National Seminar on

New Education Policy 2019: Principles, Priorities, Practices, Challenges & Effects

Ambarish K. Rai
Assistant Professor
PG Department of Geography,
VKS University, Ara, Bihar
Organized by
Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara, Bihar (India) – 802301
Objective
Revamp the higher education system, create world class multidisciplinary higher
education institutions across the country - increase GER to at least 50% by
2035.

Higher education must develop good, well-rounded and creative individuals,

with intellectual curiosity, spirit of service and a strong ethical compass.
 Fragmentation of the higher education system
 Too many silos; too much early specialization and
streaming of students into discipline
 Lack of access, especially in socio-economically
disadvantaged area
 Inadequate mechanisms for career management and
progression of faculty and institutional leaders
 A regulatory system allowing fake colleges to thrive
while constraining excellent, innovative institutions
 Lack of teachers and institutional autonomy

A final challenge in recent years is that the very word ‘autonomy’ has come to mean
‘reduction of public funding’, when the true meaning of the word could not be
further from this. ‘Autonomy’ must mean the freedom to innovate, to compete, to
cooperate, to govern more locally, to optimise resources given one’s direct local
knowledge of circumstances and opportunities, to break silos, and to excel.

 Suboptimal governance and leadership of higher education

institutions

Governance and leadership of HEIs are, at the current time, deeply influenced and
controlled by external bodies and individuals. Often these external influences have
vested political and/or commercial interests in the HEIs. Public institutions are
often operated as extensions of government departments.
 The lack of research at most universities and colleges, and the lack of
transparent and competitive peer reviewed research funding across
disciplines

The separation in higher education between teaching institutions and research

institutions post-independence has caused much harm, as most universities and
colleges in the country today conduct very little research.
This is problematic on two fronts.
First, so many members of the academic community of the country not conducting (and
not incentivised to conduct) scholarly research is an enormous lost opportunity for
research and innovation in the country.
Secondly, on the education side, it is difficult to have outstanding higher education
and teaching in an environment where knowledge creation is not taking place;
indeed, how can students be taught to innovate in a location where innovation is not
on the agenda?
At the current time, there is no mechanism to seed or mentor research at
universities and colleges where research is in a nascent stage particularly at
State Universities where 93% of all students in higher education are enrolled.
In addition, very little ‘funding’ is available for novel research ideas and
proposals at most HEIs, especially for research in important multidisciplinary
and cross-disciplinary areas (e.g. relating to clean water, renewable energy,
education and pedagogy, health, etc.).

Overcoming these challenges in order to establish high-quality

access to higher education for all
 P9.1: Moving towards a higher educational system consisting of large, multidisciplinary
universities and colleges
 P9.2: Moving towards a more liberal undergraduate education

 P9.3: Moving towards faculty and institutional autonomy

 P9.4: Curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and student support will be revamped

 P9.5: Reaffirming the integrity of faculty positions and institutional leadership through
merit based appointments and career management

 P9.6: “Establishment of a National Research Foundation (NRF)”

 P9.7: Higher education institutions will be governed by Independent Boards, with complete
academic and administrative autonomy

 P9.8: “Light but tight” regulation

.
Because,
Research and innovation is central to growing and
sustaining a large and vibrant society and economy.

Objective
Catalyse and energise research and innovation across the
country in all academic disciplines, with a special focus on
seeding and growing research at universities and colleges -
create a conducive ecosystem for research through
competitive peer-reviewed funding, mentoring, and
facilitation.
 Lack of funding for research
 Lack of a research culture and mindset
 Lack of research capability in most universities

Therefore,
a new National Research Foundation (NRF) is required for
significantly expanding research and innovation in the country.

The NRF will consist of four major divisions - Sciences; Technology;

Social Sciences; and Arts and Humanities - with the provision to
add additional divisions (e.g. health, agriculture, environmental
issues).
The primary activities of the NRF will be to:

 Fund competitive, peer-reviewed grant proposals of all types and across

all disciplines
(The NRF will be given an annual grant of Rs. 20,000 crores (Rs. 2 kharab, or approx.
0.1% of GDP) and will be conferred with the autonomy to set its own finances,
governance rules, and statutes.)

 Seed, grow, and facilitate research at academic institutions, particularly

at universities and colleges where research is currently in a nascent
stage, through mentoring of such institutions by eminent research
scholars across the country, hiring excellent young research students
and faculty, and strengthening and recognising existing high quality
programmes at such institutions
 Act as a liaison between researchers and relevant branches of
government as well as industry, so that research scholars are
constantly made aware of the most urgent national research issues
of the day, and so that policymakers are constantly made aware of
the latest research breakthroughs; this would allow breakthroughs
to be brought into policy and/or implementation in an optimal
fashion; and

 Recognise outstanding research and progress achieved via NRF

funding/mentoring across subjects, through prizes and special
seminars recognising the work of the researchers.
Today, unfortunately, no organised mechanism exists to
address these important matters regarding research in an
interrelated fashion. This is precisely the goal of a new
and comprehensive NRF.

The National Research Foundation will

catalyze and expand research and
innovation in the country.
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