Over 100 HE institutions bid for ‘world-class’ upgrade

Over 100 HE institutions bid for ‘world-class’ upgrade
Shuriah Niazi14 December 2017 Issue No:487


A total of 100 of India’s top universities and colleges are vying to be named 'institutions of eminence’ as part of the country’s higher education reforms to upgrade around 20 institutions into ‘world-class’ universities within the next 10 years. 

Seven Indian Institutes of Technology or IITs, Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Punjab University, the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, Jadavpur University in Kolkata, Goa University and Mangalore University, along with some of the Indian Institutes of Management and many central and state universities have joined the race for the 'institution of eminence’ tag, which will bring them greater financial and academic autonomy, according to a statement last week from the Human Resource Development Ministry.

OP Jindal Global University, Ashoka University, Manipal University and Amity University have applied from the private sector, out of six private institutions that applied by the 12 December deadline set by the ministry. 

The selected 20 institutions – 10 public and 10 private – likely to be finalised by March 2018 on the advice of an 'empowered expert committee', will have administrative, academic and financial freedom to decide their own fees structure and start new courses without the normal University Grants Commission or UGC controls, to match international standards of higher education. 

Internationalising Indian universities – The way forward

With a population nearing 1.3 billion, half of which is 25 years or younger, and a projection that by 2030 India will have 140 million people in the college-going age range, the country holds great potential to become a major source for world talent.

The major challenge higher education policy-makers face is to put in place an effective system capable of educating and training this young population to deliver on the ‘demographic dividend’.

Size and shape of higher education

The Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education – the number of individuals participating as a percentage of the college-age population – is estimated by the All India Survey on Higher Education or AISHE 2015 to be 23% – significant growth from the 0.4% in 1950-51.

The government’s stated aim is to achieve 30% by 2020. Various estimates indicate that to achieve this would require an additional 1,500 higher education institutions.

Innovation in Education (Meeta Sengupta )

Many of our schools and colleges are still stuck in the industrial age – assembly line methods inform our pedagogy. Schools evolved from a need to feed the factories, bureaucracies and armies with people who could follow instructions and sustain repetitive processes. What was needed was a reliable part that would keep the machinery of the state or organization running smoothly. Schools responded to the needs of the employers of the day and trained students in performing task based activities, in stamina and in discipline. They learnt to respect hierarchies – which represented both power and aspiration.