Higher education is in the doldrums Essay English
The recent package for the university and college teachers by the Ministry of Human Resources and the UGC has continued with the mechanical formulas of judging merit which is not followed in any other country with a good system of higher education.
It has also totally ignored the socioeconomic conditions by its emphasis on M. Phils and PHDs for that would only further restrict the entry of bright people to academics and would institutionalise the triumph of mediocrity. Even for these higher degrees only a routine mechanical criterion is followed.
To begin with, the package provides for a super-scale of directly recruited professors to a special grade after completing twenty years of service. But it is silent on the nature of the work that one performs in research, publications and teaching.
Unlike the well established universities of the West, we have no culture of an inaugural lecture. Some outstanding works like Carr's What is History? Or Berlin's Two concepts of liberty came out such lectures.
Why cannot the UGC make such a quality lecture mandatory at least for the aspirants of this super-scale? The criteria that is normally followed in most countries in reputed universities is sustained work and innovation, in research and teaching.
The maladv that affects the top is reflected at the bottom. The earlier addition of one year to our school education makes it clear that nobody can complete a master's degree before one is 22. If one added on M. Phil of 2 years and PhD of 4 years one could expect a job only at 28.
Any bright person, even in our country with limited opportunities will get absorbed in a comparable if not a better job much before that age which means that teaching jobs would be filled up by aspirants who might not get jobs elsewhere.
The experience of last few years shows that most of the people pursuing these degrees do it under the compulsion of getting a job rathar than undertaking reserach for exploration of knowledge. This is in contrast to the Western universities where even today most of the path-breaking works emerge out of the graduate work.
To attract the best talents in our socio-economic conditions the important thing is to provide openings immediatley after the masters degree which will at least induce some of the better minds to stick to academics.
Instead of an excessive emphasis on M. Phils and PhDs, an appropriate method of recruitment is to make Nett mandatory for all aspiring for a teaching position. The Nett should be as rigorous as the civil services examinations with stipulations about the number of times and the age within which one should qualify.
Unless the recruitment is impartial with a concern for mérit the above average students would never aspire for it. Recruitment must be done nationally and not locally, thereby compelling all universities to be competitive.
Unless academics have the aim of excellence universities and colleges can never become competitive. In the absence of standardisation and excellence they would continue to encourge mediocrity, inefficiency and low productivity.
To streamline the universities and colleges we have to introduce a couple of well established procedures of measuring excellence as it is done in the West. The first is to envolve a mechanism of grading the university
departments subject-wise. Here the time-tested criterion followed in the American and British systems could be introduced with suitable modifications to suit our conditions. If departments have to secure good grades then the quality of the faculty is to utmost importance.
There should be annual teaching excellence awards based on an assessment by students of the last two or three consecutive batches, alumni feedback and peer group evalutaion. A distinction ought to be made from where research degrees are obtained.
It is equally imperative to recognise quality research work, whether books or academic papers. The second is to stop the virtual access of all to college and university education and introduce some kind of a test to judge the aptitude and capacity of students for higher education. With streamlined admissions it is possible to provide for scholarships for the bright poor.
Part-time jobs could also be provided within the campus. With rigour and student evaluation of teachers, academics would become effective and meaningful. Higher education to be menaingful and productive must have avenues of excellence to flourish and develop.
Till date the centres of higher education have failed to evolve a system of just meritocracy based on just reward. This is by and large due to the policy of levelling. Unless this is remedied the minimalist attitude that exists now in teaching, research and training would never be eliminated.