APPENDIX `G' MEMORANDUM ON ITEM 9 : SALIENT FEATURES OF PERSPECTIVE PLANNING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON SCHEMES UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR THE FOURTH PLAN
(a) Perspective Plan In the field of higher education, the Third Plan laid emphasis on engineering and technology, science education and establishment of 26 Centres of Advanced Study in different disciplines apart from pro- vision of scholarships, fellowships and establishment of new profes- sorships in some of the universities. The following table indicates the financial allocations for the programmes of various sectors of education at the university level during the first, second and third Plan periods:
I II III
Sectors of University Education Plan Plan Plan
(Rupees in crores)
(i) Arts, Science and Commerce Education 14 45 82*
(ii) Engineering and Technology 9 22 76
(iii) Agriculture and Veterinary Science 5 11 17
(iv) Medical Education 17+ 28+ 43
* The break- up is : UGG Rs. 37 crores; States Rs. 38 crores; Ministry of Education Rs. 7 crores. Total Rs. 82 crores.
+ Estimated
Includes provision for dental education
2. In the Fourth and successive Plans, it is necessary to improve the quality of higher education in science and humanities and agricul- ture as well as the tempo of higher education in engineering and tech- nology which had been raised in the Third Plan and has to be main- tained and further developed in the Fourth and successive Plans. But, facilities for provision of education in science, arts and commerce were expanded in the Second and Third Plans, and yet not considerably improved as they should have been. Improvement has been only in certain sectors like establishment of Centres, of Advanced Study and in a few schemes; of the University Grants Commission which have been explained in the Annual Report for the year 1962-63*.
*University Grants Commission-Report for the year 1962-63, UGC., New Delhi, 1964
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3. The lack of improvement is evident because in the first place larger number of students came in during the Third Plan' the total enrolment increasing from about 9 lakhs to more than 13 lakhs by the end of the Third Plan, and the total number of colleges increased at the rate of about 75-100 in the Third Plan per year.
4. The main reason, however, was that the per capita expendi- ture in the Third Plan for students of arts, science and commerce was very much low. This has been estimated about Rs. 300 for arts and commerce students and about Rs. 375 for science students per capita as against about Rs. 1,200 per capita for technology and engineering. The position by the end of the Third Plan is expected to be somewhat worse because the new colleges established for additional in take have not been provided with the necessary facilities and that is why the per capita expenditure is not rising.
5. For the Fourth Plan, therefore, it is necessary to see that per capita expenditure is raised in the form of better equipment, library facilities, more teachers in better scales of pay (i.e. better teacher-pupil ratio), provision of tutorials and seminars for students and provision of summer schools and conference for teachers. Besides, a larger provision has to be made for scholarships, fellowships, studentships, research fellowships, etc.
6. An important point about the cost of education is per capita capital expenditure. For the Third Plan, it has been estimated that it will be of the order of Rs. 1,000 per capita. While it has been noticed that with the rise of cost of buildings, etc., even at the end of the Third Plan this has gone up to about Rs. 1,500, for better provision of library facilities and equipment for laboratories etc., in a certain planned way, this would have to be raised to about Rs. 2,100 per capita during the Fourth and successive Plans.
7. What really has happened in these calculations is that projections based on sub-standard institutions have given rise to establishment of institutions having poor quality of academic learning. The expenditure has to be comparable in some sense with what has been provided for technical education in the Third Plan, at least for science education.
8. In respect of recurring expenditure, the following table would indicate how we are spending in the Third Plan per capita (recurring) on students of some of select institutions (only a sample is given below):
Over-all per Staff-student
Colleges capita expenditure ratio
(recurring)
Presidency College, Madras . 769 1:9
Madras Christian College. 521 1:11
St. Xavier's College, Bombay 408 1:22
Institute of Science, Bombay 1457 1:10
St. Stephen's College, Bombay 1010 1:14
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8 (a) On the basis of this information it is felt that we have to bring a large majority of the existing 1,400 colleges to a level of the `sample colleges' mentioned above and the new ones that are to be established to be of a standard consistent with academic objectives for this purpose; and, therefore, the suggestion is made that the per capita recurring cost to be calculated for the Fourth Plan may be on an average for arts, science and commerce students of a higher order, say about Rs. 750.
