REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON HIGHER EDUCATION (ANNEXURE-V)
The Group on Higher Education, constituted by the Central Advisory Board of Education to consider the items of the agenda on higher education-Item No. 3(vii), met on July 6-7, 1989. A list of the participants is attached.
2. The Chairman of the Group highlighted the issue,; to be considered and emphasised that basically the concerns about autonomy of colleges, formulation of academic calendars, setting up of State Councils of Higher Education, improvement in standards, etc., are interrelated and cannot be considered in isolation.
In this context, he mentioned that it was not possible for a Central agency like the University Grants Commission to exercise control over the States and basically the relationship between the UGC and the States is one of cooperation and collaboration. He emphasised that the States should speed up the process of setting up State Councils of Higher Education which would be able to exercise control at the local level, especially in the context of curbing proliferation of colleges.
While emphasising the need for increase of salaries of teachers so as to attract and retain the best talent in the teaching profession, the Chairman emphasised that the recruitment procedures should be made more stringent and requested the States that they should take steps to introduce the qualifying test for teachers as envisaged in the scheme of revision of pay scales.
The need for creating a climate for expediting grant of autonomy to colleges was emphasised. However, the main problem. was that a number of State Governments had not yet
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amended their Acts and this had held up the implementation of the scheme. He also mentioned that the concept of autonomy basically means self-reliance and it cannot be imposed from outside. He further added that so far about 100 colleges have already been granted autonomy and another 80 are in the pipeline. It was also mentioned that the process of expediting examination reforms is also connected with grant of autonomy to institutions as it had been seen that in universities with a large number of affiliated colleges that reforms have not been as effective.
3. The main views/recommendations that emerged as a result of discussions on the above issues are as follows:
(i) Autonomous Colleges
The representatives of most of the State Governments supported the concept of the scheme of autonomous colleges. It was agreed that the State Governments would give a fair trial to the concept and try and grant autonomy to as many colleges as possible. However, some of the representatives expressed reservations in regard to the operationalisation of the scheme. The following points were made :
(a) the scheme would promote elitism amongst colleges;
(b) it would lead to, devaluation of the university degrees;
(c) there would be misutilisation of funds by unscru- pulous managements and the teachers would not have adequate representation in the management of the college affairs; and
(d) concern was expressed about the capacity of auto- nomous colleges to conduct examinations in a fair manner.
The Chairman of the Group, however, allayed such fears by pointing the fact that the concept of autonomy all over the world implies greater creativity, innovation and freedom. Further, the
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grant of autonomy would provide the teachers better opportunity to participate in the management of the colleges than as at present. Since this was an experiment, initial problems would have to be resolved with an open mind. The Group agreed with the suggestion that the performance of colleges which have been granted autonomy so far may be evaluated. It was noted that the experience of autonomous colleges has been satisfactory in Tamil Nadu and that Rajasthan has experimented with grant of autonomy to Government colleges.
(ii) Academic Calendar
The Group noted with concern that most of the universities do not have any prescribed academic calendars and are unable to complete teaching and award degrees in the prescribed time schedule. As a result, there is an avoidable influx of students from one part of the country to the other because of the failure of universities in some States to keep up with the academic schedule.
Though the UGC has prescribed that the actual days in an, academic year should not go below 180 days, the Group expressed concern that in most of the universities including the Central Universities the number of teaching days is far below the prescribed norm.
The representatives of the States enthusiastically welcomed the idea that universities in the States should have an Academic Calendar specifying the dates of admission, commencement of the academic session, vacations, examinations and declaration of results.
The Group welcomed the model calendar which has been prepared by the UGC Committee and circulated to all the States/Universities. The Group was in agreement with the suggestions of the Committee that all the States should try to adhere to the prescribed 180 days of teaching. It was also agreed that though the States may make adjustments within the
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Academic Calendar to suit local conditions they should keep to the prescribed 180 days and have the same schedule of admission/teaching days, examinations and announcement of results so that there is facility for mobility of students from one State to the other.
It was emphasised that to create the appropriate atmosphere for implementation of the above suggestions the teachers organisations and students organisations should be actively involved.
It was also suggested that the implementation of the Academic Calendar should be regularly monitored by a Committee presided over by the Vice-Chancellors at the university level, by the State Councils of Higher Education at the State level and the UGC/Central Government at the national level.
(iii) State Councils of Higher Education
The Group reiterated the need for expediting the process of setting up of State Councils of Higher Education in all the States as per the revised guidelines circulated by the UGC.
