Higher Education in India: Inequality in Access to Quality Education

Name: Ms Riddhima Mishra College: University Maharanis College, University of Rajasthan Address: Plot no.330, path no. 6, Kanaharam Nagar, Vijaywadi, dher-k-Balaji, Sikar road, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India Phone Number: 00919529465302 E-mail: riddhimamishra1990@gmail.com

I am an undergraduate student of Economics and statistics at the University Maharanis College, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India. I am currently living in Jaipur, Rajasthan with my parents and I love activities involving team work and group discussions and enjoy watching and acting in plays.

Title: Higher Education in India: Inequality in Access to the Quality Education.

Sub-Theme: Education: Enhancing access; ensuring success

Name: Riddhima Mishra University maharanis College, University of Rajasthan, India e-mail : riddhimamishra1990@gmail.com Introduction/ Abstract:
The aim of the study of this paper is to analyze, evaluate and compare the quality of higher education in the country primarily in the disciplines of humanities, social sciences and science provided by the state and the central universities across the country. The comparison of quality of higher education was done among the various state and central universities and also with IITs and IIMs providing a world class education to evaluate if the higher education has been successful in fulfilling the idea of higher education, if it has resulted into an atmosphere of unequal opportunities and if the quality across various universities is also a reflective of the regional disparity in the nation. The results shows that the higher education given by major sections of the universities today fails to fulfill the idea of education and has created an atmosphere of unequal opportunities with the restriction of quality of education to select few institutes in the country today, mainly in the developed pockets of the country reflecting the regional disparity as well. For overcoming these issues, the paper suggests a common unified model of inter-connected universities and re-evaluation of the existing minimum criteria of quality for the universities and colleges.

The Idea of Higher Education

With the changing world scenario and globalization, the role and the expectations from higher education have undergone a drastic change. It is no more looked as a medium of gaining knowledge, but also as a tool capable enough to empower ones life. Higher education therefore must not just make a student worldly wise, but also make him independenteconomically and socially. It should serve the purpose from bread winning to intellectual development of a student making him capable enough to THINK on his own and to take his own decisions. After getting his basic education in school the question is why must a student pursue his higher education? What for? The main objective is specialization in the desired stream so that at the end of his educational experience he not just finishes his degree course, but also be ready enough to be launched in the real world, to be able to

take the real world challenges which means that his education either fetch him a job or help him in creating his own opportunities for the same. With the extension and the increase in the reach of higher education to the rural and lesser privileged sections, the expectations and demand from it have increased and the current higher education should make a point to cater these needs of the students.

Structural Framework of the Current Higher Education System:

The current higher education system of the country is primarily modeled after the British education system with few technical and management institutions as exceptions like the IITs and the IIMs, which are modeled on the US educational model. At present there are several types of institutions in the country namely, universities, colleges, institutions of national importance, post-graduate institutions and polytechnics. The universities are of four types, Central, State, Deemed (aided and un-aided) and Private universities. The central universities are established by the central government where as the state universities are the ones established by the respective state governments. The coordination and cooperation between the state and the central universities is brought under the field of education through the Central Advisory Board of Education. University Grants Commission (UGC) is responsible for coordination, determination and maintenance of standards, release of grants. Professional councils are responsible for recognition of courses, promotion of professional institutions and providing grants to undergraduate programmes and various awards. The statutory professional councils are:

All India Council of Technical Education Medical Council of India Indian Council for Agricultural Research National Council for Teacher Education Dental Council of India Pharmacy Council of India Indian Nursing Council Bar Council of India

Central Council of Homeopathy Central Council for Indian Medicine Council of Architecture Distance Education Council Rehabilitation Council State Councils of Higher Education

The Current Quality Assessment System:

The quality of higher education in the country is assessed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), to regulate and promote the quality and excellence, the UGC has made distinction between quality and an excellence in conceptual terms. And therefore separate indicators are used to measure quality and excellence. The UGCs measures for excellence are in the nature of addition to the measures of quality.

