Higher Education

• The higher education system plays an important role in the country’s overall development, including industrial, social, economic, etc. Indian higher education system is the third largest in the world.
• The HRD ministry faces the challenge of ensuring that the “younger workforce” is well-educated and trained to help boost India’s economy over the next decade as has been the case in China. China had posted a GER of 25.65 in 2011 while India was at 22.76 during the same period. However, by 2018, China’s GER was 50.6 and India’s was 28.06.
• India's higher education system is the world's third-largest in terms of students, next to China and the United States.
• In QS World University Rankings 2020, only three Indian Universities- IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and IISc (Bangalore)- have been included in the top 200 institutes.

Challenges of the Higher Education System in India

• The gap between Supply and demand: In higher education, India has a gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 28.06%, which is lower than the world average (36.7%) and much lower than most of developed countries. 
• Lack of Quality Research work: Due to the limited focus on Research and Internationalization, very few Indian higher educational institutes are globally recognized. Against 111 Chinese researchers per lakh population, India cuts a sorry figure of 15 per lakh population (Economic Survey of India 2016-17). Only 46,582 patents were filed by India as compared to the 13,81,583 by China (WIPO). Poor fund allocation in research, Low levels of PhD enrolment, fewer opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, Low levels of industry engagement, Low quality of research work, etc. are some of the factors affecting the research ecosystem in India. India’s investment in R&D has remained constant at around 0.6% to 0.7% of India’s GDP. This is below the expenditure of countries like the US (2.8), China (2.1), Israel (4.3) and Korea (4.2).

• Poor quality of Curriculum: In most of higher educational institutes’ the curriculum is outdated and irrelevant.
• Shortage of Faculty and High Student-Faculty Ratio: In most of the state and central universities more than 30% of faculty positions are lying vacant. The Indian higher education system has a student-teacher ratio of 29, while the same for the United States was 12.35 and Brazil’s was 19.4 (AISHE 2018-19)
• Inadequate Infrastructure and Facilities: Apart from the highly recognized higher educational institutes most of the colleges and universities lack in basic and high-end research facilities. Many institutes are running without proper infrastructure and basic facilities like libraries, hostels, transport, sports facilities etc. which is desirable to rank the quality institution.
• Less collaboration of higher educational institutes with industries.
• Demographic Dividend Challenge: Employability across disciplines is at 45% (India Skills Report 2018)
• Social disparity: Against a GER of 26.3 for the general category, it is 23 for SCs and 17.2 for STs (AISHE 2018-19).
• Poor Governance Structure: The management of Indian education faces challenges of over-centralization, bureaucratic structures and lack of accountability, transparency, and professionalism.
• Political Interference: Increasing interference of politicians in the management of higher education jeopardises the autonomy of HEIs.
• The dismal performance of state public universities that produce over 90% of the graduates in India is more dismal especially due to a shortage of funding.
•  Regional variations: The college density varies from 7 in Bihar to 59 in Telangana as compared to All India's average of 28.

Government Initiatives in Higher Education

Higher Education is the shared responsibility of both the Centre and the States. Following are some significant fellowship schemes/scholarships awarded by the various institutions:

• Institutes of Eminence: Increasing capability and freedom to best academic institutions in the country.
• RUSA for upgrading state universities.
• HEFA for the financing of higher education institutions.
• National institutional ranking framework for fostering competition among higher educational institutions.

Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme (EQUIP) (2019-2024): Double the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education and resolve the geographically and socially skewed access to higher education institutions in India.

Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022: Qualitatively upgrade the research and academic infrastructure in India to global best standards by 2022. Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) has been tasked to mobilise Rs. 1,00,000 crores for this initiative. 

UGC’s Learning Outcome-based Curriculum Framework (LOCF): LOCF guidelines, issued by UGC in 2018, aims to specify what graduates are expected to know, understand and be able to do at the end of their programme of study. This is to make students active learners and teachers good facilitators.

Graded Autonomy to Universities & Colleges: 3-tiered graded autonomy regulatory system has been initiated. Category I and Category II universities will have significant autonomy to conduct examinations and prescribe evaluation systems.

