Accreditation! is it a quality standard?

In India, all higher educational institutions are required to get there teaching courses (programmes) accreditated by a national organisation, namely National Board of Accreditation (NBA). Similarly the universities are mandated to obtain accreditation by another national organisation, namely National Assessment and Acreditation Council (NAAC).  

The accreditation is only to ensure whether the educational institution or the university meets the minimum prescribed standard. However it is misunderstood as a quality standard and hampering the further growth of the educational institutions.

The educational institutions are required to submit an elaborate report on a prescribed format prepared by the accreditating organisations. The institutions spend months and sometimes even years, fulfilling these requirements. However in many cases, these requirements are fulfilled only on paper and does not lead to the improvement in quality of the educational institutions. The following are the visible indicators of the fact: 

(a) The course content lies far behind the practical requirement of the industry.

(b) Despite the accreditation, many institutions are found actually lacking in fulfilling the basic requirements of land, instructional area, qualified faculty, laboratory facilities and library.

(c) Some Deemed Universities are accreditated and authorised to award PG and Ph D Degrees. However many such institutions have a few qualified regular faculty on the rolls and seriously lack in the laboratory infrastructure.

(d) None of the so called top ranking institutions and universities in India come even near to the world standards and ranking

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Purpose of education

I think the most important purpose of education is to offer opportunity to individuals to discover their self. Continuous remediation of students' deficiencies is a very important aspect. Educators in India should take a cue from US experience. http://lnkd.in/MbCFwT

 

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India: Union cabinet clears foreign universities bill

The Union Cabinet: India on 15 march 2010 cleared the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, for introduction in Parliament. It seeks to allow foreign education providers to set up campuses in the country and offer degrees.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said: “This is a milestone which will enhance choices, increase competition and benchmark quality. A larger revolution than even in the telecom sector awaits us.”

The Foreign Universities Bill, 2010, has been pending for the last four years owing to opposition from various quarters, including the Left parties, over certain provisions. Last year, it was referred to a Committee of Secretaries, which brought modifications to certain provisions.

The Bill was approved by the Cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, without any change. It prescribes an eight-month, time-bound format for granting approval to foreign educational institutions to set up campuses. They will go through different levels of registration process during this period. Finally, they will be registered with the University Grants Commission or any other regulatory body to be put in place that will scrutinise the proposals of the aspiring institution as per India's priorities and advise the government whether to allow it to operate in India.

Though 100 per cent foreign direct investment through the automatic route is permitted in the education sector since 2000, the legal structure does not allow granting of degrees by foreign educational institutions here.

Three other reform bills, slated to be taken up in the Cabinet, were deferred to the next meeting. These are the Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, the Educational Tribunal Bill and the National Accreditation Authority Bill. A Group of Ministers has already cleared the Bills.

Higher educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs, today hailed the government's go ahead for a bill to allow entry of foreign education providers in India and sought to allay any threat posed by the institutions from abroad.

Four years ago, when India first flirted with the idea of opening its doors to foreign universities, optimists said Harvard, Yale and Oxford would line up to get in. Now it seems few big-tags are interested in investing in India, although, Imperial College, Duke College, Georgia Tech and Schulich School of Business (York University) — are among those who have so far met senior officials in the HRD ministry and spoken of setting up a full-fledged campus.

One thing is for sure, the foreign universities in India shall initiate a competition among educational institutions, give boost to the research activity in the universities. These universities will also be able to offer attractive pay package to the faculty to attract good candidates.

The establishment of foreign university campuses in India shall provide an option to the students going to foreign countries in large numbers to obtain higher degrees.

This Bill along with the three other related Bills (mentioned as above) will be an effective package after the approval of the Parliament.

As whole, it appears to be a good move. Three cheers to the HRD Minister !

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Deemed Universities: make them a vehicle to achieve quality in education

The recent newspaper reports suggest that the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, has prepared a blueprint to reform the higher education. It is a overdue and welcome move. All reforms aim at improving the quality of higher education. It should be appreciated that academic autonomy is absolutely essential to quality improvement. The deemed university (DU)status given to some institutions under the UGC act was precisely for that purpose. However most deemed universities present an exactly opposite picture. The academicians and the stake holders watching the progress find that the academic standards have actually deteriorated and the malpractices increased. Whilst the Government should grant academic autonomy to these institutions, the following provisions are essential to ensure the quality.

(a) The entrance test for all DU should be conducted by UGC

(b) The tuition fees should be regulated by an independent body, similar to the Shikshan Shulka Samiti at the States level. The tuition fees must be linked to the actual expenditure on education, incurred by the institution.