As far as the quality of University and college is concerned the UGC has laid down indicators under provision of what it called, 2(f) and 12 (b). These two together assess the minimum quality requirement to provide the grants to the universities and colleges. The college is recognized under 2(f) if it is a register body with a temporary affiliation and carrying under graduate program. The recognition under 12(b) is granted provided the college has a permanent affiliation with university. The university provides permanent affiliation after satisfying the required minimum conditions.

Besides this the UGC has set up National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to assess the quality of higher education institutions, which includes criteria such as curricular aspect, teaching, learning and evaluation, research, consultancy and extension, infrastructure and learning resources, student support and progression, governance and leadership and innovative practices for assessment. As mentioned in a lecture given by the UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat in 2006, there are about 17625 colleges in India, out of which about 14000 are under the purview of UGC, which account for

80% of the colleges in the country. Out of these 80% colleges, 40% are recognized under 2(f) and 38% under 12 (b), which simply puts that only 40% of the colleges in the country are under assessment and the rest 60% of the colleges are not assessed even with the minimum criteria of 2(f) and 12(b). NAAC is involved with the quality assessment of the 40% of these colleges in the country that come under the purview of UGC, out of these 40% colleges about 57% of colleges have been accredited, but this accounts to only 18% of the total 14000 colleges under the purview of UGC. The NAAC gradation indicates that out of these 18% of the 14000 colleges, 9% are graded as high, 66% as medium and 25% as low which means 1.6%, 11.88% and 4.5% respectively of the total 14000 colleges.
Percentage of colleges with minimum criteria of quality assessment graded by NAAC

Quality Asessment

Percentage of colleges with the minimum criteria of quality assessment, but not graded by NAAC

Percentage of colleges not fulfilling the minimum criteria of quality assessment

Diagram1: Quality Assessment of Higher Education

NAAC Gradation
High Quality(A ++, A+, A) Medium Quality( B++, B, B-) 66% Low Quality( C++, C, C-)

25%

9%

NAAC Gradation of the 18% collges under the purview of UGC

Diagram2: NAAC Gradation of the 18% colleges under the purview of UGC

Research Methodology:
For the study of the paper, secondary data has been used; collected from INTERNET (Universitys websites) and through information provided by various departments particularly the University of Rajasthan. In order to analyze and compare the quality of higher education in India eight institutes of higher learning namely, University of Delhi, University of Rajasthan, University of Madras, University of Mumbai, University of Calcutta, University of Patna, Indian Institute of Technology(s) and Indian Institute of Management(s) have been included representing the various regions as well as different faculties in the country. The study is primarily based to compare, evaluate and discuss the quality of education in the state and the central universities (offering humanities, social sciences and science courses) among themselves and against IITs and IIMs, the chain of institutes providing world-class education to students. In the paper the quality of higher education across various institutes has been compared against following parameters:

1) Examination pattern i.e. how frequently the progress and understanding of the students have been examined i.e. if it is annual examination system which includes an annual exam throughout an academic year or is it divided into semesters. 2) Rate of change of course material i.e. to check the frequency of change in the material of the courses that are being taught to the students. 3) Mode of dissemination of knowledge i.e. the use of old teaching methods or the use of new teaching methods such as projectors, LCDs etc. 4) Placements Cells i.e. how many of these universities are encouraging campus placements to their students and thus encouraging an Industrial-Institution association. The purpose of analyzing the quality of higher education on these parameters was to explore answers to the following questions: How far has the educational experience of the students from various institutions in the country empowered them to become self-sustainable? Has the higher education in the country been successful in providing equal opportunities and thus an equal platform to students from various universities across the nation? And If the education provided by the higher educational institutes of the country have been successful in fulfilling the idea of education?

