Higher Education in India:

UNIT 1 HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA: Retrospect and Prospect

RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

Structure
1.1 Introduction
1.2. Objectives
1.3 The Government, National Policies and the Education System
1.3.1 The British Rule and the Birth of the Modern University
1.3.2 The Government’s Role After Independence
1.3.3 National Policies, Reviews and Reforms
1.3.4 The Role of the State Governments
1.4 The Growth of Higher Education in India
1.4.1 Institutions and Enrolment
1.4.2 Regional and Social Imbalances
1.4.3 Resources for Education
1.4.4 The Private Sector in Indian Higher Education
1.4.5 Open Universities and Distance Education
1.5 Quality and Excellence
1.5.1 From Elite-based Education to Mass Education
1.5.2 Structures and Processes
1.5.3 Curricula, Autonomy and Governance
1.5.4 Accreditation of Universities and Colleges
1.6 Looking Ahead
1.6.1 The Challenges of Globalization
1.6.2 Technologies and Their Impact on Education
1.6.3 The Role of Research
1.6.4 The Reform Agenda
1.7 Let Us Sum Up
1.8 Check Your Progress: Possible Answers
1.9 References and Suggested Readings

1.1 INTRODUCTION
In the Block-1 of this course we discussed the basic principles of
management functions and processes, management of educational systems
in general and institutions in particular, and various processes of education.
Block-2 discusses the issues involved in higher education and its
management. This unit being the first one in this block focuses the retrospect
and prospect of Indian higher education. The unit mainly highlights the
education system during British rule of government after independence,
various commissions and reforms suggested. It further highlights growth
and expansion, quality and excellence, and future of higher education.

1.2 OBJECTIVES
On completion of studying this Unit, you should be able to:
• describe the origins of modern university education in India and its
development till independence;
• analyse the developments of higher education after independence; 7
Management of Higher • explain the Role of the National Government in Policy Formulation and
Education Implementation; and
• identify the achievements and failures with respect to access, equity and
quality in higher education.
It is expected that the learners by answering the questions at the end of
sections will be able to describe on the historical developments in higher
education. They will also be able to assess the achievements and failures
with respect to access, equity and quality dimensions in higher education.

1.3 THE GOVERNMENT, NATIONAL POLICIES

AND THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
Pre Independence Developments
The Report of the University Education Commission, 1949 offers a brief
account of higher education in ancient India. It says that India had a long
tradition of learning and scholarship dating back to the dawn of civilization.
The Vedas and the Upanishads that constituted the core of ancient Indian
thought and philosophy were orally transmitted, but were carefully
preserved as a body of knowledge. Later, there grew up well organized
centres of learning of which the most famous were Taksasila and Nalanda.
The curriculum at Taksasila that flourished as an educational center till the
5th century A.D. appears to have included the Vedas and Vedangas as also
the eighteen arts which comprised of medicine and surgery, astronomy and
astrology, agriculture and accountancy. Nalanda was a Buddhist center
where students often spent as many as twelve years studying the Vedas and
the Upanishads, the works of Mahayana Buddhism and Jainism as well as
the systems of philosophy and logic. Nalanda was destroyed towards the
close of the twelfth century. These centers were known for scholars visiting
from various parts of the world and were known for the close relationship
that existed between students and teachers. Similar centers existed in the
southern parts of India too where law and grammar were also studied.

The Report goes on to say that during the medieval period, while some of
the Hindu centers of learning in the East and the South continued their
work, the Muslim rulers who occupied large parts of Northern India
encouraged the establishment of colleges (Madrasahs) across Northern India
from Lahore to Allahabad and in parts of Rajasthan. The curriculum of these
colleges included grammar, rhetoric, logic and law, geometry and
astronomy, natural philosophy, metaphysics and theology while poetry was
a source of pleasure to all.

When Muslim rulers were replaced by the British, Warren Hastings, the first
Governor General, established the Calcutta Madrasah which was intended to
“qualify the sons of Mahomedan gentlemen for responsible and lucrative
offices in the state”. Later, at Banaras, an educational institution was
established to supply qualified Hindu assistants to European Judges. In early
19th century, Indian social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy founded
institutions from which the Hindus would receive instruction in European
languages and sciences. In the 1830’s schools were established for training “a
class of persons qualified by their intelligence and morality for high
employment in the civil administration of India”. The famous Macaulay’s
minute of 1835 argued that English was the language spoken by the ruling
classes and it was likely to become the language of commerce. Macaulay’s
minute was approved that year by the Governor General Lord William
8
Bentinck and his Council and the seeds of modern European education Higher Education in India:
were firmly sown on Indian soil. Retrospect and Prospect

The British Government favoured the promotion of European literature and

sciences amongst the natives of India. The practice of supporting students
of the colleges of oriental learning was discontinued. In the meanwhile,
Christian Missions had been setting up institutions of higher education
since 1706. By 1840, the mission workers had almost universally accepted
that English education would lead to the spread of Christianity; and so
institutions for the teaching of English and Western knowledge were started
in all parts of the country. English was promoted as medium of instruction
as it received preference in public employment.

In the meantime, proposals for establishing universities were initiated in the

mid-nineteenth century. Wood’s dispatch of 1854 felt the need for
establishment of universities to encourage a regular and liberal course in
education by conferring academic degrees as evidence of attainment in
different branches of Arts and Sciences. In 1857, the Universities at
Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were established. These universities were
primarily examining bodies for the colleges that were already offering
courses in different subjects; arts, law, medicine, engineering and the
sciences. The three universities were empowered to regulate admission to
the colleges within their jurisdiction. The concept of affiliation of colleges to
universities was not, however, clearly defined.

We analysed briefly in the above paragraphs the role played by the British
in founding the modern education system in India. In Britain, as elsewhere
in most of continental Europe, the national governments play the dominant
role in the provision of educational facilities to their citizens. The major
provider of finances for education is the government, and they exercise
varying degrees of control over the functioning of the educational
institutions, including the Universities. While the schools and colleges enjoy
some degree of autonomy in determining the curricula and the standards of
teaching and research, the governments that provide the finances insist that
the universities and other institutions must remain accountable for the use
of public funds and the support that they receive from different
stakeholders. This broad pattern of educational provision in which the
governments play a dominant part has become almost universal, though
there are also instances of significant private participation in education. For
instance, there are several prestigious universities in the USA that are
privately funded, though a number of US universities depend on state
support for their survival. The governments play their role by formulating
national policies on education that reflect the objectives, strategies,
structures, processes, resources, patterns of governance and mechanisms
for accountability. We shall look at these aspects of higher education in
India in this Unit.

