SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION - ITS DIMENSIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS
[University System -- Its Dimensions . Characteristics Limitations . Shortcomings]
3. 00 THE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION - ITS DIMENSIONS
Following Independence in 1947 there was an upsurge in the demand for higher education and a virtual explosion in the number of universities and colleges. India has now a system of higher education with over 180 Universities and institutions of higher learning which are authorised to award degrees. The Universities are of various kinds; with a single faculty or many faculties; teaching or affiliating or teaching-cum-affiliating; one campus or multi-campus; Sanskrit Universities; Technological Universities; Agricultrual Universities; Medical Universities, Women's Universities; special Institutes of medicine, science,engineering and technology, management and social work etc. These institutions of higher learning, fall into the following broad categories-
i. Universities - which are established by an Act of Parliament or State Legislature and are of unitary or affiliating type;
ii. Institutions of national importance - like the Indian Institutes of Technology; which are declared as such by the Government of India by an Act of Parliament and are empowered to award degrees; and
iii. Institutions deemed to be Universities - which are given University status on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in terms of Section 3 of its Act. Some of these institutions offer advanced level courses in a particular field of specialisation, [such as Indian School of Mines] while others award general degrees[ such as vanasthali vidyapeeth].
iv. Institutions which award only Diplomas and are not established by legislation or deemed to be Universities such as Indian Institutes of Management.
54
3.0.1 COLLEGES Most of the Universities have also colleges attached to them either as constituent colleges or as affiliated colleges or both. They are mostly affiliated colleges. The number of colleges at present is over 6500. A small number of colleges have been made autonomous so that they have academic freedom to frame their own courses, do the teaching and conduct own examinations though the degrees are given by the Universities.
The Colleges are either government run colleges or private colleges. The private colleges range from the mammoth colleges of Calcutta to tiny colleges set up by private donors in small places.
3.0.2 STRENGTH OF STUDENTS With a student population of about 3.65 million, India has the third largest system of higher education in the world. The magnitude of largeness can be gauged from the fact that nearly 150 new colleges start functioning every year. Out or this student population nearly 29 percent are women and 12 percent are from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Over 30 Universities have started correspondence courses in various subjects at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Four Open Universities have also been established and besides, a number of other universities follow the open university system.
Only 4.8 percent of the relevant age groups of the country's population are enrolled in higher education. The proportion is worse in some regions and for women and weaker sections of the society. Rural areas have been touched Only marginally by higher education of good quality.
During the fifties and sixties, the enrolment increased at the rate of 12 to 13 percent per annum respectively. There was a sharp decline thereafter and it increased only at 3.8 percent per annum in the seventies. There is again a reverse, trend with the average annual compound growth rate of enrolment in the first five years of the eighties being pegged at about six percent.
The higher education system suffers from a large number of drop- outs and failures which together account for more than 59 percent of the students enrolled. Further, a good number of those who pass the examination are classified under 'third division' which is an index of low standards.
55
3.0.3 STRENGTH OF TEACHERS On an average for every sixteen students in an Indian University there is one teacher. The teacher student ratio is more favourable in the institutions departments of science and technology, agriculture, medicine and other professional courses, than those in arts, humanities, law and social sciences.
In 1987-88, there were altogether two and a half lakh teachers in the Universities and Colleges and Institutions deemed to be Universities. Among the teachers in the University Departments the proportion of the senior teachers viz. Professors and Readers to the total teaching staff was 34 percent while that in the affiliated colleges it was only 11 percent.
Nearly 7 percent of college teachers have M.Phil. and 15 -percent have Ph.D. degrees. In the Universities on the other hand, 47 percent of the Lecturers, 76 percent of the Readers and 84 percent of the Professors are holding the Ph.D or higher doctoral degrees.
3.0.4 NON-TEACHING STAFF The non-teaching staff consists of technical staff administrative staff, ministerial staff, service staff, etc. Their number is quite large especially in the institutions of science, technology, medicine and agriculture. In the Central Universities the number of non-teaching staff is about four times that of the teaching staff. More or less the same ratio may be there in other Universities as well.
3.1 CHARACTERISTICS Some of the important features pertaining to higher education in the University system over the last few decades are briefly given below;
1. Large scale entry of first generation students to institutions of higher education.
2. Unusual expansion including that of professional and technical education.
3. The rise of regional Universities, a new phenomenon having its hold on the areas of jurisdiction.
4. Realisation of the need for correspondence courses.
56
5. Vociferous demands made by students' organisations, seeking participation in the administration of the Universities and colleges.
6. The teachers' organisations and the organisations of non-teaching employees becoming stronger day by day.
7. The gradual acceptance of the concept that a college should play, an important role as an 'area. institution' in the developmental activities of the areas is slowly taking roots.
8. Air-tight compartmentalisation is giving way to the basic need of interdisciplinary functioning in applied research.
9. Establishment of Uni-discipline Universities particulary in the fields of agriculture, medicine, engineering and technology.
10. The proposal for giving autonomous status to the colleges is being implemented.
11. Existence of a large number of small colleges having enrolment of less than 500, to be found in all the States, generally set up in response to popular demands.
