to over 10,000 students and nearly 2,000 teachers. It existed until 1197 and attracted students and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia (now Iran) and Turkey. — IANS Arts, music being ‘squeezed out’
of UK school curriculum LONDON: The first signs that arts and music are being squeezed out of the school curriculum by UK Education Secretary Michael Gove’s English Baccalaureate have emerged in a new survey by teachers’ leaders. Figures show the amount of time devoted to art has been slashed by 16 per cent on average, as have design and technology subjects. Other subjects to emerge as victims of the new proposals are ICT with a 15 per cent cut, music 14 per cent and religious education 13 per cent. The survey of more than 2,500 teachers was carried out by the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers. Its general secretary, Chris Keates, said the survey was “further damning evidence that educational entitlements for our children and young people are being stripped away”. — The Independent |
R. S. Grewal