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Academicians’ Perspective

Dun & Bradstreet India (D&B India) interviewed five academicians to seek their views on various areas of the education sector in India. This section carries their perspectives on different operational and policy aspects of universities and includes their opinions on the need for bringing reforms in higher education. The five prominent academicians whose opinions were sought were:

• Prof P K Banik, Director, National Institute of Technology, Silchar
• Dr Raj Warrier, Vice Chancellor, Manipal University
• Dr Rangan, Vice Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University
• Prof Dileep Deobagkar, Vice Chancellor, Goa University
• Dr Paul P Appasamy, Vice Chancellor, Karunya University

Private investment is necessary but profit making ideology is not

The academicians viewed private investment in education as a necessity but at the same time they found the profit making ideology as unacceptable. Even private investment should be from the genuine desire to improve the education system and not for seeking profits, was the thought they echoed.

The academicians felt that universities should not follow a profit-making ideology as higher education and research is for “public good”. Though private institutions can provide public good, their work should be considered that of a custodian/ and not for profit, they reiterated. No doubt the university should be able to cover its costs but whatever profit it makes should be ploughed back towards infrastructure improvement, faculty development, and towards development of new programmes.

The academicians also added that while an educational institution needs to nurture a selfsupporting attitude and make enough money to run itself, enough investments should go towards building proper infrastructure and relevant research and development facilities. Also, self-sustenance should by no means be for making profit at the cost of quality of education and quest for excellence.

Strong financial inflows a must to rejuvenate research as a profession

The interviewees cited diversion of students to other professional courses as one of the reasons for the declining number of research scholars. They strongly opined that research scholars have long and arduous study programmes but are rewarded much lesser than other professionals like MBAs. Grants and soft money are also difficult to procure. In fact, as academicians, they have to fight for better remuneration and infrastructure for teachers, researchers, and faculty members. In other words, the academicians thought that teaching as a profession is not socially or financially lucrative.

Build a strong foundation through industry-institute interaction

According to all academicians, the industry-institute interaction and consulting activities play a vital role in an academic environment. Apart from the benefits through monetary additions, infrastructure development, faculty development and opportunities for students, consultancy activities also contribute to the development of the industry. Faculty members undertaking industry sponsored projects and consultation activities bring real life experience into classrooms.

External agencies found more reliable for accreditation of universities

While the academicians acknowledged that accreditation of universities was indeed necessary they insisted that the accreditation agency should be a non-government authority. The academicians felt that accreditation agencies should be outside the purview of the government to maintain credibility.

Prominence of new IITs and IIMs holds good

When queered on what according to them would be the best choice forward: establishment of new IITs and IIMs or developing existing universities, most academicians chose the former as a positive development. According to these academicians, these institutions are well run with little government interference; however, they also felt that apart from increased financing substantive reforms were needed to maintain quality in these institutions once they are operational. Also, a self-supporting attitude needs to be nurtured in these institutions.

Solutions to bridge demand-supply gap of skilled professionals

When it came to availability of skilled manpower, most academicians believed that we have the quantity but not the quality. According to them, increasing numbers was not the solution, as most graduates are termed unemployable by the industry.

The educational institutes should have highly flexible curricula to cater to the needs of the corporate and industrial sectors and should be able to forecast and address requirements of the future. Most universities have also introduced industrial training and sandwich courses to bridge such gaps.

Preference for entry of foreign universities through JVs and collaborations

The opinions on allowing foreign universities in the country were mixed. It was felt that the benefits of sharing education between two countries could be reaped extensively mostly through partnerships and academic collaborations like dual degree programmes and overseas exchange programmes with foreign universities rather than these universities coming to India. In other words, instead of allowing foreign universities to set up a campus in India, tie-ups for jointly offering programmes with foreign universities of repute were preferred. They felt that if programmes were offered jointly, excellence in teaching could be promoted in Indian universities and local universities could be aided to grow and develop.

Another school of thought that emerged from the interviews was that as the concept of ‘Education is global’, foreign universities of repute can be allowed to set a campus in India after following proper rules and guidelines and also following the same regulations as applicable to other local universities. The academicians reiterated the need for allowing only universities of repute in India. Moreover, they felt that the foreign universities should be regulated in terms of quality and fees and must compete and run the way local universities are run. It should particularly be noted that foreign universities thus allowed should not receive any special privileges or benefits and compete at par with local universities to ensure excellence in education.

Reforms in higher education

The academicians were asked about the policies and strategies they would adapt to bring reforms in higher education in India. Following were the important points on their agenda for bringing reforms in higher education:

Education for all

The most important criterion that emerged was that education, particularly higher education, must be accessible to all deserving students. The academicians felt that it was necessary to eliminate the economic barriers for students and grant them access to appropriate education. India’s educational system should offer higher education to all those who desire to pursue higher education. Also, the education system must be equipped to provide higher education in some form or the other viz. vocational, distance education, private or governmental colleges, technical or humanities, etc.

Autonomy to bring academic excellence

The interviewees felt that autonomy in academic institutions would lead to academic excellence. They felt that regulation could be an excuse for interference and may ruin good universities. Regulatory reforms should focus on removing shackles of government control. Accrediting agencies, universities and colleges have to be independent of the government, they felt. The government should continue to fund higher education through block grants and research grants if higher education, particularly sciences and humanities, are to prosper. Thus, the country must fund its most important resource that is human resource if higher education has to prosper.

Improve “Quality of Education”

Faculty members must be exposed to the best institutions of the country and abroad. All faculty members should be exposed to industry in stages. This will improve the quality of education to a large extent. In technical education (engineering and technology), it must be made sure that laboratories are upgraded with state-of-the-art equipment. Higher education should be more incentivised and more public private partnerships must be forged to increase quantity and simultaneously improve the quality of education.