Higher education a ‘sick child’, Arjun tells V-Cs

“As vice-chancellors, you have the opportunity and duty to find a way out. To prescribe is not my ideology, let us now inscribe. Give the country a roadmap of higher education,” he said, inaugurating a two-day national conference on Development of Higher Education: Expansion, Inclusion and Excellence.

Singh said that India is not knocking at the doors of the world, but it is the world that is knocking at the doors of India, “now, it depends on us whether we want to keep our doors open or closed”.

Planning Commission member Prof B Mungekar proposed drastic restructuring of the higher education curriculum. His next proposal was inclusive education or expansion of the university system as a system of excellence as seven IITs and IIMs were not enough to cater to all students. He said access should be our watchword for providing egalitarian education.

He also said: “The annual exam system has become irrelevant, therefore, one should now switch over to semester system.”

Slamming the V-Cs, he said that “unfilled” posts of teachers in state colleges and universities should be filled up on priority basis. Our growing economy rests on robust qualitative education system and this system needs overhauling now, so that it can support the growth of economy, he added.

UGC Chairman Prof Sukhdeo Thorat, who organised the conference, said the agenda centres around six issues —access, inclusiveness, support to needy colleges and universities, bridging the quality gap, focus on state colleges and universities and the issue of finance. He said public funding has to be increased and therefore, the present fee structure needs revision. Mentioning the role of the private sector, he said that several self-financing education institutions have come up and also expanded and therefore, a regulatory framework is needed.