Findings and Discussions:

Table 1: Comparison of various universities against various parameters for quality assessment. Name of University/Institute Year of Establishment Examination Pattern Curriculum Revision Mode of dissemination of knowledge Placement Cells

University of Delhi

1922

At the post graduate level all courses have semester system.

In 2007, University of Delhi constituted the Institute of Life Long Learning (ILLL) to enhance and develop innovative course content and curricula.

ILLL is also involved in working towards improved methods of pedagogy, which includes development of e-learning material for the courses taught at the university.

University of Delhi has a Central Placement Cell, launched in the year 2008.

University of Calcutta

1857

Almost all the M.Sc., B.Tech. and M.Tech. courses are conducted in semester system. In respect of M.A. and M.Com.

Recently the university has approved the revision of the existing syllabi of the courses taught

No information regarding this is available on the website.

No information available on the website.

Courses, examinations are conducted at present annually. University of Madras 1857 All the post graduate courses have a semester system.

under the university.

Courses have been regularly amended.

No information regarding this available on the website.

University of Madras, under the University Students advisory Bureau (USAB) organizes temporary placements for under graduates and post graduates.

University of Mumbai

1857

All the post graduates courses have a semester system.

No

No information

No exact information is available on the University websites, but some departments like the Economics department has their own

information is available on is available on the website. the website.

placement cells. University of Rajasthan 1947 Largely an annual examination pattern except for few courses. Under the process of revision. No information is available on the website. University of Rajasthan has so no real placement cell at present for disciplines of arts, science and social studies. University of Patna 1917 No information is available on the website. Indian Institute of Technology(s) Semester system. No No information No information is available on the website.

information is available on is available on the website. Courses are regularly revised. The latest modes of dissemination are used. The latest modes of dissemination are used the website.

Placement cells are available.

Indian Institute of Management(s)

Semester System.

Courses are regularly revised.

Placement cells are available.

The country today has some institutions like IITs and IIMs which are providing an unparallel quality education in the country and setting benchmarks for others to follow. And among the state and the central universities, some universities have taken very good initiatives towards innovation, curricula development and catering to the current needs of the job market for the students. Also resources like e-learning tools which have been developed by some should not be restricted to their own universities alone and therefore these resources should be allowed to flow and exchanged for the betterment of students across all central and state universities.

The general trend of examination pattern for evaluating the understanding of students across universities was a mixed bag of annual and semester system, though most of the universities situated in the lesser developed regions of the country like Rajasthan, West Bengal have a more annual evaluation system for most of its courses. Both the prevailing examination patterns have failed to test the real understanding of the students, as pointed by the Committee to Advice on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education. The purpose of including the parameter of Rate of Curriculum Revision was to check how quickly the institutes of Higher learning respond to changes around the world and update their curricula; information regarding the rate was in most cases not available, though there are some universities like the University of Delhi, which has dedicated separate department for enhancing and developing innovative course content and curricula. The response of the universities towards the changing needs of the world can also be evaluated through the facilities of campus placements provided by them. Facility of campus placement of a university is also a reflective of their industrial associations, which in turn also help to assess the course content revealing the applied and the theoretical nature of various courses to which a university provides campus placement. Most of the universities today in the country particularly in the courses of humanities, social sciences and science, either have no placement cells or have virtual placement cells which are least effective. Barring IITs and IIMs which have a very strong placement structure and industrial association; there are also universities like Delhi and Madras who have addressed to this current need of their students. Also what was seen through this study was, that not just a bulk of universities that are under the purview of UGC fails to fulfill the minimum quality criteria of UGC as pointed by the lecture of the UGC chairman, but also, that some of the universities that are very well within the minimum quality circle of UGC and have been accredited by NAAC as good quality universities, just have been successful in providing a structural education and have failed to fulfill the idea of education and for this the minimum criteria of education should be re-evaluated. The inequality in access to quality education is also a reflective of the regional disparity, most of the universities situated in the lesser

developed regions are comparatively of lower quality as compared to the ones in more developed region.

