Higher education: Bureaucracy calls the shots, academician’s role is diminishing

Financing higher education is the key aspect in the debate on higher education in the world. Public funding of higher education has declined.

Enrolments in higher education institutions have grown but with substandard quality. The cost for higher education is essentially borne by the government or taxpayers as grants, parents as tuition fees, students by availing loans and donors - individuals or institutions.

An optimal level of funding is required for maintaining reasonable standards of higher education. The overall requirement of funds for higher education is estimated to be - an average unit cost of Rs.60, 000 per annum per student is taken. Based on this norm, for an enrolment of 10.48 million an annual expenditure of Rs.628.8 billion is desired on higher education in India. Additional funds are required for new infrastructure and facilities for expansion of enrollment. Further, living and transport expenses are borne by the students and parents.

Against the desired expenses of Rs.628.8 billion on higher education, the government spends around Rs.190 billion per year. This shortfall gets reflected in the poor standards of higher education in the country.

A National Assessment and Accreditation Council report showed that 90 per cent of the colleges and 70 per cent of the universities that the council graded were of middle or poor quality. India, in contrast, accounts for less than 3 percent of research papers published and in terms of citations barely 1 per cent.

It’s good to know India is missing out on all this due to apathy and sloth. Higher education is in crisis in India. It’s a broken system. The degrees are worthless and the graduates are jobless. Students don’t get the grounding they need to move seamlessly into the workforce. There is a disconnect between higher education and work places due to administrative neglect.

Bureaucracy is running the education and the academician’s role is fast diminishing. Bureaucracy is adept at statuesque. There is academic initiative paralysis in the higher education councils. There is a crisis in the appointment of vicechancellors which has a cascading effect on the administration of the universities and higher education. Higher education councils have not addressed the issue of academic standards across universities effectively.

The curriculum and content of courses has to change on a continuing basis to reflect changes taking place in the society and the new knowledge that is available. Many universities in India have not changed their curricula for years because of bureaucracy and lack of gover nance. Due to the government’s ambivalence on the role of the private sector in higher education, the growth has been chaotic and unplanned. The regulatory system has failed.

Research is seen as a primary and a vital function of a university. Substantial investments are required to transform abstract ideas from scientific research into commercially viable products. It also requires universities to be proactively engaged with industry. Academic research has been relatively isolated from the demands of economic utility.

It is the quality and size of the higher education system that will differentiate a dynamic economy from a marginalized one in the global knowledge-based economy. The higher education sector holds the key to harnessing the full potential of the nation’s most important resources - the human resources. The need for change in this sector is, therefore, crucial.

Dr N Prabhudev, former Vice-Chancellor, Bangalore University prabhudev@gmail.com