HIGHER EDUCATION (GENERAL AND TECHNICAL)

fr. Louis xavier,- national secretary, jesuit educational association of india, sterling road, nungambakkam, madras (9.11.1990)

- at present, the research being undertaken in our universities are with the sole purpose of acquiring a degree - m.phil and ph.d. "Social relevance" should be one of the criteria for undertaking research.

shri s.s. Gokhale, secretary, faculty association, iit, madras (24th october, 1990)

- an overhauling of the iit system is necessary since the present system leads to brain drain. This could be partly due to the unwillingness of the indian industries. To absorb the talent available in the country and utilise it meaningfully. The standards of other technical institutions should be raised to a satisfactory level so that iits can concentrate on p.g. Programmes only.

Shri rajpal tyagi, all india democratic teachers' organisation, joya- distt. Moradabad, pin-244222

- a university should be established in every district.

Smt. Subhadra jain, marudhar girls school, p.o. Vidyawari, station rani 306115, distt. Pali (rajasthan)

- admission to higher education should be restricted to the talented children only.

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Shri rajpal tyagi, secretary, all india democratic teacher's organisation , central office-88 b.b. Ganguly street, calcutta-700012

- literature should be a compulsory subject in higher technical education courses.

Dr. Rajendra kumar awasthi, secretary, teachers' association, janta college, bakewar, itawa

- the scheme of autonomous colleges should be wound up.

Shri n.r. Hiremath, ex-dy. Director of public instruction, govt. Of karnataka, and principal, sri sarvajana college of education, bangalore (31st october, 1990)

- education hag two functions - integration and differentiation. The aim of school education is integration of the people of a country and that of higher education to encourage development of specific talents through self- discovery and self-efforts. The wrong notion that higher education is for all has lead to the dilution of the quality of higher education.

- The method of semesterisation of the courses, self- learning through reference work in libraries, creative thinking and research, inculcation of social and moral values, social commitment and accountability of persons of higher education, etc. Suggested by the committee are quite welcome.

Shri harbans singh, dy., inspector general of police (retd.), 24/1, circular road, dehra dun-248001 (25th september, 1990)

- at completion of intermediate (10+2) stage, fitness of students for further academic education should be assessed. This should be done by college boards who have personal knowledge about the calibre and conduct of students. Out of students who obtain a fixed minimum of qualifying marks, such boards should assess and decide who should

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be issued certificates of eligibility towards joining universities for graduate and later post-graduate studies and who are fit for joining technical institutes.

Shri anil biswas, editor, ganashkti, muzaffar ahmad bhawan, 31, alimuddin street, calcutta-700016 (27th october, 1990)

- there should not be any restriction on entry to higher education institutions. At present only about 4.6% of the student population goes for higher education. This percentage is far below the global and asian (even african) percentages which are 17.10 and 5.6 respectively.

Shri b.l. Seth, president, rajasthan shikshak sangh, 45, ganesh nagar, university road, udaipur, rajasthan-313001 (1st november, 1990)

- only talented boys should be allowed to pursue higher studies in the colleges. The rest should have higher education through correspondence courses. At least 50% of the cost of higher education should be recovered from the students.

Prof. Krishnaji, chairman, indian institution of maharishi vedic science and technology, maharishi nagar 201 304 (1st november 1990)

- degrees should be delinked from employment. Once this is done, all higher education colleges should be made autonomous and should have freedom to design their educational practice and content provided they adhere to a minimum core requirements in the national interest.

Workshop organised by the university of bombay at bombay on 26th september, 1990

- the suggestion to have flexible college timings will create practical problems in metropolitan cities. Besides, where more than one shift are functioning in a single building, it will not be

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feasible. May be, to enable students who are engaged in part-time jobs a system of assignment may be evolved instead of the present rigid attendance system. In rural areas, the college calendar may be adjusted according to the agricultural activities and local needs. Universities which have colleges in rural as well as urban areas will have to adjust sports and cultural activities, examinations, elections etc. Accordingly. Rural colleges may consider having their academic year from october to june instead of june to march.

- College teaching hours can be reduced and teaching supplanted by more library work, field work etc. Teaching methods will have to be changed accordingly and teachers will require orientation programmes in the new methods.

- The higher education system must become open and flexible to permit entry and exit at various levels to facilitate higher education of students who are in the vocational. Stream. Vocationalisation in the higher education must be conceived in the context of the core disciplines as applications of theory to practice for specific techniques and production needs, and with the advancing phases must aid in developing an increasing attainment of professionalism.

Seminar organised by institute of education and culture, hyderabad, the university of hyderabad and the osmania university, hyderabad at the central institute of english and foreign languages, hyderabad on 20th21st october, 1990

- the impression that disproportionately large amounts have been spent on higher education is not correct.

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- tribunalisation of justice in the higher education system is likely to lead to much litigation.

- The perspective paper has not examined the issue of management of hostels. Studies on management of university hostels reveal that the hostels have become the breeding ground for campus indiscipline. Therefore, improvement of hostel management is a matter of concern.

- The implementation of vocational programmes has not yielded the desired results. Besides, in the absense of reliable data on manpower requirements, particularly in the predominantly unorganised sector, the vocational courses are liable to become irrelevant as is happening now. Therefore, there is a need to undertake systematic and scientific manpower studies in all sectors-industrial, agricultural and services - for making vocational programme relevant and meaningful and enabling the products to become employable. Then alone these courses become acceptable to people.

- Research in the centres of higher learning needs to be given a new national orientation, to make it socially relevant and useful and directed towards development of indigenous technology so as to make the nation self-reliant. Educational research should be relevant to and have an impact on what happens in educational institutions at all levels.

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