Careers 360 English Edition – July 2019

Need for autonomous
institutions
Long pending reforms include replac-
ing all affiliating institutions by autono-
mous ones. This has been highlighted
by all academics in every conference
or report; for example, autonomy was
a prerequisite for all TEQIP institu-
tions, but only a small number were
granted autonomy. Autonomy is both to
be granted – by the affiliating university

• and accepted by the affiliated college.
  There seems to be reluctance by both
  partners. While the NEP has suggested
  this, the anticipated impact will only be
  realized if there is a will to implement
  the recommendation.
  The document states that accredita-
  tion should be the basis for regulation!
  However, the two are entirely different.
  Regulation is by regulatory bodies, such
  as the UGC and AICTE, which is neces-
  sary before the setting up of the institu-
  tion to ensure that the pre-requisites
  are made available, whereas accredita-
  tion is by accrediting bodies, such as
  the NAAC and NBA, which assess the
  performance of the institution after two
  batches have graduated.

Society and the education
system
There is a reciprocal relationship
between society and the education
system of a country; the design of the
education system and processes depend
on such things as parent literacy and
education, economic conditions, home
support to learners, etc.
It is fashionable to say that profes-
sional education should integrate
general or liberal education, and that
too to the extent of about 25 percent.
In this technological age, where even
common people are exposed to a wide
spectrum of technology devices, ranging

The National Education Policy gives the nation an

opportunity to review the past and chart out a future

in consonance with the emerging global environ-

ment and the national aspirations

The overarching intent of NEP 2019 is to revamp

the higher education system, create world class

multi-disciplinary higher education institutions

across the country; and increase the GER to at least

50 percent by 2035

from mobile phones, personal comput-

ers and cars and mobikes; and technol-

ogy services, such as net banking, word-

processing, it seems more appropriate

to provide technology literacy to gen-

eral learners. In other words, it is more

important to integrate STEM learning

into general education.

As a rule, engineering curricula incor-

porate about 15 percent liberal studies.

This includes engineering ethics, envi-

ronment science and technology, civics,

the constitution, sustainability, etc. It

is high time that liberal arts studies

incorporate a generous portion of basic

technology studies.

Handling trade-offs between

quality and quantity

There are several challenges in plan-

ning and practising education poli-

cies and it is often necessary to handle

trade-offs; such as between quality and

excellence and quantity and scaling up;

merit and equity; fund allocation for

education and other requirements such

as health, environment, infrastructure,

etc. However, balancing the different

demands requires wisdom and pragma-

tism. For example, it is a challenge to

enhance the GER and simultaneously

ensure quality of offerings and sustain

value for resources deployed.

A case in point is the setting up of new

IITs and NITs. In the initial period, the

quality of offerings has taken a beating,

but having been a part of a committee

for reviewing the new IITs recently, I

was impressed by the progress made

and the commitment of leadership and

the faculty, staff and students.

Need for more resources

What is also needed is a substantial

increase in the budgeted resources. It

is recognized that we allocate about 1-2

percent of GDP, while the recommen-

dation by several committees is about 6

percent. Education is a resource-inten-

sive sector, and without vitamin M, not

much can be achieved.

Another challenge articulated over

the years is the very severe faculty

crunch, especially in the higher edu-

cation sector, both because of scarcity

of well-qualified faculty as well as the

lack of interest of graduates to enter

the teaching profession, in the face of

attractive careers in other sectors for

well-qualified candidates. This requires

steps to make teaching an attractive and

challenging career option and providing

incentives for young persons to enter

the teaching profession. It is also nec-

essary to impart respectability to the

teaching profession.

Good governance practices

It is necessary to implement good

practices in governance. In the recent

TEQIP scheme, it was found that while

undergraduate quality and performance

improvement; and research quantity

and quality were important, the criti-

cal ingredient for achieving credible

results was the recognition and prac-

tice of good governance mechanisms.

The TEQIP Good Governance Guide

provides guidelines for incorporating

these practices, including the selection

and duties and obligations of the Board

members and other recommendations.

In as much as engineering and tech-

nology are practical professions, it is

necessary to create a symbiotic and syn-

ergistic relationship between the uni-

versity sector and the industry sector.