(iv) Qualifying Test for Teachers
The Group unanimously supported the proposal to have a national qualifying test for appointment of lecturers in universities and colleges. The national level test will be conducted, by the UGC. It was agreed that the State Governments would be free to conduct their own test which would be accredited by the UGC. The tests conducted by any of the States would be recognised by other States or the UGC. The Group emphasised the need for finalising the modalities by the States as early as possible so that all recruitments after 1-1-1990 are made from candidates who have been declared as qualified in the tests.
(v) Examination Reforms
The Group was of the view that it is desirable to vigorously continue efforts in the directions of examination reforms by all the States/Universities. A view was also expressed that supplementary examinations should be abolished and there should
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be no gaps between examinations. Internal assessment credits and grading should also be given their due place in the scheme of evaluation.
(vi) Promotion of Distance Education
The Group emphasised the importance of distance education and expressed the hope that adequate resources would be made available in the VIII Plan for a substantial increase in the enrolment in the Open University System.
The Group commended the network approach for pooling and sharing of courses between Open Universities. The cooperation extended by State Governments in establishing Regional and Study Centres of IGNOU was appreciated.
The Group felt that to promote student mobility the possibility of transfer of credits from the conventional universities to Open Universities and vice-versa should be explored.
In Addition to the above view/recommendations, the following points were also made :
(i) The Central Universities should be unitary;
(ii) Colleges should not be allowed to be established
without adequate provision for funding and basic
infrastructural facilities.
PARTICIPANTS IN THE GROUP ON HIGHER
EDUCATION
6-7 July
IIT, New Delhi
1 Prof. Yashpal Chairman
Chairman, UGC
New Delhi
2. Shri T. N. Jaichandran
Commissioner & Secretary (Education) Rapporteur
Government of Kerala
3. Shri Abhimanyu Singh
Director Rapporteur
Department of Education
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4. Ms. Shobhana Joshi
Deputy Secretary
Department of Education
5. Shri Nirmal Singh
Under Secretary
Department of Education
6. Dr. A Vanajakshi
Director, Higher Education
Government of Andhra Pradesh
7. Shri Brindaban Goswami
Minister of Education
Government of Assam
8. Shri B. B. Sahay
Principal Secretary (Education)
Government of Bihar
9. Shri Arvind S. Sanghvi
Minister of Education
Government of Gujarat.
10. Dr. M. L. Jhingan
Deputy Director, Higher Education
Government of Haryana
11. Shri Attar Singh
Secretary Education
Government of Himachal Pradesh
12. Shri Ajit Kumar
Commissioner & Secretary Education
Government of Jammu & Kashmir
13. Shri G. P. Singh
Director (Education)
Government of Jammu and Kashmir
14. Shri K. P. Nair
Special Officer, Deptt. of Collegiate Education
Government of Kerala
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15. Prof. D. Eswarappa
Directorate of Collegiate Education
Government of Karnataka
16. Shri C. K. Jayaswal
Education Minister
Government of Madhya Pradesh
17. Shri P. P. Singh
Jt. DPI
Government of Madhya Pradesh
18. Shri T. S. Gangte
Director, Higher Education
Government of Manipur
19. Shri G. P. Wahlang
DPI, Government of Meghalaya
20. Shri Lalawia
Director, Higher & Technical Education
Government of Mizoram
21. Shri G. S. Das
Director, Higher Education
Government of Orissa
22. Shri Mohan Singh
Director, Public Instruction College
Government of Punjab
23. Shri P. B. Mathur
Commissioner & Secretary Education
Government of Rajasthan
24. Dr. P. S. Subramanian
Director of Collegiate Education
Government of Tamil Nadu
25. Shri Manik Dev
Member of Tripura University Council
Government of Tripura
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26. Mrs. S. K. Bakshi
Minister of Education
Government of Uttar Pradesh
27. Shri P. C. Sharma
Secretary Education
Government of Uttar Pradesh
28. Dr. B. M. L. Tiwari
Director, Higher Education
Government of Uttar Pradesh
29. Shri A. K. Chatterjee
Secretary, Higher Education
Government of West Bengal
30. Shri G. K. Bhattacharya
Secretary Education
Delhi Administration
31. Prof. S. K. Khanna
Secretary, UGC
New Delhi
32. Dr. S. P. Gupta
Additional Secretary
UGC, New Delhi
33. Dr. P. H. S. Rao
Joint Secretary
UGC, New Delhi
34. Shri D. P. Hira
Joint Secretary, UGC
New Delhi
35. Dr. Sudhir Roy, M.P.
Member CABE
36. Shri S. S. Bal
Guru Nanak Dev University
37. Shri Rais Ahmed
Member CABE
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38. Prof. K. S. Karanth
Member CABE
39. Dr. V. Natarajan
Director
Association of Indian Universities
40. Prof. G. Ram Reddy
Vice-Chancellor
Indira Gandhi National Open University
New Delhi
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