Suggestions:
In order to address to the current inequality in access to quality education and opportunities thereof; and enhancement of quality of higher education across various state and central universities I suggest the following measures: As seen in the previous section, that most of the universities have failed to provide placement cells to its students in the disciplines of arts, social sciences and science, an immediate recognition and categorization of courses material of various disciplines in terms of applied and theory on the basis of the prevailing demands of job markets is needed, for still courses that demand an applied syllabi are taught with a theoretical syllabus overlooking the current demands of the job market and making students less capable of answering them. Also this identification should remain flexible as per the prevailing demands of job markets and so should be open to revision regularly. The UGC should come up with minimum requirements of course content of various disciplines based on the recognition and categorizing of the disciplines as mentioned in the previous suggestion and also with the minimum requirements of the evaluation pattern across the universities to assess the understanding of students, though the universities would be free to enhance these minimum standards according to their needs and requirements. The current minimum criteria i.e. the 12(b) and 2(f) by the UGC should also be put under screening and re-evaluated and criteria such as the minimum requirements of course content of various disciplines taught by the universities and as per the recognition and categorization of the disciplines as mentioned in the previous suggestion should also be included. And to ensure the flow of resources across among various state and central universities a common unified model of state and central universities is suggested where all the state and the central universities across the country are interconnected among themselves and resources like the e-learning tools developed in one university can be put to use and accessibility, for the other universities

connected through this network. Also this common unified model of universities would support the mobility of professors across the universities periodically and also the exchange of research students across the universities. For this to happen the central government has to take a greater responsibility of education even across various state universities and the professors in the state and central universities need to be exposed to same opportunities.

State University 1 Central University 1 Central University 2

Unified Interconnected Model of Universities.

State University 3

Central University 3

State University 2

Diagram 3: Unified Interconnected Model of Universities.

References:
Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education, Overview, available at: www.naac.gov.in/publications.asp, accessed on December 23, 2010 Kuppusamy.S (2009), Higher Education in India: An Overview, International Journal of Educational Administration, Vol.1 Number 1, pp. 51-58

Madhukar B.S., Pillai Latha, Ponumudiraj B.S., Shankuntala Katre, Varghese Mariamma A.(2007) Institutional Accreditation, Manual for Self Study-Universities, The Director National Assessment and Accreditation Council, India. Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India (2009 The Committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human resource development, Delhi Thorat Sukhadeo,(2006), Higher Education in India: Emerging Issues Related to Access, Inclusiveness and Quality , available at: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:sHAYwSsd2cJ:www.ugc.ac.in/more/chairman_nehru_lecture.pdf+Higher+Education+in+India+Emergi ng+Issues+Related+to+Access,+Inclusiveness+and+Quality+Sukhadeo+Thorat+Chairman+Universit y+Grant+Commission+New+Delhi+Nehru+Memorial+Lecture&hl=en&gl=in&pid=bl&srcid=ADGE ESga8qpGhKyQgsSOYFqQzdyNWPfiqYQn75totyh84a0psbmVfyb_UeTcvlEsM2QgeIXoH9iiTJuwU8h0TbkRnGi3stWaYU3A2I6jZQevyGjASxhXOw1Oej3ODzqHj7jICaObIi&sig=AHIEtbTWhTUQftp8CQYlSTNhwDmQ70PrBQ&pli=1, Accessed on: December 23, 2010 University of Calcutta, www.caluniv.ac.in/, accessed on December 23, 2010 University of Delhi, www.du.ac.in/index.php?id=4 , accessed on December 23, 2010 University of Madras, www.unom.ac.in/, accessed on December 23, 2010 University of Mumbai, www.mu.ac.in, accessed on December 23, 2010 University of Patna, http://puonline.bih.nic.in/, accessed on December 23, 2010 University of Rajasthan, www.uniraj.ac.in/, accessed on December 23, 2010