State University Overhaul Holds Key To Quality Education, Bridging Talent Gap

Indian universities, leaving aside IITS, IIMs, IIITs, and a few central government institutions, are largely mediocre and underperforming. The government of India has now allowed top foreign universities to set up their campuses in India. As and when they come, they will be part of the top institutions. That will hardly alleviate the situation on a mass scale. Therefore, the cause of social justice and upward mobility for the underprivileged sections of society will be served better if there is substantial improvement in the performance of the state-level universities and colleges.

Reforming state level higher education

India needs a total overhaul of its higher education at the state level. Our universities including IITs and IIMs need to be converted into institutions that foster an interdisciplinary approach to education. There is no reason why IIM Ahmedabad and the National Institute of Design cannot work as one institution. Why can't IITs be converted into full-fledged universities? They have got the wherewithal to be the best universities in India. The New Education Policy has a huge focus on an interdisciplinary approach to education and problem-solving.

The real challenge for higher education lies in transforming state-level universities, and there are 900 of them -- about 460 are government-run and another 430 are privately owned.

The government-run universities are starved of funds, people, good faculty, administrators and systems and processes, incentives to do research, and more importantly, autonomy.In fact, there is hardly any education imparted here. Students barely attend classes and professors do not engage students with larger and critical issues facing society and the world.

Universities need to collaborate with the wider world. They need to collaborate with municipal corporations and panchayats in which they operate to improve their performance. They can collaborate with local hospitals to improve their performance. They can collaborate with start-ups, and small, and medium enterprises and help them grow. They can get research endowments from companies, governments, and their successful alumni.

To improve, state-level universities need to hire good faculty first. Without the right number of faculty, nothing will improve. Classes and examinations need to be regularised. State-level universities can invest in online learning facilities with online resources and e-books. There is no need to invest in old libraries in the initial stages. Universities need to create better infrastructure for classes, hostels, faculty houses, research labs, and incubators for startups and sports facilities. These universities can also become centres for revitalising 1,000-odd cities and urban centres in which they are located. They can spur economic growth and cultural renaissance.

Unfortunately, our political leaders and bureaucrats do not see universities in that light. Universities remain insulated from larger societies, and they become places for dispensing degrees: for students who want to improve their knowledge, skills, and chances to get a job go to coaching institutes.

To improve the functioning of universities, the state and central governments need to give autonomy. AICTE, UGC, and bureaucrats have hardly any idea on how to improve the functioning of the university. Experienced academicians, industry professionals, and alumni should run the university to make it more relevant to society. The state government, if it gives money, can send their representatives to help the board of the university achieve objectives.

Three Pillars Of A Great University

The work of a great university rests on three important pillars: Teaching, research, and helping industry and society to transform. We can judge a university on that basis.

Great quality teaching is required to impart knowledge. But helping to generate knowledge is also of equal importance. The bolder the effort, the more credit the researchers and organisations can get.

Academicians are more interested in the incremental pursuit of the generation of new knowledge which gets published in some peer review journal. There is no harm in that but generating cutting-edge knowledge and new ideas from which the world can benefit should be the aim. World-class universities have taken that route to create reputation and fame over the years.

The third important pillar is to engage with the larger and immediate society. We need to invite people who are working in our classrooms to impart knowledge about the real world. Universities need to become incubators to promote start-ups. University research should also include solving the problems faced by the people and organizations located in surrounding areas. A university's impact on immediate and larger societies is a must. At present, state universities are living in insularity completely dependent on the state's grants and interference from politicians and bureaucrats.

We see some of the private universities like BITS Pilani, OP Jindal Global University, Ashoka University, Shiv Nadar University, Mahindra University, Thapar University, and Plaksha University despite all their limitations are doing a good job. We can be sure that state level universities can replicate this if they are given functional autonomy. They are futuristic and have a strong connection with industry. They do a lot of experiments with courses and curricula, and they are all linked to the best of the global institutions.

One can debate the objective of state-level universities to provide education to people coming from the middle class and lower middle class. There will be resource constraints but to provide low-quality education and to become just degree-dispensing institutions that do not create much value has no meaning.

If given the right structure and incentive, state universities can revitalise India’s 1,000 cities and urban hubs as the world-class universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, and Harvard have done.

(Rahul Mishra is Professor of Strategy, IILM Institute of Higher Education. Views expressed are personal)