The problem with our university vision
- International rankings of higher education institutions (HEI) is discussed in India only when global ranking systems are announced.
QS World University Rankings
- Number of Indian institutes among the top 1,000 globally has risen to 27 from 22 last year.
- IISc Bangalore has emerged as the highest ranked Indian institute in 2023 edition.
- Barring Institutes of Eminence (IOE), other universities haven’t performed well.
- IOEs are granted more academic and administrative autonomy, and public IOEs get additional funding.
Step-motherly treatment
- All-India Survey on Higher Education (2019-20):
- 184 of 1,043 HEIs in the country are centrally funded institutions.
- Inadequate Financial support from Govt.
- Academic and administrative infrastructure not revamped.
- Delay in filling up faculty positions has further worsened the quality of teaching and research in HEIs.
- State Uni. doesn’t perform well in rankings due to the unequal and unfair system in the Indian higher education system.
The NEP vision
- National Education Policy 2020 has envisaged all HEIs to become multidisciplinary institutions by 2040.
- Aim:
- Increase Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education from 26.3% in 2018 to 50% by 2035.
- Ensure that by 2030, there is at least one large multidisciplinary HEI in or near every district.
- This means that single-stream specialised institutions will eventually be phased out.
- Study of QS Rankings reveals that single-stream specialised HEIs such as IITs and IISc have performed better than their multidisciplinary counterparts.
- A plan in NEP for multidisciplinary education and research universities is also being contemplated to achieve highest global standards in quality education.
- Idea of converting a specialised institution into a multi-faculty university does not go well for the Indian economy driven by specialist professionals.
Conclusion
- Nobody is against the idea of multidisciplinary/multi-faculty education if there is 15% to 20% flexibility in total academic strength.
- But converting all HEIs into multidisciplinary institutions is not conducive to demands in India.
- Need is to build and develop our higher education system while taking into account Indian conditions and market demands.