EDUCATION - THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

Dr. M Anandakrishnan, Vice-Chairman, Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education, on the challenges faced by one of the largest Education systems in the world.

Growth (1947-2000)

- The University level institutions have grown from 20 to 250. 

- The number of colleges has increased from 591 to nearly 11,000.

- The enrollment of students at the tertiary level has grown from 2 lakh to nearly 7 million. 

In Tamil Nadu

Last year, there were about 6 million children in the age group of 6-11 in Primary Schools from Class I – V and about 3.3 million children of 11-14 years of age in the middle Schools (Class VI - VIII).  The enforcement of the Universal Primary Education policy will increase the enrollment in the middle school from 3.3 million to about 6 million in about three years time.  Assuming that the existing trends in the dropout rates will continue, the enrollment of 14 – 16 year olds in High School - Classes IX and X will jump from the present level of 1.6 million to about 3 million and at the Higher Secondary level – Classes XI and XII of the age group 16 – 18 from the present strength of 0.7 million to 1.5 million.  All this will happen in the course of the next five to seven years.

Consequently, the enrollment at the College level in Tamil Nadu will also nearly double from about 4.5 million at present, to about 10 million around 2007.  The all-India trend will also be the same resulting in an enrollment of about 15 million students in the Colleges and Universities.

Implications of Growth

There are many serious implications of the anticipated growth of the Higher Education system in India. There are also several interesting possibilities to successfully manage this growth.  There will be issues of shortage of physical facilities and teachers, to satisfy new demands.  The changing market scenario for College graduates and the rapid transformation in the knowledge and skill contents at the Higher Education stage will further impose additional concerns in maintaining the relevance and quality of the degrees and diplomas.  Though there are various approaches to manage the emerging academic challenges, there are two aspects, which deserve immediate attention – Academic flexibility and International comparability.

Flexibility

The need for flexibility in the Higher Education system arises on account of increasing demand, private sector participation, introduction of revolutionary technologies in the teaching and learning processes, the changing pattern of job markets and the wide range of institutional models for obtaining degrees and diplomas.  The revolutions in the Information Technology, easy access to Computers and Internet, ability to handle very large groups of learners simultaneously have increased the options for growth needs of higher education system.

All this requires a change in the conventional wisdom on the organization of educational activities and overcoming constraints of outdated academic statutes, regulations and procedures.  The manifestations of academic flexibility may occur in one or more of the following ways.

• Increased flexibility for cross-disciplinary learning among arts, humanities, sciences and engineering.
• Greater scope for developing the inner talents and skills of individuals beyond the rigid requirements of degrees and diplomas.
• Acceptability of new combinations of classroom-based contact lessons and off-campus remote and virtual courses for fulfilling academic requirements of degrees and diplomas.
• Improved content to stimulate the creative and innovative talents of learners.
• New forms of academic credits and their transferability between disciplines and institutions.
• Modular and decentralized learning and opportunities to learn at different paces for the same curriculum.
• Consortia approaches to offering degree and diploma programmes.

International Comparability

The process of internationalization of higher education is inevitable.  It is shaping up the educational experiences in ways that were unknown only a few years back.  There are many new models that are being tried out through international educational collaborations.  The various approaches to internationalization include tertiary programmes, off-campus distance learning, virtual Universities, franchised courses and so on.

The need for new forms of accreditation procedures and standards is becoming an urgent necessity not only for our Educational institutions in the formal system, but also for various other informal and flexible systems.  The occasions for international comparison between institutions, between degrees from different institutions and the expectations on performance of these institutions are vastly growing.  Our academicians, Educational administrators and managements would do well to participate and influence these new approaches to maintain international comparability.

Continuity of Learning

Students should be alert to the necessity for constantly refurbishing their knowledge and training, which they acquired for their degree.  The process of renewal and fortification of knowledge will at times require the ability to embark on new domains and disciplines unheard of before.

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