Quality check: when more is less

Size vs standards

While the HRD Ministry proudly lists the mammoth work in expansion,little serious thought was given to issues like semester systems,curriculum revision,reformed assessment and examination systems,course credits,research focus and distinctiveness of institutes — all areas detailed by the NKC in its recommendations.

“The quality of education at most universities leave much to be desired. The gap between our universities and those in the outside world has widened,” says an NKC report. The solution,points out the commission,is in taking a series of comprehensive steps to overhaul education as detailed in the previous two parts of this series.

The NKC report also notes how curricula have remained almost unchanged for decades,adding that learning and creativity are discounted in a system of assessment that places a premium on memory rather than understanding. The report further points out that that the “boundaries between disciplines have become dividing walls that constitute barriers to entry for new disciplines or new courses,”even as knowledge is increasingly developing at the intersection of disciplines. To worsen matters,the importance attached to research has consistently eroded,as has the volume,frequency of publication and quality of research.

Course correction would demand introduction of flexible semester systems,continued assessment protocols and a system where degrees are granted on the basis of completing a requisite number of credits from different courses instead of rigid discipline choice in universities

The NKC also calls for the reversal of the strategy to create stand-alone research institutions by moving them out of varsities. Reminding that synergies between teaching and research enrich each other. The NKC has called for making varsities the natural home and hub for research,with competitive allocation of substantial grants,resources and reward systems.

Teaching standards also need to be improved. To ensure quality faculty is retained in Indian varsities,the NKC recommended better working conditions and incentives including rewards for performance including salary differentials linked to market remuneration in certain disciplines. In addition,says the panel,the “cross-pollination” of faculty members between universities should be encouraged. Students must also be able to evaluate teachers in order to enxure greater accountability in universities. Although the HRD Ministry has taken steps to improve the salaries of teachers,it has paid scant attention to suggestions such as a special designation for better-performing faculty members. Also,recommendations made by the G K Chadha Committee on teachers’ pay revision are yet to be implemented. The issues related to faculty need to be addressed urgently,as over 40 per cent posts are lying vacant across universities,IIMs and IITs.

A senior official from the HRD Ministry insists,“The teachers have already got a pay hike which should help draw more faculty and retain them and we have also increased their age of superannuation. Also,many academic reforms have been incorporated in the upcoming central varsities and we will gradually extend it to all central institutes.”

Accreditation and “Exemplary institutes”

THE NKC further calls for granting greater autonomy and academic self-governance to undergraduate colleges or college clusters with a proven record of academic excellence. Disclosure of norms by these institutes,ranging from financial situation,physical assets,accreditation ratings,admission criteria,faculty positions,academic curricula and so on must be ensured to enable students to make informed choices. That,coupled with decentralisation of accreditation powers from the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC),which monopolises the accreditation process,will help says NKC. The Commission has recommended that the proposed Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education (IRAHE) should be vested with the power to license a number of private and public accreditation agencies to rate institutes.

Although the HRD Ministry has not even considered the NAAC decentralisation proposal,it has been a little more receptive to the issue of academic reforms. But while the University Grants Commission (UGC) has been making all the right noises,no concrete action has been taken yet. Incidentally,yet another committee was formed to evaluate academic reforms for UGC,but even after it submitted its report,the UGC has yet to notify these guidelines.

Meanwhile,the HRD Ministry has “done what it does best”,says an NKC member. “It has hijacked our blueprint for national universities and used the academic provisions proposed by us in the Central Universities Bill,2008 which will set up some 14 central varsities.” The NKC had recommended creating 50 national varsities that can stand as “exemplars” and “provide education of the highest standard”. While the HRD Ministry took little cognisance of the national university proposal,it came up with its World Class University (WCU) format which was at first instance found far from “world class” by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). But it is too little too late. So much so that an irked PMO had to remind the HRD Ministry last month that while it was all very well to incorporate these reforms in the Bill,the call of the hour is to ensure they are implemented across the country.

Competition

One way to make Indian institutes reach international standards is to introduce a greater amount of competition into the educational arena. To this end,the NKC has recommended foreign institutes be allowed entry in to India,even as Indian institutes are promoted abroad. Indian institutes,it added,should also be allowed to create campuses abroad.

The recommendation has been rejected in toto by the HRD Ministry that vetoed every move made by the IITs and IIMs to venture abroad in any form. While IIM Bangalore was refused permission for setting up a centre in Singapore,this month the ministry even rejected the IITs proposal to set up a Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) centre in Singapore. The Foreign Universities Bill that was proposed to facilitate the entry of foreign institutes in India was earlier stalled because the Government’s Left allies opposed it,but even after their exit,the legislation has been relegated to the list of reforms that the HRD ministry refuses to push through.

“That politicians who otherwise espouse liberal economic policies are rigidly set against academic reforms is a reason for concern. Most politicians have educational concerns,are on boards of several colleges and change will upset their scheme of things. Frankly,when the NKC was set up,the idea was that it would have political backing. This never came about and has much to do with the way things are,” says an NKC member.

The NKC has also emphasised that the one-size-fits-all approach should be done away with in every dimension,ranging from curriculum to grading. The differentiation that is so characteristic of institutes of higher education in the world is necessary to excel,it holds.

In the HRD Ministry’s scheme of things,however,uniformity is the key word. That explains why the ministry instituted an IIM review committee,which has called for a pan-IIM board to implement uniformity across all IIMs. The premier management institutes have argued for the diversity of pedagogy.

“The problem is over-homogenisation of our universities. While we had very different varsities like Shantiniketan,Jamia and BHU earlier. In the era of a massive faculty shortage across even our IITs,we need to start with a small number of new institutes offering genuinely world-class PhD programmes to create quality faculty,” says an NKC member.

The only NKC recommendation that seems to have found favour with the ministry is that of creating a National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) mission to network all institutes and make available free e-content for students in India. The ministry is set to unveil the Rs 5,000 crore to make this mega networking dream come true.