Global Initiative for Academics Network (GIAN): The programme seeks to invite distinguished academicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, and experts from premier institutions from across the world, to teach in the higher educational institutions in India.

National Institutional Ranking Framework was developed in 2015. The rankings are published annually since 2016. It outlines a methodology to rank educational institutions across the country to facilitate competition and improvement in them.

Innovation Cell (MIC)

• It was established on AICTE's premises to systematically foster a culture of Innovation in all Higher Education Institutions across the country.
• Encourage, inspire and nurture young scientists by exposing them to new ideas and processes resulting in innovative activities in their formative years fostered through Network of Innovation clubs in Higher Educational Institutions.

Major Programs

• Network of Innovation Clubs
• Smart India Hackathon
• Institution Innovation Councils
• Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)
• National Innovation and Start-up Policy for Students and Faculties
  • Benefits of joining innovations clubs (IC)
    • No major capital investment is
    required, IC will make use of the
    • existing local ecosystemOpportunity to participate in various Innovation related initiatives organised by MoE.
    • Win prizes/certificates every month

Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements

• It aims to systematically rank education institutions and universities primarily on innovation-related indicators. It uses indicators that are commonly used globally to rank the most innovative educational institutions/universities in the world.

National Testing Agency

• It is a premier, specialist, autonomous and self-sustained testing organisation to conduct entrance examinations for admission/fellowship in higher educational institutions.
• Exams conducted by NTA
• Joint Entrance Examination (Engineering)
• Common Management Admission Test (Management)
• UGC NET
• Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test
• Hotel Management Joint Entrance Examination
• NEET (for Medical)
• It also provides practice tests to students.

Functions

• Identify partner institutions with adequate infrastructure from the existing schools and higher education institutions that would facilitate the conduct of online examinations without adversely impacting their academic routine.
• Create a question bank for all subjects using the modern techniques
• Establish a strong R&D culture as well as a pool of experts in testing
• To help individual colleges and universities in the field of testing and to provide training and advisory services to institutions in India. To provide quality testing services to the academic institutions in India.
• To develop a state-of-the-art culture of testing in India using domestic and international expertise. To collaborate with international organizations like ETS to achieve the same.
• To undertake any other examination entrusted to it by the Ministries/Departments of Government of India/State Governments.
• To undertake the reforms and training of school boards as well as other bodies where the testing standards should be comparable with the entrance examinations.

Scheme for Promotion of Research Collaboration (SPARC)

To facilitate research and academic collaboration with top academic institutions in the world, the MoE will fund such collaboration between Indian Institutions which are in the top 100 of either specific NIRF ranking or aggregate NIRF ranking on the one hand and with foreign institutions figuring in the top 500 QS world ranking. 

Prime Minister Research Fellows

• Tap the talent pool of India for conducting research indigenously in innovative science and technology
• B. Tech and M. Tech students from any recognised Indian institution will be offered direct admission in the PhD program in the IITs/IISc.
• A fellowship of Rs 70,000 per month for the first two years, Rs 75,000 per month for a third year, and Rs 80,000 per month in 4th and 5th year will be provided.

IMPRESS (Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences)

Implemented by Indian Council for Social Science Research

Aims:

• To encourage social science research in policy-relevant areas to provide vital inputs in policy formulation, implementation and evaluation.
• Address the issue of bridging the gap between policy making, implementation and society by generating or encouraging vital inputs from researchers in social science disciplines.
• Inspire researchers in these domains to assume the task of assessment of policies and of coordination between policymakers, academics and society

GIAN (Global Initiative of Academic Networks)

• Aims at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs internationally to encourage their engagement with institutes of Higher Education in India to augment India's academic resources. Visiting faculty from foreign institutions will conduct short-term courses in India.
• IIT Kharagpur is the National Coordinator for GIAN.
• Group coordinators have been created to deal with various categories of institutions.
• Eligible Institutions: IITs, NITs, IIEST, SPA, IISc, IISER, Management Schools, Central Universities and Law Schools, AICTE-approved engineering colleges, Universities under UGC
• Funding: A honorarium is paid to the foreign experts covering their travel and other expenses.