1.3.1 The British Rule and the Birth of the Modern

University
We mentioned briefly the background of the birth of the modern university
in India during the British period. One immediate consequence of the
establishment of the three universities in 1857 was the sudden increase in
the number of aspirants to university education. The number of successful
candidates in university entrance examination rose from 162 in 1857 to
2778 in 1882. More government colleges were established to meet this
increasing demand. The number of colleges went up from 27 in 1857 to 75 9
Management of Higher in 1882. During the next two decades, 51 new colleges were added. In
Education 1901-02, the total number of colleges was 126 in British India. Universities
remained affiliating bodies and their sole function was to conduct
examinations and to regulate admission. Elaborate regulations were framed
and the freedom of the teacher curtailed. The affiliating rules were stringent
and required the disclosure of the fullest information about the colleges.
Besides, the standards of efficiency required for affiliation were kept high.
University governance was an important focus too covering the size of
senate, powers of syndicate, appointment of university professors and
activities relating to the promotion of study and research. Expansion
continued and the number of students rose to 50000 in 1922, though there
was no substantial increase in the number of colleges between 1902 and
1922.

Modern university education brought with it a new political and economic

consciousness. The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 which
marked the beginning of a new political consciousness. The desire to
advance the economic prosperity of the nation led to greater emphasis on
scientific and technical education. Private philanthropy so far was not very
successful. The Education policy of 1913 encouraged the creation of new
teaching and residential universities within each of the new provinces. Two
universities at Banaras and Patna were founded in 1916 and 1917
respectively. In 1916 a significant development took place in terms of
introducing post graduate departments in Calcutta University. The
recommendations of a Commission that examined the problems of
Calcutta University in 1919 were of considerable interest for the long-term
reorganization of higher education in India. The recommendations were:
• The intermediate classes of the university should be transferred to
secondary institutions and the secondary and intermediate stages
should be controlled by a Board of Secondary Education.
• The duration of degree course should be three years.
• The mofussil colleges should be organized in such a way that would
encourage the gradual rise of new university centers by the
concentration of higher teaching at a few points.
• Organization of a new teaching service distinct from the government
service was considered necessary.
• Problems of vocational and professional training should be considered
seriously by the university.
• Medium of instruction up to school stage should be the local language
but English should be the medium for later stages.
These recommendations were indeed the basic principles on which the
foundations of modern education in India were laid. And the initiative for
all these came from the British Government.

As many as 25 universities were established by 1949, While some of these

were teaching universities, many among them were teaching and affiliating.
A conference of Indian universities held in 1924 decided to establish an
Inter University Board (later renamed Association of Indian Universities) to
facilitate the co-ordination of university work. The Board acted as a forum
for discussion on common university problems like admission criteria,
equivalence of qualifications, and so on. A Report of the Central Advisory
Board (a body that advised the Union and State Governments on policies)
published in 1943 contained recommendation for establishment of a
10 University Grants Committee.
 Check Your Progress 1 Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect
Note: i) Space is given below for your answer.
ii) Check your answer with the one given at the end of the unit.
What was the key contributions of Warren Hastings and Macaulay to Indian
education? (answer in about 50 words).
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1.3.2 The Government’s Role after Independence

India became free in 1947. It became a democratic Republic with its own
constitution in 1950. The post independence phase marked the transition of
Indian higher education from an elitist pursuit to a potentially powerful
instrument for change and development. The first commission on higher
education in the post independence phase, popularly known as
Radhakrishnan Commission (we made a reference to this Commission in
the earlier section of this Unit) made recommendations covering all aspects
of higher education ranging from the aims of university education in
independent India to the standard of teaching, courses of study, post
graduate training and research, professional education, rural education,
women’s education, examination and finance. It provided a definite
direction amidst uncertainties (the Constitution of India was not adopted
when the report was published). One of the most significant
recommendations of the Commission was to establish the University
Grants Commission by converting the University Grants Committee
created in 1945 to deal with the Central Universities initially and later
extended to cover all universities. The proposed UGC, according to the
Commission, should be an expert body that can assess the financial needs
of the universities, and allocate adequate resources rather than just
determine how much public money can be spent on them. The proposed
UGC would also be responsible for setting the standards of higher
education. This recommendation was implemented with the passing of the
UGC Act in 1956, and establishing the University Grants Commission
(UGC). Since then, the development of higher education in India has been
guided by the UGC through numerous initiatives.
The major responsibilities of the UGC were:
• promotion, coordination, determination and maintenance of standards
in universities;
• assessment of the financial needs of universities and allocation and
disbursement of grants to them;
• advising universities as well as the Central and State Governments on
measures necessary for improvement of standards in universities.
1.3.3 National Policies, Reviews and Reforms
The Government of India was active in providing the basic policy
framework. In 1966, a more comprehensive review of Education in India
was undertaken by the education commission. This review covered all
levels of education, primary (elementary), secondary and tertiary (higher). 11
Management of Higher The burden of the Education Commission’s recommendations (1966) was
Education that education should be an instrument for national development and that
educational opportunities at all levels should be expanded, the structure of
education should be uniform across the country, and that the courses and
curricula should have relevance to the needs of development. The
Commission also emphasized the need for developing centers of excellence,
expansion of facilities for high quality research, and improvements in the
quality of teaching and research. The National Policy that emerged from the
1966 review was again reviewed twenty years later, and a new policy was
put in place to direct the development of education in the coming decades.
What directions were set by the 1966 Commission? The major issues in
higher education were obviously those concerned with expansion: the
quality in teaching, research and extension; the development of science
education as well as vocational and technical education that could support
industrial development; governance including autonomy of university, the
role and appointment of the Vice-Chancellor and expansion of affiliated
colleges. The Commission also suggested the establishment of professional
councils in agriculture, engineering and medicine to coordinate the
developments within those sectors and coordination between different
councils and UGC. The Commission further suggested that 6% of the
national income should be earmarked for education. The National Policy on
Education (NPE), 1968 broadly incorporated these recommendations and
also endorsed the structural reform through the reorganization of the
pattern of education in to 10 years of schooling, 2 years preparatory courses
for higher education and 3 years for the first degree, popularly known as
the 10+2+3 pattern. It noted very briefly, yet emphatically, the need for the
provision of essential facilities for maintaining high standards of
universities, promotion of postgraduate courses, Centres of advanced study
and increased support to research in universities.
Education, and higher education in particular, had always engaged the
attention of the Government of India. Various committees setup by the
governments and the UGC determined the directions in which the higher
education moved. Notable among these were:
• An Expert Committee (Sen) in 1974 that looked at the issue of
minimum qualifications for teachers and their compensation packages.
• A Committee ([Link]-77) that reviewed the functioning of UGC
focusing on its core functions of coordination and determination of
standards of higher education.
• Several conferences of Vice chancellors convened by the UGC and the
government to decide issues such as admission and facilities for weaker
sections, role and responsibility of teachers, autonomous colleges,
women’s participation etc.
• In the area of university governance were D.S. Kothari on Model Act
for Universities (1964), P.B .Gajendragadkar Committee on Governance
of Universities and Colleges (1971), [Link] Committee on Towards
New Educational Management (1990), Soneri Committee on Review of
Gnanam Committee Recommendations (1995) and P.C. Alexander
Committee on The Role of the Governor as Chancellor of the
Universities (1997) (Approved 2003).
The 1968 policy was comprehensively reviewed in 1986. The major thrusts
of the 1986 policy were:
• Consolidation of, and expansion of the facilities in, the existing
12 universities;
• Conferring autonomous status on selected colleges; Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect
• Redesigning of courses and programs to respond to the needs of
specialization;
• State level planning and coordination through state councils for higher
education;
• Transformation of the teaching and learning processes through
technology intervention, development of curricula and materials,
continuing professional development of teachers, and so on;
• Enhanced support for research in universities;
• Expansion of the open university and distance education system; and
• Establishment of a national agency for coordinated development of
higher education across all sectors, agricultural, general, legal, medical,
technical and other professional fields.

