Imparting quality to higher education

By M H Ahssan

From a long time ago when there seemed to be too many unemployable graduates because there were not enough clerical jobs to absorb them all, we have come to a situation when we have too many unemployable graduates. Include among them engineering and science graduates too. And throw in those MBAs who come from all those little known, badly managed, unrecognised private institutes of management. This is called the quality crunch and it is a serious problem.

Governments think only in terms of numbers. So we hear plans of opening ever more number of institutes of management, institutes of technology and institutes of science and more central universities in remote parts of the country. That is a good idea in itself. The country is in need of a huge expansion in institutes of higher education. But numbers by themselves may not do any good if enough attention is not paid to quality. Unlike in statistical progression, there is no tipping point where the numbers attain a critical mass and quality emerges as an epiphenomenon. If there are a large number of mediocre institutes, the result will be a large number of mediocre -- read unemployable -- graduates being turned out.

One of the ways out is allowing these institutes to hire the best teachers and the best names in the field from anywhere in the world. That is what many of the famous American and British universities do. There are of course instances of irrational excess when a celebrity in the field is hired for an indecent amount.

Instead of thinking in such terms, most people's thoughts about improving higher education is to allow foreign universities and institutes to open Indian campuses. This is bound to become a politically contentious issue, and it will be polarised into a sterile battle between favouring Indian institutes as against the foreign ones. It takes the debate away from the important issue of ensuring quality in our institutions and the ways of doing it. It is not even the case that if you allow private universities a free hand, then standards will be taken care of. The private educational institutions we have in India show that quality is more often than not sacrificed for the sake of profits. That is why, there is this curious example of the largest number of private educational institutions in Chhattisgarh, none of which meet the minimal standards of governmental recognition.

The problem of quality cannot then be addressed either by the government or private entrepreneurs because what is needed is a change in attitude. Education is an investment and a business only in the long term. Money has to be spent initially and no returns can be expected in the immediate and short term. If you charge higher fees from students, then that money has to be used for getting the best teachers, the best equipment and the basic infrastructure. Right now we are witnessing the phenomenon of private schools and colleges providing air-conditioned class rooms and cafeterias. That will not always ensure that the institute provides quality stuff.

Where does this magical thing called quality come from? Well, it is rooted in the unfashionable thing called love of knowledge for its own sake. And most of the people who are wedded to this idea are Spartan folk. What they need are facilities to be able to work and students who are willing to learn. Money is a useful thing in providing the facilities. But it is not a sufficient condition. This requires an intellectual orientation, which is to be located in the academic community, comprising teachers, researchers and students. The administrators are needed but they cannot set the agenda. That would seem an insurmountable hurdle in India where bureaucrats and academics-turned-bureaucrats have a stranglehold on institutions.

Now that is the challenge for the minister for human resources development, Kapil Sibal.