REPORT OF THE SUB-GROUP ON QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
1. INTRODUCTION Quality improvement essentially means improvement of the product coming out of educational institutions, i.e. improvement in the quality of the graduating students. To analyse this problem the various processes which occur in the whole system of technical education have to be examined. The performance of the constituents of the system has to be assessed and their short-comings diagnosed. It is only then that remedial measures can be identified which would improve the functioning of the constitutents and thus of the whole system. And this has to be done keeping in view a clearly defined national policy on technical education.
The quality of education is reflected in a mixture of its three basic elements: the teacher, the student and the curriculum. Inter- actions between these elements constitute the instructional processes of the system. Other processes which effect the quality of education are the managerial processes with which the administration is closely concerned. The committee has discussed these in detail and its recommendation are given in the following Sections.
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2. INSTRUCTIONAL PROCESSES One of the most important aspects of quality improvement in education is improving the instructional processes in all its aspects. This involves various features such as recruitment, development and evaluation of the faculty; selection of students, identifying their needs, evaluating their performance and giving them adequate support services. The continuous revision and updating of the curriculum to meet the requirements of the ever-expanding store of knowledge is yet another important aspect of the instructional process.
2.1 Faculty In discussing educational processes it is sometimes said that 'the student is more important than the teacher, and the teacher is more important than the curriculum'. This may be true generally, but in the context of quality improvement it is the teacher who is at the focal point. Improvement and development of the faculty, therefore, will have to receive top priority if a real and meaningful improvement in quality is to be achieved.
2.1.1 Recruitment (i) Qualification: Faculty recruitment should be based on precise job descriptions. The minimum qualifi- cations necessary for recruitment of the various categories of teaching staff should be carefully drawn up. In doing this it should be borne in mind that both teaching and research abilities are required of a teacher; and for senior teaching positions, particularly in colleges, it must be ensured that the persons recruited possess both these abilities.
It was noted that the minimum qualifications for recruitment have been laid down by UGC/AICTE. These are considered to be generally adequate. The only lacuna in these is the inadequate emphasis placed on industrial experience. The Committee recommends that in addition to the minimum academic qualifications already laid down, for all fresh recruitments at least one year's industrial experience should be considered essential for junior categories of teaching staff (i.e. Lecturers and below) and at least two
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years for all senior categories (i.e. Asstt. Professors and above). All educational institutions should be urged to accept these additions to the list of essential qualifications.
(ii) Selection Procedures: Regarding selection procedures, it was realised that several procedures are possible, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. While other methods of selection could be tried out in selected places, it was felt that the present method of screening, short-listing followed by a personal interview appears to be satisfactory and may be continued. However, what ever be the method of selection employed, the Committee recommends that all recruitment should be strictly on merit, by open competition, on an all-India basis.
(iii) Contract Employment: One of the incentives for good performance and hard work at the Lecturer's and Assistant Professor's level is the fact that these categories of staff can aspire for promotions to the next higher category. However, at the level of the Professor or the Head of an Institution such incentives no longer exist. Persons at this level have to be self-motivated; but, unfortunately, not all persons at this level fall into this category. In order to ensure that the quality of work done by persons at higher levels continues to be good, the Committee recommends that all appointments to the post of Professors and Heads of Institutions should be on the basis of renewable contracts, for five years at a time. This would provide check points in the careers of such persons and ensure sustained high quality of output.
2.1.2 Faculty Development: Once a teacher is recruited, his planned development is the key-note to the building up of a dynamic faculty. This cannot be done on an ad-hoc basis. The Committee recommends that planned, carefully organised faculty development programmes be considered as being absolutely essential to the improvement of quality and should be started in all educational institutions. Although this is primarily a managerial responsibility of the administration (i.e. of the Heads of Departments and Heads of Institutions), this important aspect is discussed here because considerable responsibility devolves on the faculty itself to respond to these programmes.
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(i) Programmes for Higher Degrees: The need for teachers to acquire higher qualifications is justified from the point of view of both the beneficial impact this has on the teaching process and also the fulfilment of personal aspirations of the teachers.
(a) College Teachers: In the case of College teachers a Master's degree has now been prescribed as the minimum qualification required for initial recruitment at the Lecturer's level. Besides, it was noted that most existing faculty members at the College level already have the Master's degrees. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the provision for Master's degree training in the QIP should be rapidly phased out and in its place provision should be made for training an additional number of Ph.Ds.
It is estimated that there are nearly 12,000 teachers at the College level. A large number of these teachers have yet to acquire the Doctor's degree. In view of this the Committee recommends that provision should be made under QIP to train at least 250 teachers per year for the Ph.D. degree.