Concept of autonomy was given a big push through developing autonomous

colleges and post graduate departments within universities. Autonomy
offered greater flexibility in the development of course, adoption of better
teaching methods, teachers’ orientation and performance assessment.

1.3.4 The Role of the State Governments

According to the constitution of India, adopted in 1950, education was
primarily the responsibility of the State Governments that constituted the
Union of India. The exception to this rule was the responsibility for
coordination and determination of standards in universities and the
administration of universities and similar institutions established under Acts
of Parliament. Under this dispensation, the Central Government could
establish universities only with the consent of two or more states, or in
centrally administered areas of the country. An amendment to the
constitution in 1977 ensured that education was a joint responsibility of the
Centre and the States. The Union Government can now legislate on
education, and laws enacted by Parliament prevail across the country.

As we mentioned earlier, even during the British period, when there were a
large number of princely states, some of whom were very active in the field
of education, a convention was established to engage them through
consultations in the provision of education. The mechanism devised for this
purpose was the Central Advisory Board of Education that continues to
function even after independence. This apex body consists of representatives
of the Central and State Governments, academics, civil society and other
concerned interests. It advises governments on matters of policy and issues
of national interest in the field of education

The large majority of institutions that constitute the higher education system
in India are in the state sector. Of the 400 or more universities in the country,
those functioning under the Union government are less than 20; there are in
addition, an equal number of institutions of national importance that have
been established under Acts of Parliament. Almost all the 20,000 or more
colleges are in the state sector. A large part of the annual maintenance
expenditure on higher education is met by the State Governments. The
Central Government provides substantial grants for the development of the
universities through the UGC; these funds are largely used for
infrastructure improvement, introduction of new programs, improvements
13
Management of Higher in quality, creation of centers of advanced studies, and so on. The primary
Education responsibility for expansion of higher education facilities rests with the
State Governments, and it is for them to set up new universities and
colleges.

Check Your Progress 2

Note: i) Space is given below for your answers.
ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
i) What are the major thrusts of 1968 and 1986 policies? (answer in about
40 words).
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ii) When did the education become the joint responsibility of states and
the centre and what was the implications of this? (answer in about 50
words).
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1.4 THE GROWTH OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN

INDIA
The expansion of higher education facilities in India during the last half a
century has been phenomenal. In terms of the number of universities and
colleges, the number of students enrolled, the range and variety of
programs and courses offered, the higher education system in India today
presents a picture of bewildering complexity of light and shade, success and
failure, as well as hope and despair. The numbers are large, but there are
huge unmet social demands; there are sizable regional imbalances; there are
large sections of the society that are still not adequately serviced by the
system; and not the least, there are questions also about the quality and
relevance of what the system offers in large measure. We shall now look at
some of these issues in the following paragraphs.

1.4.1 Institutions and Enrolment

We just mentioned the quantitative expansion of the system. We shall look
at some of the figures. Between 1950 and 2008, the number of universities
increased from 25 to 431,the number of colleges from 700 to 20677 and
the number of teachers from 15000 to 5.05 lakh (over half a million). The
number of students in higher education institutions increased from mere
1.00 lakh in 1950 to over 116.12 lakhs (11.6 million).
14
 Table 1: Institutional capacity Expansion Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect
Capacity Indicators 1950 2008
Number of Universities 25 431
Number of Colleges 700 20,677
Number of Teachers 15000 5.05 lakh
Number of enrolled students 1 lakh 116.12 lakh
(Note: 10 lakhs is one million)
Though the overall demand for higher education in India is increasing,
there are wide variations in gross enrolment ratios (GER) across States
(Figure 1). The GER at the higher education level ranges from as low as
4.7% in Nagaland to as high as 14.1% in Himachal Pradesh. The GER is less
than 7% in Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Tripura, Rajasthan, Bihar and
Arunachal Pradesh and less than the national average of 9.97% in 14 States
that include Sikkim, Kerala, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand

Figure 1: Gross Enrolment Ratio of Higher Education across States in India

Source: Selected Educational Statistics, 2004-05, MHRD, Government of India, New Delhi
15
Management of Higher The gross enrolment ratio by the end of year 2011-12 (the last year of the
Education current Five Year Plan) is expected to go up to 15%, and the actual
enrolment touching 21 million by 2011-12.

Enrolment in Higher Education by Levels

Of the total enrolment in higher education, the share of undergraduate
students is as high as 89%, while post-graduate enrolment is 9%. The
proportion of doctorate enrolment was 0.65% to the total enrolment during
2001-02 (Figure 2). The distribution of enrolment at various levels of
higher education remained almost similar during 2005-06, except that there
was a marginal rise in the share of diploma and certificate courses.

Figure 2: Enrolment by Levels in Universities and Affiliated Colleges in India

Source: UGC Annual Reports, 2001-02 and 2005-06.

Enrolment by Major Disciplines

Enrolment by faculty includes the stream-wise enrolment in Arts, Science,
Commerce, Education, Engineering and Technology, Medicine, Agriculture,
Veterinary Science, Law and others. The total enrolment at higher
education level was 11 million in 2005-06. It is evident from Figure 3 that
four out of ten students in higher education were in the faculty of Arts,
enrolled for courses in the humanities and social sciences, including
languages in 2001-02. Nearly two out of 10 students were enrolled in
science courses. The percentage enrolment for commerce has marginally
increased from 17.87% in 2001-02 to 18.01% in 2005-06. Around 84
percent of total enrolment was in the three faculties namely, arts, science
and commerce in 2005-06 while the remaining 16 per cent were enrolled in
the professional courses. Enrolment in engineering and technology
accounted for only 7.5 per cent of the total enrolment. On the other hand
enrolment in agriculture was 0.6 per cent and in veterinary science, it was a
miniscule, 0.16 per cent (Figure 3). It can also be seen from Figure 3 that as
against 2001-02, the distribution of enrolment across the faculty in 2005-06
has remained more or less the same.