(c) All DU must be asked to pay salaries, PF etc. according the AICTE/UGC guidelines

(d) All technical courses conducted by the DU should have approval of the AICTE/UGC

(d) The DU should not be automatically allowed to award MS (research) and Ph. D. degrees. A thorough assessment of the research facilities and faculty expertise should be carried out before that.

Common Entrance Test: an Argument for Discontinuation

It is argued that the CET has not served its purpose. Some State Governments have initiated action to discontinue it. The main aspects against the CET are as follows:

(a) Declining importance of the higher secondary certificate (HSC, std XII) examination. It is seen that the students do not pay much attention to seeking good grades in the HSC examination, unlike in the past, when the admissions to the degree courses were given solely on the basis of HSC marks.

(b) Private coaching classes benefiting out of the CET

(c) The utility of multiple choice objective questions vis-à-vis essay type questions, for testing real knowledge. In the HSC examination, the evaluation is based mainly on the essay type answers.

(d) The students are burdened with an extra examination.

(e) Huge disparity between urban and rural students; urban students manage to score better in CET.

Give your orgument on continuation or discontinuation of the common entrance test

Change V-C selection process

Change V-C selection process Dr J D Bapat The Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir—as the chancellor of state universities—has called for a systemic overhaul in the appointment process of university vice-chancellors. Instead of a selection process he described as "politicized'', Jamir recommended that a group of eminent academicians must select vice-chancellors. The Governor was in Chandrapur on, 19 Jan 2009, Monday to inaugurate a state level principals' forum. The quality of governance of many educational institutions in the state is a cause for concern. In many states, university appointments, including that of V-Cs, have been politicized. Currently, a university vice-chancellor is appointed by the chancellor on recommendations of a committee consisting of representatives from the government, from the university academic council and management council, among others. When the scholars choose the vice-chancellor, universities would see a qualitative difference in their functioning. We do not have a dearth of talented people for the posts in our universities. To ensure that we get the best persons to run our universities, it is necessary to take a re-look at the composition of the appointment committee. There are growing concerns about the large number of teaching faculty positions that remain vacant in the universities and colleges. This has considerably paralysed some of our reputed institutions. The recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission have made teaching more attractive, offering good pay scales to the teachers. If the young and bright minds are to be attracted to join the profession, enough opportunities should be made available for growth. One of the reasons for the vacant teaching positions in the higher educational institutions is the perpetual reservations. When the teachers are not available in the "reserved" category, the vacancy should become "open" after certain time period. The qualified teachers draw job satisfaction, when teaching is accompanied by the research (as in IITs). Therefore research funding for the universities need to be increased substantially.

Youth must lead science and technology

Youth must lead science and technology Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's address at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam today called upon the youth to work towards building a creative leadership in different disciplines and achieving new goals for the country. Delivering his convocation address at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Hamirpur, Dr Kalam said the time has come for a drastic change in the traditional roles from a commander to coach. He also highlighted issues of infrastructure development, energy generation and the need of safe drinking water for the masses in the country. Kalam asked the educational institute to focus on emerging as a technical human resource provider for the state. The NIT, he recommended, should adopt all local 20 senior secondary schools for quality education and also create a 'energy independence plan' for the district through micro-hydel plants, solar energy systems, bio-mass plants and wind power, besides dense afforestation to make it fossil fuel free. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who also spoke on the occasion, asked the engineering fraternity to respect the environmental requirements and come forward to help find quality alternatives for development of the country. Source: Indian Express, Jan 4, 2009

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Higher Education: Choice of Engineering Branch

In India, The students passing VII Standard, in physics-chemistry-maths stream seek admission in engineering college. The admission is generally through written test conducted at the State or National level. Many parents are in a dilemma as to which engineering branch should they select for their ward. The engineering colleges generally offer Graduate courses in the following branches: (1) Chemical, (2) Civil, (3) Electrical, (4) Mechanical, (5) Electronics and (6) Computer. Some colleges also offer Biotechnology, Electronics and Telecommunication, Production engineering courses. In the list, the first four are the basic branches. Seasonally, the boost or slack periods are experienced from the point of view of job opportunities. However it seen that the opportunities in the basic branches remain fairly steady. The basic branches also form base for the other engineering sub-branches. It should also be noted that most of the engineering research, world over, is being conducted in the basic branches only. In my opinion, parents should first try to admit their ward in one of the basic branches. The other branches may be given second preference, initial high pay packages in some branches notwithstanding.

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