(b) Polytechnic Teachers: For Polytechnic teachers, a Bachelor's degree has now been prescribed as the minimum qualification required for initial recruitment. It would be desirable, therefore, to ensure that the existing faculty also satisfy this norm. But it was noted that of the 10,000 or so Polytechnic teachers in the country a very large number are only Diploma holders. The Committee, therefore, recommends that selected Engineering Colleges should be requested to organise three-year courses to enable Diploma holders to get Bachelors degrees. Institutions which agree to do so should be given full financial support.
The acquiring of higher degrees by Polytechnic teachers would also have an important feed-back on the quality of the whole system of Polytechnic education. Since the existing Master's degree courses available in the country are not considered appropriate for Poly- technic teachers, the Committee recommends that one-year Postgraduate Diploma Courses for Polytechnic teachers should be started in selected institutions. These should be primarily industry oriented courses; a few could also be in the fields of technical
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education and its management. They could be organised under the present QIP for Polytechnic teachers by providing an adequate number of fellowships for this purpose.
(ii) Short-term Courses: In view of the rapid changes in techno- logy the risks of teacher obsolescence are very high. It is essential, therefore, that every serving teacher should be provided with opportunities to renew and update his knowledge periodically. This may be achieved by deputing teachers to short-term courses organised in all parts of the country on a regular basis. At present such courses are being organised through agencies like ISTE and the various QIP Centres. There is a need for better coordination of the efforts of the various agencies conducting these short-term courses. It would be better if a single agency were made responsible for the Organisation of these courses and their continuous monitoring to ensure that the resource utilization is optimum. The Committee recommends that a National Advisory Committee, consisting of representatives of Central and State Governments, QIP Coordinators and ISTE nominees should be set up for this purpose.
(iii) Training in Education Technology: It is not enough for a teacher to know what he is required to teach; he should also be able to teach it well. A teacher must be well trained in all aspects of education technology; his pedagogical skills must be well developed. This is important for both College and Polytechnic teachers. The four TTTIs are already conducting courses on many aspects of education technology. The Committee recommends that these efforts of the TTTIs be strengthened and expanded. Provision should also be made to organise short-term courses for the pedagogical development of teachers. While all teachers should be encouraged to attend atleast one such course during their careers, fresh entrants to the profession should be required to undergo some form of formal training in education technology soon after joining.
(iv) Industrial Training: There is a wide-spread feeling in academic circles that the present industrial training programmes are not satisfactory. This is primarily bacause teachers who go for
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such training are not permitted to do any meaningful work in the industry; they are treated more as remote observers to what goes on in the Organisation than as participants. For the industrial training to be more beneficial, the teacher trainees must be more actively engaged in the work of the industry so that they can have a firsthand impression of the problems and procedures that persons in industry have to tackle. Such training programmes must, therefore, be carefully planned on an individual basis so that the best advantage accrues to both the teacher and the industry.
The present provisions of the industrial training programmes permit a teacher to go to industry only for short periods. This is not adequate. The Committee recommends that industrial residencies of 12 months duration should be created with a provision for adequate additional payment to the teacher during the whole period of residency.
2.1.3 Staff Appraisal: Teacher evaluation is a very sensitive issue. The main reason for this is the fear that the results of the evaluation will be used to the disadvantage of the teachers by the administration. This fear can only be removed by proper motivation.
(i) Staff Appraisal Schemes: At present staff appraisal is done primarily for administrative purposes. The confidential reports prepared hardly represent profiles of the strengths and weaknesses of teachers. A scientific staff appraisal scheme should be established which is based on a methodology acceptable to the faculty. The results of such an appraisal are necessary for identifying the needs of staff development.
The Committee feels that the successful implementation of scientific staff appraisal schemes is necessary for quality improve- ment. This work of appraisal should preferably not be done by a single individual; it is best done by a committee consisting of internal and/or external experts as may be considered necessary by the institution concerned.
(ii) Personal Promotion Schemes: There is a lot of discontentment among the existing bright young faculty members who have had to stay in the same category for long periods of time because
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there are no opportunities for promotion due to lack of vacancies at the higher levels. This problem is likely to become more acute in the future as more young teachers get employed at the highest levels. The Committee recommends that for such bright young faculty members personal promotion scheme should be initiated by which they could be promoted, even though no vacancies exist at the higher levels. Such promotions would be on a personal basis. Financial provision should be made such that approximately 20% of the faculty members of each lower cadre could be considered for promotion to the next higher cadre. This would provide motivation for sustained good work.