16
 Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect

Figure 3: Faculty-wise Enrolment in Higher Education in India, 2001-2002 and 2005-2006

Source: UGC, Annual Reports, 2001-2002 & 2005-2006

1.4.2 Regional and Social Imbalances

All these expansion did not take place evenly across all regions, states and
even among different social groups. We have already mentioned the uneven
growth across different states (Fig.1). You will notice that the GER in half
the number of states (many among them are also the bigger states in terms
of population) is less than 10%, with a quarter of the number of states
struggling to reach 7% or more. The major reasons for these regional
imbalances are low levels of literacy, poor economic conditions of the
people, uneven economic growth, and a host of social conditions that
inhibit growth. We shall now take a look at some of these factors.
Enrolment of Girls
The participation of girls in higher education has been increasing steadily
since 1950-51. The share of girls’ enrolment in the total rose from 10% in
1950-51 to 32.3% in 1990-91. It further increased to 40.1% in 2004-05 (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Level-Wise Share of Girls in Total Enrolment in Higher Education in India,

1990-91 to 2004-05
Source: Selected Educational Statistics, Various Years. 17
Management of Higher The enrolment of women at the beginning of the academic year 2006-07
Education was 4.47 million, constituting 40.40% of the total enrolment. The
participation of girls in engineering courses has gone up remarkably. Of the
total enrolment of women, 12.35% were enrolled in the professional
courses.
Inequitable Access to Higher Education among Social Groups
An important aspect of widening access is the equal participation in higher
education by diverse social and economic groups. Table 2 gives the Net
Enrollment Ratio of different social groups in 1999-2000. You will notice
that at the primary level, there was a wide gap in achieving universal
education. The NER goes on declining at middle, secondary and higher
levels of education. The important point to note is the wide disparity that
exists between different social groups at all levels of education. At the
higher education level, the NER of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the
Scheduled Tribes (ST) – the most deprived social groups in India, is 4.8%
and 5.2% respectively. The NER of Other Backward Classes (OBC) among
the population at 6.3% is closer to those of SC and ST’s. The NER of the
general category of population is 14.6%. The extent of disparity in the
participation in higher education among social groups turns out to be quite
large.
Table 2: Net Enrolment Rates (%) Among Social group based on NSS

Total ST SC OBC General

6-10 (primary) 70.8 61.0 67.3 70.1 76.8
11-13 (middle) 44.6 35.0 38.7 43.4 51.6
14-17 (Sec.) 34.2 25.4 26.6 31.7 42.8
18-23 (Higher) 8.9 5.2 4.8 6.3 14.6
Note: Figures in table 2 is based on National Sample Survey results
Source: Result of UGC sponsored study Conducted by Shrivastava Ravi (2007),
unpublished.

There are other factors that contribute to these imbalances. The rural-urban
divide, the rich-poor considerations and, not the least, religious dispositions
also play a great part in the pronounced imbalances that prevail across the
country. A recent study finds that the proportion of graduates among SC,
ST and the Muslims in rural India is just about 1% as against 5% or more
among the upper caste Hindus. In urban India, the ST, SC, OBC and
Muslims, with a proportion of 5% among them being graduates, are way
behind the forward communities that have 25% or more of them as
graduates. Wide disparities also exist among different categories of
households, for example, as between unorganized sector (casual labour,
farm labour) and regular wage/salary earners.

Exercise-1:
Classify states in terms of GER in the following table and comment on
regional variations in access to higher education.

Less than 5% 5%-10% 10%-15 15%-20%

Comments:
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18
 Higher Education in India:
Check Your Progress 3 Retrospect and Prospect

Note: i) Space is given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
i) What are the reasons for regional imbalances in GERs? (answer in
about 30 words).
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................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................
ii) What are the factors that are contributing to imbalances in NERs among
various social groups? (answer in about 40 words).
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1.4.3 Resources for Education

Financing education in India is primarily a state responsibility. The Central
and State Governments together meet almost the entire expenditure on
education from public funds. In recent years, with the huge expansion of
educational provision, on the one hand, and the continuously increasing
cost of education, on the other, questions have been raised about the ability
of the governments to raise adequate resources for education. The generally
poor economic conditions of the people do not permit the method of
recovery of costs; income from tuition fees is a small fraction of the revenue
expenditure (often less than 10%).
Government policies propose the earmarking of at least 6% of the GDP for
education, but in reality, it has stayed around 3.8 % or so only. Recently, the
Central government has introduced a levy on tax as an educational cess, but
it will largely go to finance the cost of universalisation of elementary
education (a Right to Education Act has recently become law, ensuring
education as a fundamental right of every child under the constitution).
There have been attempts in the recent past to explore ways for
mobilization of resources for both higher education and technical
education. Expert Committees that have examined these issues, while
stressing the importance of state financing, suggested ways of looking for
non-governmental sources of finance. These recommendations did not go
beyond the conventional means of raising the levels of fees, revenue
generation through institutional consultancy, introduction of self-financing
courses, and institution of student loans.

1.4.4 The Private Sector in Indian Higher Education

We have mentioned at several places in our discussions that private sector
plays a limited role in Indian education. The traditional approach to
education in India has been one of social responsibility; the governments
were the best instruments to discharge this responsibility. Religious and
charitable institutions could play a part, but there was no scope for any
commercial interest. As we noted earlier, during the British period,
Christian missionaries established a number of schools and colleges: their
objective was to popularize the religion. Other religious groups also did
19
Management of Higher establish their own schools and colleges; but the advent of modern
Education education brought about significant changes.
As western education caught up, major industrial houses entered the field
of education mainly through their own philanthropic initiatives. New
institutions focusing on science and technology education were set up.
Religious charities also did set up more institutions. As we mentioned
earlier, with the enactment of the UGC Act in 1956, a university with the
power to award degrees could be established only through legislation; this
left no scope for a private university in India. However, private sector could
establish colleges that required affiliation with universities to teach degree
level courses and to present students for university examinations for award
of degrees. What this system did was to secure private resources to create
infrastructure, while the content and processes of education as well as the
award of qualifications remained the exclusive responsibility of the
universities in the public sector. For the private sector, it was participation
in social development, with no returns on their investments, and hence, a
form of charity or philanthropy.
In the last two decades or so, there has been a significant shift in the
attitudes towards the private sector initiatives. As public resources remained
stagnant, and the demand for purpose-built education in the emerging
areas like engineering, technology, medicine, computer education and
business studies began to rise continuously, a new system was devised
under which the private sector established colleges and ran them on what
came to be called the self-financing model. In other words, in theory, these
colleges functioned on the principle that the full cost of education was
recovered from the students. As the social demand continued to rise, and
newer and more affluent client groups emerged in the form of non-resident
Indians and overseas students, the management found an opportunity not
just to recover costs, but to make significant profits as well.
As the number of private technical and professional colleges increased
(there were no such institutions in general subjects like arts, science or
commerce), and as the method of recovery went beyond tuition fees to
include donations and capitation fees, government intervention became
inevitable and new regulations were framed to deal with the erring
managements. Under these regulations, every private college was required
to limit its fee levels to the actual cost, stop the collection of all donations
and capitation fees, and fill half the number of seats with students
qualifying in the admission tests held at the national or state levels.
Government intervention in regulating fees and admission was challenged
legally on the ground that these institutions received no financial aid from
the states, and after protracted legislation, the issue was settled by the
Supreme Court in 2005. The court’s verdict was that:
• There can be no commercialization of education and the private
management cannot make any profit from education;
• They can however generate some surplus from their operations, but
that surplus should necessarily be used to strengthen infrastructure,
improve quality and support campus life;
• The levels of fees must remain within the limits prescribed by state
level committees that analyse the costs and sets the ceilings;
• The state policies regarding admission, reservations, etc. will have to be
followed in respect of half the number of seats in all private
institutions.
20 This for the time being remains the law in India.
1.4.5 Open Universities and Distance Education Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect
Any discussion on higher education in India will be incomplete without a
mention of the launch of the Open University and distance education system
in the country. Distance education in the form of correspondence education
was launched as early as in 1962. The first Open University was established
twenty years later. The establishment of the National Open University in
1985 provided the impetus to promote Open University and distance
education systems as a viable and effective method to augment educational
opportunities and widen access to higher education. We shall have occasion
to study this development in greater detail in Block-3 of this course.

