A Quick System-Check for Indian Universities

(Part-2 of the series: Leadership and Management of Institutions of Higher Education)

In an era when intellectual capital is increasingly prized, both for individuals and for the nation, education beyond school has never been more important. Ninety percent of the fastest-growing jobs in the new knowledge-driven economy will require some post-school education.

Among the vast and varied institutions that make up the Indian higher education, there is undoubtedly much to applaud but also much that requires urgent reform. Institutions for higher education have accomplished much in terms of expansion and enrolments of which they and the country can be proud. Despite these achievements, however, Indian higher education needs to improve in dramatic ways. It is time to be frank and not be blind to the less inspiring realities of higher education in our country.

There is nothing about our higher education that would make it the envy of the world. It is quite acceptable that some who care deeply about higher education may not easily acknowledge this diagnosis.

Enrolment

Enrolment to higher education is unduly limited by the complex interplay of inadequate preparation, lack of information about college opportunities, and persistent financial barriers.

Substandard high school preparation is compounded by poor alignment between high schools and colleges, which often creates an “expectations gap” between what colleges require and what high schools produce. Shortcomings in high schools mean that an unacceptable number of college students must take costly remedial classes. Among students who do make it on to college education, a troubling number waste time and the hard earned money of their family in mastering English and Math skills that they should have learned in high school. The evidence is in the mushrooming of the coaching centres for all kinds of MBA entrance examinations.

While better high-school preparation is imperative, admitted students and colleges themselves must jointly take responsibility for academic success.

Some students are lost right in the high schools, which do not yet see preparing all pupils for higher education and training as their responsibility. Others don’t enter college because of inadequate information and rising costs, combined with a confusing financial support system that spends too little on those who need help the most.

Improving the information about college available to students and reducing financial barriers to attendance, which is further addressed below under discussion of affordability, are also crucial to improving enrolment.

But even the economic benefits of a college degree could diminish if students don’t acquire the appropriate skills.

Cost and Affordability

Compounding all of these difficulties is a lack of clear, reliable information about the cost and quality of these institutions, along with a remarkable absence of accountability mechanisms to ensure that colleges succeed in educating students.

The cost of attending college is not limited to just the tuition fee but includes costs of commuting and travel, living and sustenance, boarding and lodging, consumables and books, socialising and entertainment and conformance to the peer group. There is seemingly an inexorable increase in college costs, which have outpaced inflation for the past two decades and have made affordability an ever-growing worry for students, families, and policymakers. Too many students are either discouraged from attending college by rising costs, or take on worrisome debt burdens in order to do so.

While students bear the immediate brunt of tuition increases, affordability is also a crucial policy dilemma for those who fund higher education. Even as institutional costs go up, in recent years state subsidies have decreased on a per capita basis and public concern about affordability may eventually contribute to an erosion of confidence in higher education. Affordability is directly affected by a financing system that provides limited incentives for universities to take aggressive steps to improve institutional efficiency and productivity.

To improve affordability, there needs to be a focused program of cost-cutting and productivity improvements in the institutions. Higher education institutions should improve institutional cost management through the development of new performance benchmarks, while also lowering per-student educational costs. (See an earlier post from me: P&L Duty of Universities is in National Interest)

Financial Assistance

Our financial assistance system is confusing, complex, inefficient, duplicative, and frequently does not direct aid to students who truly need it. There is a multiplicity of schemes providing direct financial aid or tax benefits to individuals pursuing higher education. Moreover, the current system does not provide definitive information about the approval of grant of aid until the middle of the year of college, which makes it hard for families to plan and discourages college attendance. Unmet financial need is a growing problem for students from low-income families, who need aid the most.

The current maze of financial assistance schemes, rules and regulations needs a serious review. We need a system more in line with student needs and national priorities. That effort would require a significant increase in need-based financial aid and a complete restructuring of the current aid system.

Faculty Resources

While there is no dearth of bright people who are knowledgeable in the front areas of higher education, not all of them can impart their knowledge to intending students in a formal sense. While the reasons for this could historically lie in our social system where people opted to become teachers when they could not find job anywhere else thus lowering the quality of output as well as demeaning the profession, the same would apply less to higher education. Yet, not many good teachers have become teachers because the profession failed to offer job satisfaction, personal growth and economic rewards.

With the economy on the upswing, the opportunities in sectors other than education are more and better for the better educated people. There seems to be a trend for people from academics moving over to greener pastures in business and industry. Those who are staying back definitely want that the disparities be reduced. All this amounts to hefty increases in the costs incurred by the institutions in sustaining faculty resources.

Learning

There are disturbing reports that many students who do earn degrees have not actually mastered the reading, writing, and thinking skills expected of college graduates. Over the past decade, literacy among college graduates has actually declined. The evidence shows that the quality of student learning at Indian colleges and   universities is inadequate and, in some cases, declining. A number of recent   studies highlight the shortcomings of higher education institutions in everything from graduation rates and time to degree to learning outcomes and even core literacy skills.

Unacceptable numbers of college graduates enter the workforce without the skills employers say they need. These shortcomings have real-world consequences. Employers report repeatedly that many new graduates they hire are not prepared to work, lacking the critical thinking, writing and problem-solving skills needed in today’s workplaces.

Transparency and Accountability

There is a remarkable shortage of clear, accessible information about crucial aspects of Indian colleges and universities, from financial aid to graduation rates. Because data systems are so limited and inadequate, it is hard for policymakers to obtain reliable information on students’ progress through the educational pipeline. This lack of useful data and accountability hinders policymakers and the public from making informed decisions and prevents higher education from demonstrating its contribution to the public good.

Universities must become more transparent about cost, price, and student success outcomes, and must willingly share this information with students and families. Student achievement, which is inextricably connected to institutional success, must be measured by institutions on a “value-added” basis that takes into account students’ academic baseline when assessing their results.

Innovation

Too many of our universities have not embraced opportunities to be entrepreneurial, from testing new methods of teaching and content delivery to meeting the increased demand for lifelong learning. For their part, state and national policymakers have also failed to make supporting innovation a priority. Accreditation supports adherence to norms.

There are numerous barriers to investment in innovation-risk hampering the ability of educational institutions to address national workforce needs and compete in the global marketplace. Too many of our universities have not embraced opportunities to be entrepreneurial, from testing new methods of teaching to providing  logistical support for lifelong  learning and by failing to craft flexible credit-transfer systems that allow students to move easily between different kinds of institutions.

India’s universities need to embrace a culture of continuous innovation and quality improvement. These institutions need to develop new pedagogies, curricula and technologies to improve learning, particularly in the areas of science and mathematics.

Inspiration for this System-Check

There would be some serious and inevitable questions and concerns that may be raised by all those who care for the Indian Higher Education system. These comments could be an agenda for their debate and discussion that could well turn into “A National Dialogue.” Through such a debate, it is our belief that important changes would follow. The result would be institutions and programs that are more nimble, more efficient, and more effective. What the nation would gain is a heightened capacity to compete in the global marketplace. What individuals would gain is full access to educational opportunities that allow them to be lifelong learners, productive workers, and engaged citizens.

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This is Part-2 of the series: Leadership and Management of Institutions of Higher Education

Part-3 of the series follows soon

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Already published- Part-1: Setting Priorities for Indian Universities 

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