9. It would seem that any estimate for the Fourth and successive Plans for provision of facilities in financial terms should take into account improvement of quality of higher education in terms of investments on teachers, libraries, laboratories and other facilities for providing a congenial academic atmosphere. Even such a provision may not compare with the facilities provided in the U.K., where the average annual cost is Rs. 7,000 per capita (581(Pound)) and average nonrecurring cost is about Rs. 30,000 ((pound)2000).*
(b) Some Principles of Perspective Plan 10. It is apparent that education is vital to all aspects of national development and strength and prosperity of the country. In planning educational developments, we have to take a long-term view of our needs and objectives, and to see that the man-power that is trained and educated for various occupations in life is well equipped with both contents of modem knowledge and elements of liberal education for good citizenship.
11. Our main effort therefore should be directed towards consolidation and improvement of quality of higher education. Attention has to be paid to important newly emerging inter- disciplinary fields of which molecular biology is an obvious example. The quality of education depends essentially on the quality of teachers, and special effort should be made in the coming years towards improving substantially the conditions of work and service of teachers. It is necessary to attract and retain in the academic profession men of outstanding ability, competency and dedication. Everything should, therefore, be done to generate a `climate' which is conducive to serious and sustained work. It is also recognised that the universities prepare men and women not only for occupations in different sectors of economy but also for sustenance of higher standards in the academic field. In other words, universities produce men and women for themselves for teaching posts and these have to be of the highest quality so that improvement is progressive. In the Third Plan travel grants have been provided for teachers to go round as Visiting teachers in different universities and assistance is also given for teachers to attend the international conferences in their special subjects. The whole idea is to see that the standard of teaching is improved and there is always exchange of notes with the teachers' counterparts in the different fields of knowledge on an international and national planes.+
* Robbins Report, Appendix IV, pages 110 & 113.
+ "Development Programmes" Published by U.G.C., New Delhi, 1964
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12. For providing facilities for teachers, provision of staff quarters for a certain percentage of teachers is desirable in view of the fact that the staff residing on or near the campus would be in a position to participate more fully in the academic life of the university. This would help to promote a corporate intellectual life and closer contact between the academic staff and the student. Priority has also to be given to construction of hostels, and still more to what may be called `reading seats' in the libraries and other suitable buildings specially constructed for the purpose. This is an essential step towards raising the standards of education, as most of our students come from homes where there is hardly any facility for doing their home work properly.
13. Apart from importance that is to be given for science, tech- nology and agriculture, a fundamental task in the entire programme of university education is to promote first-rate schools of postgraduate studies and research in our universities. Perhaps, it is not possible to go in for advanced specialisation in all fields. In fact, one of the most important things for a university and it is none-too-easy, is to select carefully, subjects/fields for high level specialisation constituting `areas' of special concentration of effort and resources of the university. Such a selection must take into account the existing facilities and potentialities for further growth and it should contain an element of flexibility and adjustment to take into account for future development. It will be seen that the scheme of Centres of Advanced Study was introduced in the Third Plan for this purpose, and this has been explained in a booklet "Centres of Advanced Studies in Indian Universities".*.
14. It is necessary to identify and encourage gifted students and provide them with reasonable financial and other assistance to enable them to devote themselves fully to their work, free from distractions and worries. The gifted students are the nation's most precious asset and they deserve every care and attention. More adequate arrangements should be made for medical care and health of students. This is closely linked to the probelm of adequate nutrition.
15. In order to make the programmes of the Fourth and successive Plans realistic, it may be desirable to take into account shortcomings in the development programmes during the Third Plan and propose schemes for the Fourth and successive Plans which are operationally feasible.
16. In any practical Plan it is important to be reasonably sure that the programmes undertaken are physically and organisationally possible of attainment.
17. Since planning is a continuous process, certain programmes from the Third Plan would prominently figure in the Fourth Plan, and they should have a priority over the other programmes of development. Some of the important items which therefore have to be included are as follows :
(i) Improvement and expansion of facilities on the basis of ad- ditional numbers and per capita expenditure.
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(ii) Special programmes for postgraduate students where the pro- portion of students taking up these courses has to be considerable in- creased.
(iii) Establishment of Centres of Advanced Study which are 26 in number today in science and humanities and which have to be in- creased further in relation to the level of development of such de- partments in different universities. Even this is a continuous process.
(iv) While there should be as few new universities as possible established in the Fourth and successive Plans, unless preparation for them has been made in terms of developing certain centres as university centres in big affiliating universities, it may be necessary to take up any new university only in consultation with the University, Grants Commission in accordance with the report of the Committee of the University Grants Commission on the subject. Their interim report has been submitted but their final report is expected to be available soon.
