Opinion Simple lessons in Indian institutes poor showing
It is the year of bad report cards. The ASER report showed dismal learning levels of students in primary schools,the PISA report
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It is the year of bad report cards. The ASER report showed dismal learning levels of students in primary schools,the PISA report put our secondary schools on par with Kyrgyzstan and on Tuesday,the QS World Ranking of Universities affirmed that our institutes dont rank among the top 200.
With only five Indian institutes finding a spot even in the top 700 as our South Asian neighbours climb up the ranks clearly there is much that needs to be set right in the higher education sector.
There are few surprises there. Even as our neighbours invest heavily in education,Indias ambitious proposals to invite foreign universities or to set up innovation universities have failed. The little interest that was generated globally when India began talking of reviving the Foreign Universities Bill in 2009 has been diminished for good. All attempts to reform higher education are held up in Parliament for three years now.
Some in India blame the methodology behind the rankings for Indias dismal show. But it is hardly a contention with substance. The QS rankings measure an institute on six indicators with 40 per cent weightage to academic reputation on a global survey,10 per cent to employer reputation on a global survey,20 per cent to citations per faculty,20 per cent to faculty student ratio and 5 per cent to proportion of international students and faculty each.
That partly explains why we fare so poorly. It is largely the IITs that hold any global eminence in terms of academic and employer reputation. Even the best of Indian universities fail to attract a substantial number of international students and faculty. Inviting foreign faculty also comes with its share of red tapism.
An expanding middle class with better resources and taller aspirations has known these plain truths for a while now. A recent study by IIM-Bangalore showed a 256 per cent rise in the number of Indians migrating abroad for higher studies over nine years.
Just as there is a pattern in Indias performance,there is a pattern in the governments response to it. The HRD Ministry explains our poor show to socio-cultural differences,both in PISA and QS rankings. The University Grants Commission,in fact,decided in 2010 to devise its own ranking taking into account India-specific factors like affirmative action.
That the rankings work well enough for the rest of the world including developing nations but not India is only a reflection on us.
anubhuti.vishnoi@expressindia.com
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