HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA

Dr. S. Sundararajan, Professor

Sankara Institute of Management Science

Higher Education in India is going through a positive transformation. We see a trend where student aspirations & industry expectations are on the rise. Further a churn is happening as the regulatory mechanisms are becoming more stringent which will lead to the survival of the fittest. Thus many of the institutions that came into existence during boom time with super infrastructure and modern facilities are unable to sustain the test of time in the absence of qualified faculty and proper intellectual resources.

A current trend that is visible is that many students desire that higher education programmes should lead to confirmed employment opportunities. They are not satisfied that degrees at the Bachelor’s level or Master’s level merely equip them with fundamentals and they need to further their skills to get good jobs. Thus we are seeing a change wherein courses in Engineering, Management and even Charted Accountant include a component of soft skills, digital literacy to make them more employable. As faculty fraternity we, strongly feel that both the Engineering & the MBA programmes in their current format have reached saturation point and need to be reinvented for survival in the long run. The demand for doing an Engineering degree would continue; however the aspiring students would be choosier about where they would like to study. This means the institutions with a good brand value would be in greater demand. Further the student would also seek options that combine a niche area along with his core area of study such as MBA(IT) with specialization in Data Analytics. We also see a trend wherein the integrated kind of programmes are becoming more popular, for example B.Tech., plus MBA done in 5 years or the 5 year integrated B.Com., LLB., course in Law. Another trend is the increasing popularity of architecture & design as standalone careers. The demand for B.Arch and B.Design graduates has gone up significantly in the last 5 years and the aspirant’s numbers have multiplied exponentially.

The MBA programme too has reached its pinnacle of glory and now is under scrutiny and review. Here too the aspirant has become more choosy and would like to join a preferred institution of his choice based on its brand value. Further, aspirants are now clearly seeking outcomes which are measurable at the end of the course i.e. they are almost expecting an employment guarantee. New MBA specialization’s such as digital media marketing, big data analytics are attracting more students but there is a shortage of seats for these areas of study. Further the MBA market has become extremely price sensitive. Besides the minimum expectations of a student, the students expect a fully wired campus, online learning modules, plenty of industry interaction, grooming & etiquette sessions to make them better equipped to cope up with the demands of industry. Further we see a lot of modified versions of the part time MBA courses offered through online and off line modes, which are in the infant stage and they need to establish themselves.

Excellence in Higher education & high quality is only possible if we have the best of faculty with industry experience. The most important step that needs to taken at the macro level in our country is to position teaching as an attractive option & should be given its place of pride as an employment option. Miserable but true, the teaching profession is often seen as a last choice career option. As a consequence of this, many people who are in the teaching profession are not into it whole heartedly. This has a direct bearing on their performance and willingness to develop further. Fortunately, in recent times there is a lot of emphasis on teacher education in educational institutions. This includes equipping them with new skills such as the use of multi-media, online learning and teaching tools & presentation skills. These efforts have significantly improved the quality of teaching and made a positive impact on the absorption levels of the students. However this puts in an extra pressure on the teachers who are already over worked and underpaid. Further in many institutions of higher education, many retired persons from industry seek a second career. Though they come with a lot of rich experience, the capacity to take on heavy work load is limited. Here the challenge is to continuously encourage teachers towards self development and also look at the changing tools, techniques & pedagogy more positively. Thus the need of the hour is to position teaching as a premium career option and provide best facilities similar to those we see at the corporate.

The biggest positive move we see is the availability of varied courses at the higher education level that are delivered by private universities that are recognized by UGC. This leads to more avenues and more streams of learning and specialization for the students thus satisfying the industry need for specific qualified professionals.

Endnote:

In India, higher education will see more exciting trends & shifts in time to come. We faculty fraternity should update the syllabus and curriculum of professional courses on the requirement of corporates in the global competition.