Knowledge Economy
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Eight more British universities are set to begin operations in India in the near future, following the University of Southampton’s opening of a Gurgaon campus in July, which is good news. Some Indian academics have expressed concerns this development may lead to reduced funding for Indian public universities. They also underlined that these foreign institutions may charge higher fees and could be permitted to generate profits and might transfer those profits abroad.
Five campuses in Bengaluru and Mumbai will operate under the University Grants Commission regulations for foreign institutions, which make research a mandatory activity of British universities in India. This emphasis on research is no doubt very crucial as experts and academicians believe that R&D is rather neglected in the country, both by the government and the private sector.
This opening of foreign varsities has generated some controversy as these high-profile institutions will obviously not cater to the general mass of students. Academics for Action & Development Teachers’ Association (AADTA) member, Seema Das opposed the UGC regulations to set up such institutions in the country. According to her, these educational institutions would be converted into commercial enterprises, elitist enclaves and distant from Indian socio-economic cultural problems. Many other organisations have opposed such entry of foreign varsities not just for the cost factor in studying in these institutions but also their hiring policies of faculty with high salaries.
Currently, there are 40 million students at universities in India, but 70 million seats are needed by 2035. At the same time, it needs to be noted that most Indian students cannot afford education in private or foreign universities and, as such, the setting of these foreign institutions will only cater to a small segment of society. What is needed is setting up more centres of higher education at affordable costs by both the Central and state governments. What is preventing them from setting up at least one university in each sub-division of the country with funds, say in the ratio of 60:40 per cent of the Centre and the states?
That we are trying to emulate Western models of education can’t be doubted as the country is heading towards the path of the knowledge economy, which certainly is desired at this juncture. In this system, advanced learning, sustained by a culture of research, is dynamically harnessed to yield ever-new products and services for material profit. And this is the case not just with education in most parts of the world but also with India. Information technology and pharmaceuticals are two ready examples in our country. A knowledge economy relies on the conjunction of education and research with industry and finance.
However, in India, the relation between the first and the second is not well-entrenched. Hence, India’s higher education and research lack a participatory dimension. Most of the public universities are lapsing into irrelevance while the best are struggling to hold their fort against the top private universities, modelled on the Western style. Experts repeatedly pointed out that the Indian state and the corporate sector must jointly undertake what they have always shirked – investing massively in an intensive education system for youth. Both American and Chinese universities have ensured the commanding position of their universities and, in close collaboration with industry, has been carrying out cutting-edge research and development.
Exerts have for long emphasised the need to have stronger and more intimate coordination between industry and education, which is manifest in most Western and other advanced countries of the world. This, unfortunately, is absent here. As a result, quality products are somewhat lacking in some sectors in a large country like India. One positive advantage of allowing foreign varsities here is gearing up research activities and opening the path for more innovation and technological development. This is not to say that our IITs are inferior in any way and have the best of expertise and knowledge skill.
The picture of higher education in the country is far from satisfactory. Grants have been drastically cut down, and institutions are asked to borrow from the Higher Education Financing Agency and hike fees to repay the loan. Admissions across India are increasingly centralised in one-size-for-all entry tests. Academic autonomy and diversity vanish in the process. Crucial factors like campus freedom and academic morale cannot be quantified in any case but both have unquestionably declined.
Apart from the resource crunch, or should we say severe resource crunch, of universities, college departments are closing alarmingly for a nation intent on doubling the enrolment in 10 years. Private institutions might be absorbing part of the exodus. But the sheer cost of these institutions shut out the majority with little prospect of compensating employment thereafter. A major section of the youth is giving up higher education due to the cost factor. This is the remarkable tragedy of the dismantling of the State education system. It robs most Indians of all chance of a meaningful higher education. Some say that the government, while talking of demographic dividend, is depriving the nation of productive human resources.
While the thrust on moving towards a knowledge economy is needed at this juncture with expectations that foreign varsities would give a renewed thrust to R&D welcome, it is also necessary to build higher education from below so that many deserving students, who come from poor and marginalised families, can get the right opportunities to rise to the top. Some system should be evolved whereby meritorious students are picked up from colleges and given financial support till they finish their postgraduate and doctoral degrees.
With the modus operandi of higher education changing in tune with social and economic needs as well as requirements of industry and transformed syllabus, there is also a need to educate the young generation to become more aware of socio-political and socio-economic realities of the present day. In moving towards a transformed world, education has a vital role to play, and this education should be in tune with present-day reality. For this, it needs to be reiterated that the spread of education is vital and must reach the interior parts of the country. This is essential to achieve the government’s professed objective of ‘Viksit Bharat’ in the coming years. — INFA