12. The average number of affiliated colleges per affiliating University in most of the states is quite high as compared to the number of 30 affiliated colleges recommended by the Kothari Commission. Some of the States have an average number of affiliated colleges per University ranging between 90 and 140.
3.2 LIMITATIONS AND MAJOR SHORT-COMINGS University management is complex. It faces problems not only from the growing student population and the newly emerging needs and expectations of society but also from the fact that over a period of time it has remained static and failed to evolve effective systems of management.
Some of the management problems have arisen from the sheer growth in the size of Institutions in terms of number of colleges, number of departments, faculty strength, number of students, posing problems of housing, hostels, maintenance and so on. The pattern of management, generally provides for a highly centralised authority, which makes appropriate and timely decisions even more difficult.
57
Indian Universities are mostly teaching and examining bodies, with adequate research facilities at a few centres. In most places decisions of all kinds requiring even small
expenditure of money, purchase of common items, repair of equipments, permission to travel, release of contingency funds etc. are taken centrally, with adverse effect on the speed and efficiency of teaching and research. It also exposes the authorities to greater pressures. Research requires interdepartmental linkages, University-production sector linkages and involvement in regional development, for which the Universities have inadequate mechanisms. Extension work, continuing education, adult education programmes, and restructuring of courses etc. require new types of management. Restructuring has generally not been successful- ]largely because of traditionalism. Course structures cannot be changed because of the existing rigid subject-wise Boards of Studies.
A number of Universities are groaning under the weight of affiliated colleges and the burden which it imposes on their meagre facilities. On the other hand, many of the affiliated colleges are experiencing difficulty because they feel that the links with the University are far too tenuous, and the University is an obstacle in their progress.
Though the need for cooperative usage of equipment and other facilities like computers arises because of the cost of installing and running such facilities, such facilities tend to be monapolised by one or a few departments. Inter/University facilities are also being created the management whereof requires to be worked out satisfactorily.
The University Grants Commission has identified the provision of suitable facilities for corporate life as an input to learning, and much more has to be done to organise a large variety of intellectual, cultural, social, and sports activities and to fund such activities. This is an area, where student participation and self management will pay large dividends provided each activity is basically run by those who are proficient in it. The modalities for managing these facilities have to be satisfactorily worked out.
Perhaps the most important changes in the approach to management arise from moving over from a colonial, highly centralized authoritarian society to an open democratic society,
Besides these, consensus reached in discussions at the various seminars etc. has revealed the following MAJOR SHORT- COMINGS OF THE INDIAN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM:
58
1. Objectives of the Universities are not clearly defined and spelt out in most of the Acts. Further, infrastractures are inadequate to fulfil the objectives
2. Composition of the major University authorities, e.g. Senate, Executive Council, and the Academic Council are not appropriate to their roles.
3. Excessive controlling role is played by the State Departments of Education. By and large, all authority in a State is vested in the Director of Higher Education and Education Secretary. Financial autonomy does not seem to be a possible proposition.
4. Lack of a proper state level body to facilitate, promote and co-ordinate higher education in the state and also to co-ordination with the UGC.
5. Lack of provision in the acts of the Universities for granting autonomous status to colleges, Departments, Institutes or Campuses of Colleges.
6. Lack of adequate authority to the Vice-Chancellor to discharge his reponsibility as the Principal Executive and Academic Officer.
7. Lack of or inadequate decentralisation of powers to Directors of institutes, Deans of faculties, and Heads of Departments.
8. Failure to provide adequately for balancing the needs of various interests and groups involved in University functioning, viz. the academic community and the lay representatives, the University and colleges, the teachers, the students, the non/teaching staff, etc. and to provide for proper interaction between them in the larger interests of the University itself.
9. Absence of adequate and effective machinery for planning and development, academic monitoring, accreditation of institutions and recognition of individual merit.
10. Universities have programmes of teaching, research and extension; teaching programmes in many cases have no 'much relevance to social and national needs. Rigidities of the Boards of Studies do not allow introduction of new multi-faculty or inter-faculty courses as also redesigning of courses. Extension hardly finds a place in the Acts of Universities. There is hardly any collaboration between different departments; and the Universities collaborate only in marginal manner with industry, research and other academic institutions.
59
11. Inadequate and generally ineffective technical and administrative services.
12. Poor financial arrangements and over-dependence on government leading to infringement of autonomy and also resulting in inefficiency.
13. Lack of effective, independent judicial machinery with proper status and powers for resolving internal disputes in the University.
3.3 SOME PROBLEMS OF THE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION
- Inadequacy of infrastructural facilities providing physical facilities and academic inputs.
- Financial and resource problems.
- Problems of Curriculum Development and need for more flexibility in offering courses to students.
- Recruitment and training of teachers and human resource management problems.
- Evaluation and appraisal problems.
- Inadequate community relations.
- Need for establishing proper relations with other research institutions and industry.
- Problems of providing co-curricular facilities.
- Problems of organising, promoting, monitoring and evaluating research.
- Problems of time management.
- Problems of adapting to new challenges like distance education, non-formal education, continuing education, open learning and newer educational technologies.
- Problems of looking after the interest of special groups like weaker sections, women, etc.
- Institutional and academic autonomy and accountability.
60