(v) The other idea is to establish some big university colleges in certain areas having concentrated student population with all the facilities of staff, laboratory, etc., as it has been found that where large student population is concentrated, small units are, uneconomical.
(vi) In the Fourth and successive Plans it will be desirable to improve the pre-university education of one year in most of the uni- versities or two years in the University of Kerala. The difficulties in the Three-Year Degree Course are not a little due to the unprepared students for undertaking the course. The Pre-University course of one year or two years must prepare the students through better teacher- pupil ratio, provision of more tutorials, reading seats for all students and guidance and counselling to weaker sections of the pupils. A programme has to be organised for this purpose and cost calculated in terms of the programme.
(vii) Provision of more hostels, staff quarters, student homes, etc.
(viii) Provision of Summer Schools, Seminars, Conferences, etc. The Summer Schools were organised in the summer of 1964 for science education in 32 centres. Sixteen for the secondary school teachers and 16 for the University teachers, with the aid from the university teachers of the United States of America which provided specialists in science teaching for this purpose. This has helped to give reorientation to the teachers in their subject and contact with the latest knowledge and materials as well as familiarity with new teaching aids and devises. It is expected that by the end of the Third Plan, there will be more than a hundred summer institutes of this type and by the end of the Fourth Plan they will go up to 500. Besides, there will be conferences in different disciplines for teachers to exchange notes and improve their programmes of teaching and research.
18. The above programmes are some of the, important ones which will be projected for the Fourth Plan and Formulated into definite schemes with their cost patterns. Certain items as physical education, N.C.C. programmes and various other schemes such as development of languages (Indian, foreign and classical), campus development,etc., are not included here. They will have to be worked out into details of the Plan.
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19. The University Grants Commission have addressed all the universities to prepare plans on the above lines and it is expected that by the end of October 1964, their schemes will be available and on the basis of that details could be worked out for the Fourth Plan as well as a perspective of next 15 years could be taken then.
20. A point that has to be mentioned here is that for an undeveloped country, it will be desirable as found in the Unesco Publication 1963 about the Economic Development of Latin America, that for higher education one has to provide for nearly 1/5th of the total number of students at the secondary education level and the per capita expenditure should be four times that provided for the enrolment of the high/higher secondary students. This would only help us to arrive at a global figure of calculation of cost for higher education but details of cost can only be worked out on the basis of information that will be received from different universities and on the general programmes mentioned above.
21. Another point is the recent recommendation made by the University Grants Commission about Rural Higher Institutes numbering about 14. These and all other higher institutions of learning in the country have to be brought under the umbrella of universities whose tone and climate has to be improved over the next 10 years through proper programmes. The recommendations of the university Grants Commission in this connection may be seen in Annexure XI.
ANNEXURE XI
University Grants Commission The final meeting of the Committee appointed by the Commission to consider the scope and standard of education imparted in the rural institutes in country on a reference from the Ministry of Education was held on 3rd August, 1964 at 10.30 A.M. in the office of the Commission. The following were present:
1. Dr. D. S. Kothari
2. Shri B. Shiva Rao
3. Shri P. N. Kirpal
4. Dr. A. L. Mudaliar
5. Shri D. C. Pavate
6. Shri S. N. Das Gupta
7. Dr. J. M. Mehta
8. Prof. M. Mujeeb
9. Dr. R. K. Singh
10. Mr. Haim Gratch
11. Shri G. K. Chandiramani
12. Shri K. L. Joshi
13. Dr. P. J. Philip
14. Shri R. K. Chhabra
15. Shri L. R. Mal
The Committee after examining all the facts included in the working paper and being guided by the observations made by the different members of the Committee as well as after appreciating the difficulties of the institutions placed before them by the Directors of the Institutes, came to the conclusion that it would be desirable to help the Rural Institutes in the experiment they have been doing for the last 8 years. For this purpose it was felt that the Rural Institutes should not function in isolation from the general stream of higher education and it would be of distinct advantage to help them further in their progress if some way could be found to bring them with the community of universities and their affiliated institutions and establish inter-communication between the Rural the Institutes and the universities. For this purpose the Committee recommended the following:
(a) In view of the fact that the Rural Institutes have special features in their programmes for higher education, in the rural areas and have developed over the years new techniques of teaching and study of rural problems through extension programmes and field work which are an integral Dart of the courses of study etc., it was necessary to strengthen these institutes through establishment of special courses of study and provision of equipment and library facilities in relation to the development in different institutions.
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