Institute of Eminence

• UGC (Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities), 2017 regulations enable 10 public and 10 private institutions to emerge as World Class Teaching and Research Institutions. These institutions shall be called 'Institutions of Eminence'.
• It aims to bring higher education institutions selected as IoEs into the top 500 of the world ranking in the next 10 years and in the top 100 eventually over time.
• Institutions will be selected by Empowered Expert Committee headed by N Gopalaswami.

Three Categories of Eligible Institutions

1.  Existing Government Educational institutions

2. Existing private higher educational institutions to upgrade themselves to Institutions of Eminence

3. Greenfield Category

In the case of private institutions proposed as Institutions of Eminence, there will be no financial support, but they will be entitled to more autonomy as a special category Deemed University.

Greenfield Institutions would get a 3-year period to establish and operationalise the institution, and thereafter, EEC will consider giving IoE status to such institutions.

Benefits of Institutions of Eminence

• Government Institutions to get additional funding up to 1000 Cr.
• The selected Institutions under IoE shall have complete academic and administrative autonomy.
• The Institutions of Eminence will have complete financial autonomy to spend the resources raised and allocated, subject to general conditions & restrictions of the Statutes and GFR.
• Academic collaborations with foreign higher educational institutions (in the top 500) would be exempt from government approvals.
• Freedom to hire personnel from industry, etc., as faculty who are experts in their areas but may not have the requisite higher academic qualifications.
• Freedom to recruit faculty from outside India (limit of 25% of its faculty strength for public institutions).
• Freedom to enter academic collaborations with other Institutions within the country.
• Freedom to have own transparent merit-based system for admission of students.
• Freedom to admit additional foreign students on merit subject to a maximum of 30% of the strength of admitted domestic students.
• Freedom to fix and charge fees from foreign students without restriction.

Freedom to determine the domestic student fees, subject to the condition that no student who gets selected admission is turned away for lack of finance

LEAP (Leadership for Academicians Program)

Aims to Prepare second-tier academic heads who are potentially likely to assume leadership roles in future.

Key Features

• It is a three-week leadership development training program (2 weeks domestic and 1-week foreign training) for second-level academic functionaries in publicly funded higher education institutions.
• The program would provide senior faculty, with high academic credentials, and the required leadership and managerial skills including skills of problem-solving, handling stress, team building work, conflict management, developing communication skills, understanding and coping with the complexity and challenges of governance of Higher Educational Institutions, financial and general administration.
• It will be implemented through 15 NIRF top-ranked Indian Institutions:
• IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, NIT Trichy, IISER Kolkata, JNU, IIT(BHU), University of Delhi, IIT Bombay, TISS Mumbai, University of Hyderabad, NIEPA, IIT Kharagpur, Jamia Milia Islamia, BHU and AMU 
• Foreign universities identified for training are also within the top 100 in the world's global rankings. The institutions chosen are the University of Michigan, NTU Singapore, Harvard University, Purdue University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Monash University, London School of Economics/Oxford University, University of Cambridge and University of Virginia, USA.

TEQIP (Technical Education Quality Improvement Program)

• Aims at improving the quality of Engineering education in existing institutions with special consideration for Low-Income States and Special Category States
• Only Government and Government aided AICTE approved Engineering Institutions and new centrally funded institutions in SCS will be part of the project. An estimated 200 Government and Government funded Engineering institutions including Affiliating Technical Universities (ATUs) will be selected.
• 100% by Centre given as grants to States

IMPRINT-2

• First of its kind Pan IIT and IISc joint initiative to address major science and engineering challenges relevant to India through an inclusive and sustainable mode of translational research.
• Jointly funded by MoE and the Department of Science and Technology. A fund of Rs 1000 crore has been established for this.
• Prof Indranil Manna of IIT Kharagpur will be the National Coordinator.
• The Science and Engineering Research Board in the Department of Science and Technology is the nodal agency working along with the national coordinator.
• Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY) scheme will be subsumed with IMPRINT-2 and no further call for proposal submission under UAY will be issued.