Check Your Progress 4

Note: i) Space is given below for your answers.
ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
i) What is the major shift that occurred in private sector initiatives in
education in the last two decades (answer in about 50 words).
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................

ii) What was the key features of Supreme Court verdict on the private
colleges? (answer in about 50 words).
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................

1.5 QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE

We have focused our attention so far on the quantitative dimensions of
higher education in India. We have seen how fast Indian higher education
has grown in to one of the largest systems in the world. Impressive though
this growth is, we need to ask whether in terms of quality and relevance the
system has served the needs of India and its people. This is not the place to
enter into a detailed discussion on what constitutes the quality of education,
and how the quality of a system is measured, assessed and judged.
Nevertheless, some fundamental concerns about the manner in which the
system serves its purpose and the benefits it offers to its students, and the
society at large, need to be addressed. We shall look at some of these
concerns in the sections that follow.

1.5.1 From Elite-based Education to Mass Education

We had mentioned earlier that across the industrialized world, higher
education became mass-based towards the close of the twentieth century. In
most of Europe and North America, as also in countries like Japan and
Australia, the enrolment ratios in higher education has gone up
considerably, touching close to 50% or more of the relevant age group. In
21
Management of Higher India, the GER in higher education, as we noted earlier, is just about 14%,
Education but the number involved, in absolute terms, is over 14 million, with over
430 universities and 22,000 colleges. Let us now consider where this
massive system stands in the global context. A few obvious and simple
observations would be in order:

• The Indian Institutes of Technology and Management and a small

number of universities are among the top 500 or so in higher education
institutions in the world;

• Some of the alumni from these institutions are today world leaders in
science and technology, especially in areas like Information Technology;

• Indian professionals, in engineering and medicine, have a huge global

market and are recruited in large numbers across the world;

• Institutions of higher education in India attract a large number of

students from the developing world.

No one can claim that this is a rosy picture assuring everyone that all is well
with the higher education system in India. We have already mentioned
some of the deficiencies that is manifest in the system. We shall now look
closely at some of the more pronounced dimensions of quality in Indian
higher education.

1.5.2 Structures and Processes

The first wave of institution building in the post independent phase (1950
to 1970) led to creation of higher education institutions on a large scale to
support mass higher education in the country. On the issue of quality in the
first wave varying views have been expressed. For instance, Prof. V. R.
Mehta (2003) observes that “we have failed to sustain a sound teaching-
learning process, or to provide the right kind of fodder to the job
market……we have failed to provide an authentic process of
certification…..people are so much uncertain about the qualities of our
products that they no longer take university certification seriously”.
According to another observer, Jayaram. N (2004), the undue emphasis on
certification rather than on the teaching-learning process has distorted the
orientation of university education. In simple terms, what these
observations imply is that the purpose of university education for many
people was to obtain a degree, and to the extent universities served that
purpose, what they taught and how, did not really become a matter of
special concern. The ill effects of this trend were:
• Universities generally remained examining bodies;
• Colleges affiliated to them were the teaching institutions;

• The traditional knowledge paradigm that promoted the quest for

knowledge through lectures and discussions that involved critical
examination of a body of knowledge yielded place to gathering and/or
memorizing information and reproducing it when necessary;

• Knowledge was not standardized. Curriculum did not exist in modular

form;

• Teaching-learning process was reduced to the delivery of a few lectures;

• Passing the examinations remained the focus of education.
22
1.5.3 Curricula, Autonomy and Governance Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect
The conceptualization of higher education as public good prompted the
state to invest in higher education and provided access to all in a liberal
democratic set up. In other words, university emerged as a public service
agency provided by government with students as trainees for a range of
more or less useful occupations. This was the dominant mode in France, US
and most of Continental Europe, as well as in many developing countries. It
led to the diversification of disciplines along general, technical and
professional lines. The boundaries of disciplines were rigid. Teachers were
experts in particular subjects. Curriculum was subject-specific in which the
teacher-centric knowledge system developed. Teachers were responsible to
add knowledge to their subjects through research as well as to teach larger
and larger numbers of students to serve the needs of the economy.
Autonomy was relative, and subject to the state established universities’
bureaucratic procedures.
The knowledge paradigm consisted of institutionalized subject specific
teaching and research. Research was supposed to add newer dimensions to
the existing body of knowledge, which teachers were supposed to explain
them to the students. Students were the prototypes of their teachers. Good
teachers (rich in subject knowledge and communication skills) were
supposed to produce good students; low quality teachers produce only low
quality students. So dominant was the role of the teacher that academic
standards were almost equivalent to the standards of teachers. Good
departments or institutions were those that had quality teachers; and
everything else, including the methods of teaching and learning was what
the teachers decided. Even the reference books were prescribed by the
teachers. Naturally, there was no perceptible uniformity in quality; if
anything, it was heterogeneous as teachers were different in their approach
and students were different in terms of aptitude, intelligence etc.

The transformation from elite to mass based education could not ensure
quality as an all pervasive phenomenon. However, it needs to be
understood that quality cannot be viewed in technical terms alone. Mass
higher education provides a context of diversity and managing that
diversity becomes the important issue. Engagement of students in all types
of discourses is the real challenge of quality emerging from mass higher
education system.

Having said that, we shall now take a look at some measures that the Indian
higher education system had taken to ensure the quality of its institutions,
programs and processes:
• We just mentioned the standardization of knowledge and the curricula.
In pursuance of the National Policy on Education, 1986, the UGC took
the initiative in preparing the model curricula for most disciplines that
could form the basis for structuring programs and courses by the
universities. This initiative meant that most programs offered by
universities across the country had a certain uniformity that could
become the reference point for comparability;
• The affiliating system in India meant that the academic authority for
determining programs, their content, detailed curricula and teaching
methods rested with the universities. The role of the colleges was
confined to engaging the students in transacting the curricula. The
college teachers had no role to play except to engage the students in the
manner prescribed by the concerned university. This passive role of
23
Management of Higher teachers (colleges account for about 80% of the higher education
Education enrolment) contributed significantly to the teaching-learning process
becoming a lifeless exercise. To correct this situation, a proposal for
granting autonomy to selected colleges was developed about three
decades ago. Under this proposal, selected colleges that had the
necessary infrastructure, good and adequate teachers, good
management systems and processes as well as the necessary resources,
would be considered for grant of autonomy in determining the
curricula, the teaching methods and assessment procedures subject
only to the condition that the degree would be conferred by the
university to which they are affiliated. The fact that in the three
decades of operation of this scheme, not even 1% of the colleges in the
country were conferred this status tells its own story. Perhaps, the state
governments and the universities were not too keen; or perhaps, the
colleges were not too anxious; or perhaps, the reform itself did not go
far enough to satisfy the college academic community or their
managements.

