Dr (Col) HS Singha,the director of the Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology,was recently awarded a national level achievement Award for education excellence by the Indian Economic Development and Research Association (IEDRA) in New Delhi. He served in the Army before he turned an educationist-cum-administrator and initiated programmes to raise the standards of education. He feels strongly about the deteriorating level of higher education vis-a-vis professional degrees. What do you think is the area of concern as far as technical institutes are concerned?Vision is missing in several institutes which could otherwise be very good centres of learning. Besides,the institutes in the rural areas do not attract talented faculty and consequently lead to lower standards of education. Good teachers are the backbone of an institute. I joined in as the director of GNIMT in 2004 and in two years time we had gold medals in the MBA and MCA courses. It was because the teachers were a motivated lot. What strategy did you employ?I held regular meetings with the teachers and asked them if there was anything they were not satisfied with and if they needed financial or infrastructure improvement. I told them that in return I wanted university toppers from the institute. The efforts paid off in 2006 and ever since we have had university toppers every year. Teachers should be seen as partners and not as mere employees. There must be stability of faculty and the teachers should be given opportunities to keep growing in their respective fields. The education has turned into a lucrative business. What is your take on it?That is why I think management support is crucial to the growth of an institute. This is also something missing in several institutes. You cannot have a good institute unless you have a supportive management which is ready to invest more to raise the standards of education. I think management is very crucial to the growth of an institute. The directors of the institutes should,therefore,be given freedom to take initiatives. I have been running a faculty development programme which has turned the teachers into an asset for us. We have also motivated 11 of the 37 teachers that we have today to go for a PhD in their respective areas. So one should also be looking at the intangible gains. What according to you is causing deterioration in higher education?It is the mushrooming of institutes without any check. I think it is easy to have good infrastructure but good faculty is hard to find these days. It is also therefore necessary for the university to create a pool of 30-40 experienced professors whose services could be utilised in terms of guest lectures by all institutes,specially the ones not so lucky to have a good faculty. What about the disproportionate seat-applicant ratio in some courses?This is a dangerous sign which stems from lack of planning. Now for example,there are 6300 seats in MBA in PTUs 82 colleges. Punjab economy can only absorb about 1,000 of them per annum. This disparity gives rise to compromises in admitting students,leading to deterioration in the standards of education.
