Ministry of Human Resource and Development recently released the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for the year 2016-17 which highlights the state of higher education through several indicators and in turn provides necessary information for stakeholders to make informed decisions regarding higher education in the country.

Higher Education in India - An Analysis

AISHE Survey

• All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) is conducted by MHRD and covers entire Higher Education Institutions categorized in 3 broad Categories; University, College and Stand-Alone Institutions.
• Around 864 Universities, 40026 Colleges and 11669 Stand Alone Institutions are listed on AISHE web portal.
• The top 3 States in terms of highest number of colleges in India are Uttar-Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka. Average college density (number of colleges per lakh eligible population) in India is 28 and varies from 7 in Bihar to 59 in Telangana. Of all the colleges, only 2.6% run Ph.D programs and nearly 37% offer post graduate programs.

Findings of the AISHE Survey

• The year 2016-17 witnessed a gross enrolment rate of 25.2 in higher education which gives the number of enrolled students out of the total population in the age group of 18-23 years. GER for male population is 26.0% and for females, it is 24.5%. For Scheduled Castes, it is 21.1% and for Scheduled Tribes, it is 15.4%.
• Only 4% of students belong to the Muslim Minority community while 2% belong to other minorities.
  67% of students enroll in private colleges while only 33% students go to government colleges. This ratio is further skewed in case of professional courses.
• Out of a total enrollment of nearly 35 million students, only 45000 are foreign students.
• Pupil-Teacher Ratio at Universities and Colleges is 22.
• Gender parity index improved to 0.94 in 2016-17 from 0.86 in 2011-12. The gender gap in higher education reduced by over nine lakhs. Besides, female students exceeded male students in numbers across eight disciplines. However, GER for women remains at 39, a marginal improvement from 38 (2011-12) in case of B.Tech. The gap also remains high in streams such as law, MBA and M.Tech.

Overview of Indian Higher Education

• Enrollment in higher education remains grossly inadequate against a target GER of 30 by 2020.
• Enrollment is also skewed as females, backward castes and minorities show lesser presence in higher education institutions. These disparities are further widened as a commercial motive has taken over the higher education sector. There has been a mushrooming of private higher educational institutions premised on profit motive bereft of social inclusion and equity concerns.
• Number of teachers across India has remained stagnant for some years. This spells trouble for the state of education in the country.
• Further, the declining share of public institutions in student enrollments reflects government withdrawal from the sector. Education, as a result, has also become more expensive. Instead of acting as a socio-economic leveller, education today is an instrument for steepening and further widening the existing socio-economic divides.
  Indian Campuses also lack diversity and also happen to lack preference among overseas students which is reflected in their small numbers.
• The low college density reflects the inadequacy in infrastructure against the requisite capacity essential for India to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend. We have only approximately 800 universities against the National Knowledge Commission recommendation of 1500.

Problems in Indian Higher Education

Teaching quality

• National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) in its assessment report pointed out that 68% of institutions in India are of middle or poor quality. Recruitment of undergraduates as teachers, ad-hoc appointments and low pay scale, inadequate teacher training are all factors that have caused a deterioration in the quality of education. As a result, nearly three-fourth the number of graduates remain unemployable.

Vacancies

• Nearly 35% of professor posts and 46% of assistant professor posts out of total sanctioned strength remain vacant across the country.

Financing

• India barely spends 2.5% of its budgetary allocations on education. This is far below the required amount needed to upgrade the infrastructure at public institutes. Nearly 65% of the University Grants Commission (UGC) budget is utilised by the central universities when the share of state universities in student enrollments is much higher.

Privatization and Regulation

• Withdrawal of public sector has left the space open for private institutions that have turned education into a flourishing business. Most of the teachers in private colleges are underpaid and over-worked. There has been a rampant expansion in the number of colleges with scant regard for standards and quality. This phenomenon also shows the lapses in the regulatory structure which are riddled with corruption.

Curriculum

• There is a wide gap between industry requirements and curriculum taught at colleges. This also renders graduates unemployable lacking in specific skill-sets.

Autonomy

• Over-regulation by regulators such as UGC, MCI, which decide on aspects of standards, appointments, fees structure and curriculum has further deterred new institutions from opening campuses.

Academic research

• India has barely 119 researchers per million of the population as compared to Japan which has 5300 and US which has 4500. Besides, in US 4% of science graduates finish the doctorate, in Europe, this number is 7%, but in India barely 0.4% of graduates finish the doctorate.

Suggestions for Higher Education reforms in India

Pedagogy

• An overhaul of teaching method is needed, which needs to become more dynamic and centred on practical aspects of learning.

International cooperation

• India needs to collaborate with foreign institutes to foster a culture of research, upgrade pedagogy and facilitate student exchanges. India can also grow its capabilities in providing technical education through such collaboration.

Financing

• Tiered Funding model can be adopted, whereby institutes with higher performance standards get more funds and also more autonomy. This approach is followed in Singapore and has enabled it to develop world class institutes. Besides, mobilisation of funds in state universities should be explored through other means such as endowments, contributions from industry, alumni, etc

Regulatory overhaul

• National Knowledge Commission recommended that UGC be stripped off its powers of sanctioning grants and should not exert influence on administrative decisions.

Making Teaching an attractive and lucrative career

• This can be done by improving pay scale offered to teachers and by putting an end to the system of ad-hoc and temporary appointments. The recruitment process should start well before a post is vacated. Moreover, the practice of nepotism in academic appointments must end in order to improve the quality of faculty selected.

Performance audit of teachers

• A system of student feedback and peer reviews should be instituted to bring accountability in the sector.

Industry-academia linkage

• Through Industry finishing schools, Industry placement schemes and Industry institute student training programs, so as to ensure that curriculum taught in colleges remains relevant to the requirements of industry and adds to the employability of youth.

A robust credit rating system involving rating agencies, media houses and industry associations will further enhance competition among universities. Further, National board of accreditation is to play a key role in quality enhancement and quality assurance.

The above-mentioned reforms will help in improving access to higher education and bridge socio-economic divides across communities while at the same time in ensuring quality education for Indian youth.