Features

• The principal objective is to translate knowledge into visible technology
• The normal average cost of the approved projects will be around Rs 2 crore
• MoE and DST are equal partners to steer the scheme
• Projects partially supported by (at least 25%) the industry will be supported (Mandatory industry support is a must)

Eligibility to apply

Must hold a regular academic/research position at a Centrally funded technical institution, MoE funded Central university or MoE funded Higher education Institution and technology. Applicants must have 4 years of regular left before superannuation.

Domains

Living World	Materials World
Energy SecurityEnvironment and ClimateHealthcare TechnologySustainable HabitatWater Resources	Advanced MaterialsICTManufacturing TechnologyNano TechnologySecurity and Defence

Scheme for Promotion of Research Collaboration (SPARC)

To facilitate research and academic collaboration with top academic institutions in the world, the MoE will fund such collaboration between Indian Institutions which are in the top 100 of either specific NIRF ranking or aggregate NIRF ranking on one hand and with foreign institutions figuring in the top 500 QS world ranking. 

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)

• It was approved by the MHRD and launched by the Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development on 29th September 2015.
• This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.
• The methodology draws from the overall recommendations and broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by MHRD, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.

The parameters broadly cover

1. “Teaching, Learning and Resources,”
2. “Research and Professional Practices,”
3. “Graduation Outcomes,”
4. “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and
5. “Perception”.

Regulatory and governance reforms:

Restructure or merge different higher education regulators (UGC, AICTE, NCTE etc.) to ensure effective coordination.

Creating ‘world-class universities’: 20 universities – 10 each from the public and private sector – are being selected as ‘Institutions of Eminence’, to help them attain world-class standards of teaching and research.

Increased focus on vocational and profession-led education

Accreditation Framework: All higher education institutions must be accredited compulsorily & regularly, by agencies.

Performance-linked funding and incentives: All central universities should develop strategic plans for getting into the top 500 global universities' rankings in the next 10 years. Funding to these institutions should be linked to performance and outcomes.

Distance and online education: Broaden the scope of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) to provide access to quality education beyond geographical boundaries.

Higher Education Funding Authority

• A joint venture of MoE and Canara Bank for financing the creation of capital assets in premier educational institutions in India. It is a non-profit company.
• In 2018, the scope of HEFA was expanded by enhancing its capital base to Rs 10,000 crore and tasking it to mobilise one lakh crore for Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education by 2022. (RISE by 2022)
• Funds will be available to:
• Technical Institutions more than 10 years old:  Repay the whole Principal Portion from the internally generated budgetary resources.
• Technical Institutions started between 2008 and 2014: Repay 25% of the principal portion from internal resources and receive a grant for the balance of the principal portion.
• Central Universities started
• Prior to 2014: Repay 10% of the principal portion from internal resources and receive a grant for the balance of the principal portion.
• Newly established   Institutions (started after   2014):   for funding the construction of permanent campuses: A grant would be provided for complete servicing of the loan including the principal and interest.
• Other educational institutions and grant-in-aid institutions of the Ministry of Health: All newly set up AIIMSs and other health institutions, Kendriya Vidyalayas/Navodaya Vidyalayas would be funded, and Department/Ministry concerned will give a commitment for complete servicing of principal and interest by ensuring adequate grants to the institution.