• The Indian higher education system is famously status quoist. It is not

known to be too anxious about change. The universities are known to
take very long to review and revise their curricula; they are not too
enthusiastic about such reforms as introduction of the semester
system; they prefer the course-end single examination to continuous
student evaluation; and not the least, there is resistance to productive
interaction with the environment that could influence the curricular
structure, content and the processes of education. It is no surprise,
therefore, that the industry and other employing sectors often
complain that the ordinary graduates are not equipped with the skills
and competence that the employers look for, and that most of them fail
the test of ‘fitness for purpose’ in the job market.

Check Your Progress 5

Note: i) Space is given below for your answers.
ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
i) What do you understand by the statement – graduates produced by
our institutions fail the test of “fitness for purpose”? (answer in about 50
words).
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
ii) What are the reasons for autonomous colleges scheme not very
successful as anticipated? (answer in about 50 words).
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
24
1.5.4 Accreditation of Universities and Colleges Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect

As the quality of higher education remained a continuing concern for the

government, the UGC and indeed all the stakeholders of the system, it
became a focus of debate especially during the review of the national policy
in 1986. The policy called for serious efforts to “make the system work”.
The strategy for this purpose, among others, was “creation of a system of
performance appraisals of institutions according to standards and norms set
at the national or state levels”. This declaration in the policy was followed
up at two levels; first, when the All India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE) was set up as a statutory mechanism through an Act of Parliament
in 1988, a provision was made in the Act that AICTE will have the powers
to establish a mechanism for accreditation of technical institutions (those
offering programs in engineering, technology and allied fields including
business and management studies). In pursuance of this provision, the
AICTE set up a National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

In 1992, the UGC decided to set up a National Assessment and

Accreditation Council (NAAC) as an autonomous body with the
responsibility to carry out an assessment of universities and colleges and
accredit them according to the grades awarded through a detailed process
of assessment. While he NBA proceeded on the basis of benchmarking the
performance of the Indian Institutes of Technology as the models of
standards, the NAAC began its work with the accreditation of institutions
on a 9-point scale on 7 criteria, namely, curricula, teaching, learning and
evaluation, research, consultancy and extension, infrastructure and learning
resources, student support and progression, organization and management,
and healthy practices.

As accreditation of higher education institutions was a completely new

initiative in India, and predictably, not all stakeholders were too enthusiastic
about possible adverse effects of negative or inadequate rating of
institutions they were associated with, the beginning was cautious. It began
with accreditation as a voluntary initiative; only those who were interested
in getting the institutions assessed and accredited, needed to volunteer. The
objective was to launch the system, enable institutions to come forward and
establish their credentials, and to establish the process of accreditation as a
means of quality assurance in the long run. This approach did pay rich
dividends; by 2010, about one-third of all universities and about one-fifth of
all colleges got themselves accredited. Old and well established institutions
with great reputation behind them called external assessment and
accreditation as an infringement of their autonomy, and resisted the
initiative, the relatively newer and those keen to find their place in the sun
came forward and got their performance assessed and made their grades
known to attract more and better students. At any rate, the process got a
strong foothold in India.

Though this is not the place to go into any in-depth analysis of the processes
and mechanics of assessment and accreditation as presently practiced in
India, it would be useful to refer briefly to the impact of accreditation on he
quality of higher education institutions in India. During the first ten years
of its active operation, the NAAC has assessed and accredited 81
universities and 2727 colleges. The findings are shown in the following
graphs:

25
Management of Higher
Education

You will notice that 25% of the universities assessed claimed their place in
the high quality zone while two-thirds of all the universities that
volunteered for assessment fell in the average quality zone. Just about 75 of
all universities figured in the low quality zone.

The position of colleges shows a marked variation. While two-thirds of all

colleges assessed fall in the average zone, nearly one-fourth of all belong to
the low quality zone. This should cause some concern. The high quality
colleges is just about 9% only.

1.6 LOOKING AHEAD

The preceding discussion will have provided you with a synoptic view of a
large and complex system of higher education in the world. It has its peaks
of excellence; it has also a very large part of average quality performers.
Where do we go from here? What lies ahead? What are the major
challenges? We shall try to focus attention on some of these concerns.
26
1.6.1 The Challenges of Globalization Higher Education in India:
Retrospect and Prospect
The close of the 20th century witnessed a major development in the field of
education. The first was, of course, the blurring of national borders in
educational provision. Aided by the developments in information and
communication technologies (ICT) and the increasing popularity of
distance education methods and practices, a large number of well known
institutions in the developed world started enrolling students from different
countries and continents. Initially, they were guided by the urge to retain
their overseas student enrolments that were dwindling in the context of
rising costs of education; but soon enough many institutions found cross-
border education lucrative. Many providers jumped in the fray; education
emerged as a service industry. The World Trade Conference initiated
discussions on classifying education as a service industry on the plea that
there are movements of capital and personnel across countries in the
provision of educational services. While the issue still remains on the Table
of WTO, there is a continuing concern among countries about the
credentials of some of the new providers involved in commercializing
education at the international level.
One of the major consequences of the ICT revolution was the globalization
of knowledge and its accessibility. As they say the world became a global
village. Anybody could talk to anybody anywhere. People had easier access
to goods, services and products of different kinds from across the world.
Knowledge was easier to access, store, retrieve and process. The
consequences of all these came to be known as globalization of the
economy, of culture and of the ways people lived and worked. Education
was no exception.
The impact of this development on education was immediately noticeable.
On the positive side, the quality of education assumed significance. The
ease with which the graduates of a system got accepted by the global
economy measured the quality of that system. This benchmarking helped
many systems of education to look at their global standing and take steps to
measure up to the global standards. In other words, a healthy competition
among education providers across the globe provided a positive impetus to
quality improvement. There are other beneficial consequences too;
cooperation and collaboration among institutions have become common,
and the sharing of intellectual property in the form of course materials is
now a reality. The MIT, USA has placed all its course materials on its
website for use by anyone who wants to use them. In fact, this initiative led
to what came to be known as the Open Education Resources movement in
which many more institutions joined, notable among them being the
UKOU and IGNOU.

The negative impact was no less important. The entry of operators of all
kinds driven only by the profit motive played havoc with vulnerable
sections of people across many countries. Promise of foreign degrees and
higher qualifications lured people to part with large sums of money only to
find later that they were either cheated of their money or the degrees
promised turned out to be of dubious value. This led to a situation in which
governments of many countries had to consider measures to protect the
interests of their students through stringent regulatory regimes under
which foreign players operate in the field of education in their countries.

India is considering a legislation that will regulate the entry and operations
of foreign educational providers in the country. The legislative proposals
envisage that all foreign providers should seek registration with a 27
Management of Higher designated Indian authority; should have had a track record of at least
Education
twenty years; should have been established under the law of the country
where it has been set up; should have the accreditation from the concerned
authorities of the country concerned; should apply for registration through
the country’s official representation in India, and provide a corpus fund that
could be used to protect the interests of the students in the event of
premature winding up of its operations in India, and so on. However,
renowned institutions like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, MIT, etc. will be
exempted from these requirements.

