By Dr. Anand Kulkarni
The Indian government is in the process of undertaking a major review of its higher education policy the third such major event, following earlier significant policy statements in 1968 and 1986 (revised in 1992).
The policies that are being proposed this time are addressing more issues compared to the previous policies. Apart from access and quality, which are imperative to be addressed, there lies greater opportunity with reforms in the context of massification of higher education, burgeoning private provision of education, and rapid technological change. Among other targets, there is also the internationalization of education and meeting the needs of rapidly changing labor markets and industrial needs.
Probable Reforms and Ideas
The government has invited private institutions to help reform the education policy in India | Image credits: Indianeducationoverview.comTo this end, the Ministry of Human Resource Development is conducting a highly consultative exercise and has released various papers, including a discussion paper titled Themes and Questions for Policy Consultation on Higher Education and Some Inputs for Draft National Education Policy 2016.
These inputs hit most of the right notes:
- Addressing the cascading effect of poor early education outcomes on later education;
- Recognizing the lack of employability of graduates, the need for better teaching training and for prioritizing quality in the system as a whole through mandatory accreditation and other methods;
- Promoting more broad-based curricula to emphasize softer skills;
- Addressing governance problems at the system level and institutionally (for example, hiring practices of vice-chancellors and academic freedom) as well as regulatory issues;
- Recognizing the need to foster linkages between research and industry and to put greater emphasis on vocational education and integration of vocational and higher education;
- Addressing disparities in access and provision of higher education (and earlier education) for females, minority groups and different regions;
- Accelerating deployment of new technology for pedagogy and online delivery of courses;
- Promoting greater internationalization of the tertiary education system, including allowing selected foreign universities from the top 200 in the world to establish a base in India in collaboration with Indian universities; and
- Exploring financing models, including more public-private partnerships and alumni funding (although the documents are somewhat vague about the perennially vexed issue of private provision in India and its role), as well as support to help students get greater access to loans.
Lack Of Overarching Vision
Much of what the discussion papers cover is commendable and certainly vital, but there are still questions as to the governments overarching narrative or pathway. Although priorities can be developed within this, the opportunities to fundamentally re-make a moribund system may be lost.
First, there does not appear to be a comprehensive roadmap to an end goal. For instance, what are the absolute and immediate must have reforms upon which other reforms will be based? Certainly the discussion papers have a wish list feel to them and, of course, in casting the net far and wide there is some inevitability in this.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Certainly the discussion papers have a wish list feel to them and, of course, in casting the net far and wide there is some inevitability in this. [/su_pullquote]
Second, they represent an institution-heavy response to Indias higher education needs. This runs the risk of inflicting more bureaucracy onto an already top heavy system.
More and more advisory boards, committees, commissions and specialist bodies seem to be the underlying message. An Education Commission to assist in identifying new knowledge, a new Central Educational Statistics Agency, a new Teacher Education University, an expert committee to study accreditation abroad and a task force of experts to study recruitment, promotion and retention of academics, are just some of many examples. At a time when new technologies ought to be leading to more devolution, accountability and distribution of responsibilities, this seems more than a little contrary.
Third, the linkages between research and industry, while flagged, do not appear to be accompanied by many ideas of how to make them
Additional Overseeing and Adjustments
A greater two-way mobility of personnel between higher education institutions and industry, including much less restrictive hiring practices, should be a part of this. Another vital feature must include developing strongly functioning eco-systems with key linkages between government, higher education, vocational education, industry, research and the financial sectors. It is instructive that, while there is some notion of creating pace-setting institutions to be academic incubators, there may be a missed opportunity in not explicitly linking them with the industry (elsewhere in the documents, however, there is a reference to incubation centers for entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity).
It is instructive that, while there is some notion of creating pace-setting institutions to be academic incubators, there may be a missed opportunity in not explicitly linking them with the industry (elsewhere in the documents, however, there is a reference to incubation centers for entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity).
Having a much stronger, explicit and overarching eco-systems approach is both critical and a key challenge. Further, while the discussion papers call for better linkage between higher education and society, this could perhaps be better fashioned around ensuring that higher education meets the specific challenges or missions confronting the Indian society.
Access and Internationalization
Some other issues are worthy of mention.
India has certainly embraced MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and online delivery of courses, but ensuring quality remains a major challenge.
In addition, there is an opportunity for India to become a massification-segmentation’ – a provider of tertiary education, in which new information and communications technology can be deployed not only to provide access for large numbers of students but also to tailor education solutions to particular student needs.
While the documents speak of internationalization of higher education, there is little by way of strategies to attract more international students. Apart from the laudable aims of making Indias curricula comparable to the words best and developing Indian cultural studies, more needs to be done to strengthen the global flow of ideas.
Perhaps, this is a pipe dream given capacity and other constraints in India. The approach to internationalization is focused more on institutions attracting them to India and encouraging Indian institutions to locate abroad.
Further, one of the problematic cornerstones of the Indian higher education system is its affiliation system. Here, colleges that are tied to universities have limited, if any, autonomy at all, with a consequent impact on accountability, motivation, and capability.
The discussion papers make a somewhat lukewarm attempt at reform, recommending that the existing affiliation system will continue but with a maximum limit of 100 on the number of affiliating colleges. This could be a lost opportunity for some much needed fundamental reform. Moreover, the opportunity to implement risk-based regulatory reform appears to be missed.
Indian higher education is at a crossroads. Its future direction, as exemplified in the two documents, points to some tentative positive steps to address the massive challenges faced by the sector. However, there is an uneasy sense that more could be done to address more fundamental issues despite the various political constraints that come with proposing reform.
Dr. Anand Kulkarni is the Senior Manager, Planning and Research, RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, overseeing planning, analysis and strategic projects for the University. He is the Associate Editor for the Journal International Review of Business and Economics and a Fellow at the Centre For Policy Development in Australia.
This article by the author first appeared as “What are the must-have reforms for higher education” in the University World News, 19th August 2016.
Featured Image Credits: Robyn Budlender via Unsplash.com