Suggestions for Improving the System of Higher Education in India (HEI)

• Expand capacity in postgraduate education: Increase postgraduate enrolment and reduce teacher shortages
• Incentivise postgraduate education: Make research and teaching a more attractive career choice
• Diversify course offerings: Prepare students for the job market
• Promote linkages between HEIs and Industry: Improve the employability of graduates
• Create more pathways to employment in the organised sector: Reduce the unemployment rate among graduates
• Upgrade accreditation capacity: Monitor the quality of all HEIs in India
• Cluster colleges: Improve the quality of colleges and make them easier to manage
• Establish standard accreditation framework: To bring transparency and consistency in accreditation
• Offer greater incentives to faculty members: Attract and retain well-qualified teaching staff
• Revamp funding: Measurable and equitable outcome-based funding for Central and State universities.
• Linkage research centres (National and International): Quality and collaborative research
• Industrial co-operation: Development of curriculum, organizing expert lectures, internships, live projects, career counselling and placements.
• Set up National Research Foundation: Distinguish between development and operational funding, and catalyse research in HEIs
• Improve access to financial support: Make higher education more affordable
• Promote research collaborations: Apprise Indian scholars of global standards of conducting research and expose them to improved infrastructure.

Holistic and multidisciplinary education Need for a Holistic and Multidisciplinary Education in India: India has a long tradition of holistic and multidisciplinary learning, from universities such as Takshashila and Nalanda to the extensive literature of India combining subjects across fields. Integrating the humanities and arts with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) improves learning outcomes, creativity, innovation, critical thinking, social awareness and responsibility among the students. National Education Policy (2020) also suggested the need for Holistic and multi-disciplinary education to lead India into the 21st century and the 4th Industrial Revolution.  However, not every Higher education institution in India can provide such a multidisciplinary education due to a shortage of faculty, limited financial resources and lack of institutional autonomy in setting curriculum. To overcome these challenges, the National education policy suggested the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) scheme. UGC has recently notified the scheme.

Academic Bank of credit scheme: Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) is a virtual/digital storehouse that contains information on the credits earned by individual students throughout their academic journey. Academic Bank of Credits shall provide to every student the facility to open a unique or individual Academic Bank Account in digital form. When a student pursues any course and clears exams, credits will be automatically awarded to them. Institutions need to fill out the details and upload the deposits in the students’ Academic Credit Bank account on the digital portal. ABC will allow undergraduate and postgraduate degree students to exit the course and enter within a stipulated period. The student can earn up to 50 per cent credits from outside the college/university where she/he is enrolled for the degree/diploma program. Advantages: Option to exit and enter: If any student needs to get back to education after a break or must relocate to another city, they can easily ‘carry’ forward their completed credits. The wider choice to students: As multiple institutes are connected to the ABC portal, one can be formally enrolled in university ‘A’ but can choose to do some courses from university ‘B’, some more from university ‘C’ and so on and all of these would count towards the student’s degree. Students also can join online courses offered by MOOCs like SWAYAM or NPTEL (National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning) and add these credits to their ABC. Reduces the burden on institutions: It reduces the burden on any single institute to float an unmanageable number of courses and increases the competition among institutes. Problems: Grade inflation: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platforms such as SWAYAM and NPTEL are ‘supposedly designed’ for large enrolments. One of the metrics for the success of these courses is student performance in the final assessment. Thus, it would be in the interest of course coordinators to award scores liberally and paint a rosy picture. Dilution of Quality of degrees:  An average student from a premier institute like IIT/IISER may find it tempting to opt out of a challenging course in my institute and use the ABC scheme to replace it with an equivalent course from another university where it would be far easier to obtain good grades. Contraction of teaching posts in small institutes: The ABC scheme specifies that students can avail of up to 50% of credits from other institutes. Students who avail these credits outside the parent college, need not enrol for the corresponding in-house courses. As the number of teaching posts in any higher education institute are calculated based on student enrolment numbers, when a large fraction of students do not enroll for the courses offered by them it might result in co-traction of teaching posts in those institutes. This scheme has all the right and laudable intentions and would probably work well in a society with a more equitable distribution of resources. But in India, where the quality of education varies drastically from one institute to the next, this can lead to unmanageable academic and administrative issues in higher education institutes with brand names, and lead to a contraction in the number of teaching posts in smaller higher education institutes. The UGC must rethink expeditiously how to implement this scheme.

Conclusion

There is a need to implement innovative and transformational approaches from primary to higher education levels to make the Indian educational system globally more relevant and competitive. This is necessary not only to take care of economic growth, but it is also essential for social cohesion and to empower the country’s youth.