2.2 Curriculum The curriculum should be one of the most important concerns of academic administration. In the context of improvement in the quality of education the importance of curriculum growth and development can hardly be over-emphasized. It is a continuous process and in many countries it is standard practice for educational institutions to have standing Curriculum Committees who look after this work.
2.2.1 Curriculum Development: Curriculum development work is being done in our country in selected educational institutions: the QIP Centres for degree-level curricula and the TTTIs for diplomalevel curricula. It was noted that although considerable work has been done with respect to diploma-level curriculum development, the progress made in the case of degree-level work is not the same. The main reason for this appears to be the fact that curriculum development is being interpreted differently by the different QIP centres working on it. The Committee recommends that continued support be given to the Curriculum Development Centres operating at the various institutions. Steps should also be taken for the coordination of the work being done at the various centres and for the dissemination of the information generated at these Centres to all the institutions of the country.
2.2.2 Laboratory Work: Although laboratory work has a crucial and specific role to play in both degree-level and diplomalevel engineering education, so far not much work has been done
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for the improvement of laboratory instruction. There is also need for a change in the philosophy: from the simple 'verification of theory' view point to the more difficult to achieve 'learning by doing' attitude. Project work must also be included as a part of laboratory experience. The Committee recommends that Curriculum Development Centres should be encouraged to take up the work of setting guide lines for improving laboratory work on a priority basis.
Yet another point regarding laboratory work which attracted the attention of the Committee is the obsolescence of equipment in the laboratories. Most of institutions have purchased their laboratories equipment in the early '60s and a large part of this equipment needs replacement during the period of the next Five Year Plan. The Committee recommends that the whole question of replacement of obsolete equipment should be examined in detail by the institutions and annual grants should be made available to them in a phased manner to modernize their laboratories.
2.3 Students All quality improvement work is centred around the attainments and accomplishments of students. Due attention should therefore be paid to all aspects of the students, from admission to graduation.
2.3.1 Selection of Students: Institutions must be encouraged to admit students of merit with aptitude for studies in engineering. Since there is a wide variance in the standards of the various exami- nation bodies, admitting students on the basis of marks (or grades) obtained at the qualifying examination does not appear to, be fair. Besides, this method provides no clue regarding the aptitude of the students for engineering studies. The Committee recommends that admission to both degree Colleges and diploma Polytechnics should be on the basis of very carefully designed commmon entrance tests. These examinations could be conducted state-wise, common for all the institutions of the State.
2.3.2 Remedial Courses: In spite of the best methods of selection 'the student body always has a small percentage of weak students
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who need special attention. This problem is particularly acute in the case of most of those students who are admitted under reserved quotas of some kind or another. The Committee recommends that every educational institute should take special measures to ensure that such weak students are given remedial courses to help them overcome their handicaps.
2.4 Supporting Services Of all the supporting services necessary in an educational institution, there have been singled out as requiring special atten- tion: the technical supporting staff, the library facilities and special learning resources.
2.4.1 Technical Supporting Staff. The non-teaching supporting staff includes both technical and administrative staff. Of these, it is the technical supporting staff which has a more direct bearing on the quality of education. Such staff, apart from assisting in laboratory experimentation and workshop practice, are also the ones who are primarily responsible for the maintenance of laboratory apparatus, measuring instruments and workshop equipment. No attempt at quality improvement would, therefore, be complete without giving due attention to this category of staff.
(i) Norms: The present practice for providing technical support- ing staff is to specify that the cost of hiring such staff should be a certain percentage of the cost of hiring the teaching staff. Such artificial norms are no longer adequate. The Committee recommends that technical supporting staff should be provided on need-based norms.
(ii) Training and Development: At present there is no provision for the training and development of technical supporting staff. With change in the instructional and developmental processes and the utilization of more sophisticated and delicate instruments and equipment, the need to train and develop this category of staff is being felt acutely. The Committee recommends that schemes for the training of technical supporting staff, on the same lines as the QIP schemes for teachers, should be started soon.
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2.4.2 Library Facilities: (i) Organisational Efficiency: The library is the heart of any educational institution. It provides the materials necessary to support and supplement the teaching-learning programmes. While the size, scope and character of a library are important, its proper Organisation is of even greater importance. With the vast amount of published literature available today and the newer methods of information retrieval it is of utmost importance that librarians and the librarystaff be well qualified and libraries well organised. There is considerable scope for improvement in this. The Committee recommends that educational institutions be urged to improve the efficiency of their library services. If need be, the scale of pay of the librarian could be upgraded, with a corresponding raise in the minimum qualifications required, so that better and more efficient library services would result.