The current system of higher education in India has become dysfunctional especially in the regional universities. The new National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) has outlined a new roadmap for complete revamping and restructuring of the higher education system in India. Two basic institutional changes recommended for the universities are complete transformation of the governance system and teaching-learning process in the multi-faculty framework. It has been underlined that for creation of a culture of excellence and innovation in the universities, all world-class institutions globally have strong self- governance and outstanding merit-based appointment system of institutional leaders and teaching faculty.
Effective learning involves appropriate curriculum, en- gaging pedagogy and continuous formative assessment for development of scientific temper and analytical capabilities of students. Teaching
faculty and the universities have to be completely autonomous in decision-making regarding the curriculum and medium of instructions taking local needs into consideration. The teaching faculty will be autonomous in taking decisions regard- ing the teaching-learning process. The regulatory architecture of higher education will also be made more accountable and transparent. These are laudable recommendations but we need to examine the necessary and sufficient conditions for successful transformation in the quality of education and academic culture of our regional universities.
For governance, it is proposed that universities will have a board of governors, which will consist of highly qualified, competent and dedicated persons and the state will ensure that the institutions are free from out- side interference. Ground reality is that regional universities are administered by the vice-chancellor as the chief executive, on the direction of the executive council (EC) and academic council (AC), which are the authorities of the university.
Overtime, the autonomy and authority of EC and AC have been completely compromised and taken over by the state bureaucracy and now all decisions are subject to the approval of the state government. AC and EC have been reduced to debating clubs only.
The state Governor in his capacity as Chancellor of the university, appoints the Vice- Chancellor (VC) on the recommendation of the search committee consisting of three experts appointed by the executive council and the Chancellor of the university. However, past experience in- forms us that the VC is ultimately appointed on the recommendation of the Chief Minister, generally on political considerations ignoring academic and administrative merit of the candidates. Past experience also tells us that the VC works on the direction of the chief minister and has effectively been reduced to a puppet in the hands of the state bureaucracy. Most of the senior administrative and statutory posts are lying vacant, year after year, and the vice-chancellor appoints teachers of his choice temporarily as additional charge till further orders. The VC is deprived of the benefit of mature advice for long-term policymaking. To appoint the board of governors and the VC who are persons of high integrity and academic excellence, is a million-dollar question in the present milieu in the society!
Teaching faculty in the universities is appointed through all-India competition on the recommendation of a selection committee, which consists of experts as laid down by the UGC. In practice, most of the appointments are on non-academic considerations and political interference in appointments is rampant. Inbreeding in appointments is also emerging as another big challenge. In regional universities, most of the teaching faculty does not have adequate academic exposure and required competence to frame the curriculum in an interdisciplinary framework. It lacks skills for interactive teaching involving continuous assessment, comprising innovative assignments, term papers and end-semester examination. This requires both changes in the work ethics & work culture. For this, most of the teaching faculty requires massive upgrading of their knowledge and teaching skills imbibing into autonomous functioning with built in accountability for which a lot of effort and investment in training will be required. Institutional and work-culture change is a very slow process and needs to be handled with utmost sensitivity and care.
Another challenge is that about 40 percent of the teaching posts in most of the universities are lying vacant and basic teaching requirements are met through contractual appointments. NEP has rightly underlined that contractual appointments must be dispensed with, as it is no substitute for regular and competent faculty. All vacant faculty positions must be filled up on priority basis. Past experience is not very reassuring. Most critical challenge is the financial stability and autonomy of the public universities. Over the last 30 years, most of the regional universities are starved of public fund- ing. Three decades back, the share of state funding to public universities was about 80 percent and now it has been reduced to about 20 percent. Most of the affiliating universities are forced to meet their expenses by levying various types of ser- vice charges on the affiliated colleges, examination fee, and charges from distance education students, which is like a ‘monopoly rent’. When the affiliation system is discontinued as proposed by the NEP, all these universities will be in a serious financial crisis. It is appreciable that NEP recognizes expenditure on education as public investment.
It has also been highlighted that public expenditure on education in India is one of the lowest in the world at 4.43 percent of GDP. It has been resolved to raise it to 6 percent of GDP at the earliest, an unfulfilled commitment of the last 50 years. The Kasturirangan Committee, which drafted the Education Policy document, had recommended that public expenditure on education should be raised from 10 percent of the budgetary expenditure of the central and state governments to 20 percent over the next ten years. The policy document approved by the Government of India is silent on this commitment. However, it states that commercialization of education will be completely dispensed with. If the government does not make adequate financial commitment to implement the new national education policy, either proposed policy will fall flat on the ground or fees from students will have to be raised substantially. Apprehension is that the private corporate sector will be called upon to fill the gap, making education very expensive and depriving higher education to weaker sections of society.
NEP 2020 has placed before the nation a very ambitious agenda for shaping its new generations to meet the challenges of the 21st century. To accomplish this much-cherished goal, a firm political commitment will be required to ensure adequate public funding and non-interference in the autonomy of the universities. Otherwise, it will be rendered toothless and an empty box of lofty ideals and wishful thinking.
Surinder Kumar is former director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, and Anupriya Sharma is an independent researcher.