1.6.2 Technologies and their Impact on Education

India is a complex mixture of light and shade. It is one of the fastest
growing economies in the world; it is also home to the largest number of
the poor in the world. People living below the poverty line are estimated to
be about 38% of the population; in absolute terms, about 380 million.
About a third of India’s population (300 million) is illiterate.

And yet, modern technologies have penetrated deep in to India. Apart from
its role as an Information Technology superpower (Indian IT products
worth billions of dollars are exported to the developed world every year), it
has also one of the fastest growing domestic information and
communications technology networks. Cellular phone connections are said
to have crossed 600 million; over 80% of the population have access to
satellite/cable TV; India has its own communication satellites including a
dedicated education satellite that beams educational broadcasts over
different channels; and not the least, a growing internet-based education
delivery system. Internet access and broadband connectivity are still in their
early days, but most higher education institutions have wired campuses
that promise connectivity and easy access to Internet and library networks.

As you learn more about India’s fast growing open university and distance
learning system, you will get a more complete picture about the ways in
which ICTs have impacted education in India. Conventional universities are
using these technologies not just for improving their efficiency in
governance (processes relating to admission, student record maintenance,
examinations, administration and accounts), but in teaching learning
transactions as well. e-Learning is fast emerging as an education tool, and
many institutions use Internet-based interactive sessions for the delivery of
their teaching services.

1.6.3 The Role of Research

No discussion on higher education in India would be complete without a
reference to the role of universities in promoting high quality research.
During the initial period, Indian universities produced outstanding
researchers, but somewhere along the way, many universities lost their pre-
eminent position as producers of high quality research. Two reasons are
attributed to this development: one, the establishment of a chain of
dedicated research institutions outside the university system both in science
and social sciences. The development of over 40 science research
laboratories in the 1950s and 1960s lured many researchers from the
universities; so did the establishment of the Social Science Research Council
in the 1970s. Secondly, the bright and brilliant products of universities
28 preferred the more attractive industrial jobs to teaching and research. The
 Higher Education in India:
consequence for the universities was pretty serious; they lost out in the race Retrospect and Prospect
for the best talent pools for high quality research.

Studies have shown that the decline of the universities as promoters of high
quality research has to do with the transformation of higher education as a
mass education system. As the system grew in size, it needed more trained
researchers and teachers in the basic physical sciences, the social sciences
and the humanities for appointment in colleges and universities. But the
decline in the talent pool made the system do with what was available
leading to further decline of teaching standards. Efforts to respond to the
growing demands of numerically strong and highly organized teacher
associations across the country did not help solve the problems.
Implementation of measures like personal promotions became movements
for mass promotions to higher ranks shorn of academic merit; the absence
of a well-designed strategy to induct researchers into a long-term
commitment to teaching and research careers deprived the system of a
steady supply of good quality teachers; and emphasis on teaching rather
than research in universities had its own effect on the quality of research.

It needs, however, to be mentioned that agencies like the UGC did its bit to
strengthen research in the universities. It encouraged universities to
establish Centres of Advanced Study, and provided special support to
several Departments to strengthen their research infrastructure and
instituted large number of fellowships to attract talented students to
research programs. However, the pressure of undergraduate teaching and
generally, the preoccupation of universities with the management of the
college system appeared too big a burden to focus attention on good post-
graduate teaching and research.

Institutional structure created in the phase of expansion failed to develop

meritocracy as a general phenomenon. As a result, legacy presents us with
mediocrity. Future vision calls for excellence in research. Restructuring of
universities, narrowing the focus to manage research in a manner that
develops in-built mechanism for scholastic achievement should be the
cornerstone of policy. The form of such restructuring should not detain us
here but the principles may clearly be laid down in terms of strict
recruitment policy of teachers, reward and incentives to teachers for
excellence in teaching and research, training to the teachers, freedom and
resources to participate in academic programs and infrastructural and
academic support to teachers.

Check Your Progress 6

Note: i) Space is given below for your answers.
ii) Check your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
i) What are the positive and negative impact of globalization? (answer in
about 50 words).
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
29
Management of Higher
Education ii) What are the reasons for decline in quality of research in universities?
(answer in about 50 words)
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................

1.6.4 The Reform Agenda

Throughout this Unit, we have mentioned the initiatives taken by the
Governments at the Centre and in the States for reorganizing and
strengthening the higher education system in the country. We have drawn
attention to the National Policy on Education in 1986 that resolved to
transform education as a powerful instrument for change and development.
Several steps have already been taken towards the realization of these
objectives; and several more are on the anvil. Some major legislative
proposals that involve significant institutional reforms are currently before
the Parliament. These include:
• Establishment of a National Council for Higher Education and Research
that would replace the current UGC, AICTE and other statutory bodies
that deal with different areas and fields. The proposal is to create an
integrated platform that can address all issues of norms and standards
in higher education in all fields in a holistic manner (currently, a single
university that offers programs in general education, technical
education, medicine, nursing, law, teacher education and architecture
has to adhere to the regulatory regimes of all statutory agencies in each
of these fields). The Council is not expected to perform any regulatory
functions, but will lay down the norms and standards that all
universities and higher education institutions are expected to
implement. These norms would be the basis for assessment and
accreditation of all institutions of higher education. This approach will
restore and strengthen the autonomy of universities, improve
governance, and ensure that issues of quality and standards are
adequately addressed.
• Another proposal seeks to encourage foreign universities in setting up
their campuses in India to ensure easier access to high class institutions
for Indian students (we have mentioned this proposal in the previous
section on globalization).
• A third proposal is the establishment of Education Tribunals at the
Centre and in the States to deal with disputes and litigations within the
education system. Presently, the judiciary is overburdened with
litigation arising from disputes within the education system that
concern university-college relationships, admission policies and
practices, reservations, institution-employee relationships, and so on.
The proposal is to relieve the judiciary of the responsibility of
adjudicating these matters and to entrust it to dedicated education
tribunals within each state with provision for a central tribunal that
have appellate powers over state tribunals.
30
• A fourth institutional reform agenda addresses the issue of Higher Education in India:
commercialization of education and prevention of extensive Retrospect and Prospect
malpractices that flow from this development. The proposed legislation
seeks to curb unfair practices like charging capitation fees, offering
admission against donations or any consideration other than tuition and
other legitimate fees previously notified, issue of misleading and false
advertisements, etc. The Bill makes it obligatory for education providers
to disclose all relevant information about institutional facilities, faculty,
procedures for admission and examination, fee structure, and so on.
Any willful deviation from this requirement will attract severe
penalties.

These reforms though not directly related to the content or process of

education, seek to create an environment in which the concerns of good
governance, high quality, speedy adjudication of grievances and exploitation
of students and parents are effectively addressed.

1.7 LET US SUM UP

We have presented in the preceding sections a synoptic view of the growth
and development of the Indian higher education system. An ancient
education system known for its richness of thoughts, ideas, knowledge and
scholarship that lay in ruins through the medieval period, and then rebuilt
first, by the Muslim rulers, and then by the British from the middle of the
nineteenth century. The launch of the modern university in 1857 was the first
major step in laying the foundation of the modern higher education system
in the country.

The last 60 years after independence saw the system growing in size, and
with it, facing severe challenges thrown up by the social, economic, scientific
and technological developments that marked the close of the twentieth
century. While India is still struggling for inclusive education that ensures
equity, justice and empowerment of the masses, the concerns of quality and
cost also need to be addressed in full measure. What we have presented in
this Unit will give you an idea about the range and depth of these concerns
and the manner in which a developing country is going about addressing
them. We hope our narrative gives you an idea of the spectacular successes
as well as the many major failures from which you can learn and enrich
your understanding of the issues in higher education in a developing
country context.

1.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE

ANSWERS
Check Your Progress 1
Warren Hastings, first Governor General established the Calcutta Madrasah
with an aim to produce qualified Mohomedan students for lucrative offices;
later an educational institution was established at Banaras to supply
qualified Hindu assistants to European judges.

Macaulay’s 1835 minutes argued that English was the language spoken by
the ruling classes and likely the language of commerce. Later Macaulay’s
minutes was approved by the British and thus, started the modern
European education on Indian soil.
31
Management of Higher Check Your Progress 2
Education
i) NPE 1968 brought the structural reform through the reorganization of
the education as 10+2+3 pattern and emphasized the need for the
provision of essential facilities for maintaining standards of universities,
promotion of PG courses, centres of advanced study and support to
research in universities.

NPE 1986 focused on the consolidation and expansion of facilities in the

existing universities, conferring autonomous status on selected colleges:
redesigning courses to suit the needs of specialization; expansion of
open university and distance education etc.

ii) Since 1950 education was mainly the responsibility of state

governments, except the institutions established under Act of
Parliament whose responsibility is with Central Government. An
amendment to the Constitution in 1977 ensured that education was a
joint responsibility of the center and the state. The Union Government
can now legislate on education, and laws enacted by parliament prevail
upon all the states.

Check Your Progress 3

i) The major reason for regional imbalances in GERs are low levels of
literacy, poor economic conditions of the people, uneven economic
growth and other social conditions that hinder growth.

ii) The major factors that contribute towards imbalances in NERs are rural-
urban divide; the rich-poor considerations and religious affiliations also
play a great part resulting imbalances among various social groups.

Check Your Progress 4

i) With public resources not coming to higher education and the demand
in emerging areas like engineering, technology, medicine, computer
education, business education is increasing; private sector established
colleges in these areas and run them on self-financing model to recover
the cost of education. But affluent groups coming to join the institutions,
private management found an opportunity not just to recover the cost,
but to make profit as well.

ii) Supreme Court in 2005 verdict observed that - managements cannot

make profits from education; surplus earned from the college be used to
strengthen infrastructure and improve quality; levels of fees should be
followed as prescribed by state level committee and state policies
regarding admission have to be followed in respect of half the number
of seats in a institution.

Check Your Progress 5

i) Higher education institutions are not keen - to bring change in the
curriculum or reform in examination systems, to interact with industry
and surroundings, and with this rigid attitude graduates produced by
the institutes are not equipped with the skills and competence that the
employers look for, and most of them fail the test of ‘fitness for
purposes’ in the jobmarket.

ii) To bring the qualitative change in teaching - learing process

autonomous college scheme was introduced three decades ago. So far
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 not even 1% of the colleges in the country were opted for this. Reasons Higher Education in India:
for this situation may be – state governments and the universities are Retrospect and Prospect
not keen, or colleges are not enthusiastic; or the refrom itself did not go
far enough to satisfy the college academic community and their
managements.

Check Your Progress 6

i) The positive impact of globalization is - concern for quality; acceptance
of graduates by the global economy by measuring the quality of
institution, benchmarking at global level helped the institutions to
measure their own standing and thus leading to healthy competition.
The negative impact of globalization is – entry of dubious institutions
played havoc with students by charging large amount of money and
degrees of no value in the market etc. Hence many countries including
India planning a regulatory mechanism for entry of foreign players in
the education sector.

ii) The reasons for decline in the quality of research are many - mainly
higher education becoming mass education system with large numbers.
Non availability of trained and talented teachers in various disciplines
as many of them are entering specialized research institutions are into
industry. This resulted in recruiting teachers from available/left-overs or
mediocrity which is affecting the quality of research.

1.9 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Ambani M and Birla K (2000) Report on ‘A Policy Framework for Reforms in
Education’. Submitted to the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry
(PMCTI) on April 24, 2000.
D. Swaminathan (1994) Report of the high power committee for mobilisation of
additional resources for technical education (D. Swaminathan Committee
Report). All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi.
Deshpande Satish and Yadav Yogendra (2006), ‘Redesigning Affirmative Action -
Castes and Benefits in Higher Education’, Economic and Political Weekly, June
17, 2006, pp. 2419- 2424.
Gnanam, A Committee (1990) Towards New Educational Management.
Hasan Rana and Mehta Aashish (2006), ‘Under-representation of Disadvantaged
Classes in Colleges What Do the Data Tell Us?’, Economic and Political Weekly,
September 2, 2006, pp. 3791-3796.
Jayaram N (2004) Higher Education in India Massification and Change in Altbach
Philip G & Umakoshi Toru, eds. (2004) Asian Universities Historical
Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges The John Hopkins University
Press, Baltimore 2004
Justice K. Punnaiya Committee (1993). Report on UGC Funding of Institutions of
Higher Education. University Grants Commission, New Delhi, November.
Kothari D. S., Commission (1964) Report of the Education Commission (1964-66)
Education and National Development. Ministry of Education, Government of
India. June 1966.
MHRD (1986) National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986, Government of India, New
Delhi.
MHRD (various years) Selected Educational Statistics, Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India, New Delhi.

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Management of Higher NSSO (1999-2000). NSS 55th Round: July 1999-June2000, National Sample Survey
Education Organisation, Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation, Government of India.
P. B .Gajendragadkar Committee (1971) Governance of Universities and Colleges.
P.C. Alexander Committee (1997) The Role of the Governor as Chancellor of the
Universities (Approved 2003)
Radford J., Kjell Raaheim, Peter de Vries, Ruth Williams (1997), Quantity and
Quality in Higher Education, Higher Education Policy Series 40, Jessica
Kingsley Publishers, London
Radhakrishnan S Commission (1950), “The Report of the University Education
Commission: Vol. I”, Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of India.
Shah A M (2005) Higher Education and Research Roots Of Mediocrity EPW
Shrivastava Ravi (2007) Access and Equity in Higher Education, Result of UGC
sponsored study, (unpublished)
Soneri Committee (1995) Review of Gnanam Committee Recommendations.
Sundaram (2006) On Backwardness and Fair Access to Higher Education in India:
Some Results from NSS 55th Round Surveys 1999-2000, Working Paper No. 151
Center for Development Economics, Department of Economics, Delhi School of
Economics, New Delhi.
Thorat S (2006) Higher Education in India – Issues Concerning Access, Quality and
Inclusiveness. A Convocation Address at Shri Venkateshwara University,
Tirupati on August 19 2006
UGC (2007) Results of sponsored study, unpublished, UGC, New Delhi.
V S Jha Committee (1974-77) Report of the Review Committee on the University
Grants Commission 1974-77.

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