PREPARING INSTITUTIONS TO MEET THE FUTURE CHALLENGES
At this stage of national development, people as well as institutions of education are facing unprecedented challenges. These challenges are not only in quantitative terms but also in qualitative content. What was once unimaginable has already come to pass; and what is now existing will transform still further in less than twenty years, in ways, we cannot fully imagine or fully grasp today. Not only will new technologies and new generations of goods and services come into usage but social institutions, organizational structure, and economic systems will also undergo revolutionary changes. Although globalization has not left any field untouched, and what is remote, unique, and untouched by ‘foreign’ influences will be under tremendous pressure to change inorder to conform to global patterns. Scientists, technologists, experts in informatics and environmentalists have been describing the world as a global village.
When profound techno- economic and socio-cultural changes are taking place at a rapid rate globally, it is imperative to take steps to prepare Indian Society to adjust to these changes and survive as a viable system. In this context, it is high time to act immediately since the development of infrastructure, evolution, and adaptation of technologies and establishment of management systems would take considerable time. As far as India is concerned, like every other countries, has already started the journey. Hence, it is sure that the future is likely to be different from the contemporary reality because the attempts taken will shape the future events globally in general and India in particular. The boundary of knowledge is ever enlarging on learning new facts, correcting wrong views, updating relevant facts and shedding obsolete ones. In such circumstances, it would be prudent to start perspective planning in relation to education, initially with outlining the contours of various segments of education, particularly undergraduate and postgraduate education, within the frame work of what passes for higher education or general education, technical education, Management education, Medical, Agricultural or Vocational education, will assume in the coming two or three decades. The important thing is not so much to work out the precise details of what is likely to transpire but to understand the dimensional magnitudes and the qualitative orientation of the changes that are likely to take place in future.
Planning for education is relatively a much more complex task. This is because education encompasses multifarious objectives ranging from the development of physical, mental, and intellectual abilities of the participants to the creation in them the capability to learn on their own, from empirical experience, intuitive perception, and speculative thought. Moreover, education is also concerned with the inculcation of values among the participants. All these attributes eventually contribute to the development of a capability and a dynamic world-view that reacts with the demands of an ever-changing physical, technological and social environment.
With regard to the technologies, they are changing much more rapidly and radically than ever before. These changes are not only with regard to the tools, the infrastructure and of work related activities but also in organizational structures, demographic profiles and even the concepts associated with national identity and sovereignty.
If the challenges of the coming decades are going to be quantitatively as well as qualitatively different from contemporary challenges then the process and contents of education too will have to be significantly different from what these are today. Obviously, the education system has to train students not only for the present, it has to prepare them essentially to meet the challenges of the future. In this context, it is noteworthy that the front line thinkers in many disciplines are proposing that hereafter research degrees should have a validity of five years so that revalidation would have to be sought through a suitable refresher/ reorientation course reappraisal.
Thinking on these lines is no longer in the realm of speculation. Already the mechanics of collecting, documenting, accessing, and deliberating over knowledge have begun to undergo a radical change. One can see the millions of people using television, facsimile, E-mail, internet, Cyber-space, and other satellite based communication and technologies. Today technology facilitates access to information that was once constrained by the boundaries. The percentage of people involved in primary secondary and tertiary activities has undergone a change as compared to the people in the previous decade. However, this percentage is not enough, and steps should be taken for further progress.
The governments and their agencies play a vital role with regard to either organizing or financing or legitimizing the educational institution and their degrees. Many institutions are intimately interlinked with other institutions across the globe through joint programmes of research, teaching and accreditation. The concept of an international college and international university has already come to stay. One of the most important and game changing trend in higher education today is the consumers reaping the benefits of globalization. Changes spanning all sectors are able to make these changes.
Already there exists a number of private, voluntary but well- organized and effective work of testing and certification agencies, with credibility. Although, a large scale of diversification of educational programmes, for full time or part time students, with different durations, different pre- requisite requirements, different combinations of theory and practice and different vocational orientation exist under the auspices of a great variety of educational institutions, this should be encouraged and expanded further more. As a basic condition, it is necessary to achieve full autonomy for the institution for their efficient functioning.
Despite the problems that exist in many areas, education continues to be almost in water-tight compartments, in a vertical hierarchy, as primary, secondary, higher secondary, under graduate, and post graduate education, and in horizontal terms, as general, vocational, polytechnic, technical, management, medical, agriculture etc. These varied classification of educational activities which are self-evident in their inter dependence, should be encouraged for interaction. Students should be encouraged to do inter-disciplinary work by explaining to them their advantages and necessity. Interdisciplinary courses are necessary for students to work in other areas too. In order to relate education to the world of work, structure and content of the courses should be modified and specialized knowledge and skill should be provided for students. It is important that specialization and built-in flexibility to get adjusted with any related area of work would be to meet the demands for future development.
Given the role of education as a facilitator for social and cultural change as well as a means for acquiring the knowledge and skill for pursuing various vocations and professions, it is likely that progress towards universalization of elementary education will inevitably lead to significantly larger numbers moving from primary to secondary, secondary to higher secondary, higher secondary to under- graduate and under-graduate to post-graduate education. In other words, there would be more number of aspirants at all these levels in future.
In this context, the future of the society should also be seen from the standpoint of its requirements for its sustenance and development. The society requires an increasing number of educated people in future to find employment in knowledge-based industries for the production and distribution of goods and services. This dream has been partially realized, however, there is a long way to go. In order to realize the potential of knowledge- based activities personnel have to be trained in sufficient numbers. Already there is a dearth of people for knowledge as well as specific skill-oriented activities and hence there is urgency in initiating programmes to meet the requirements. The magnitude of change is so fast that changes should be made without further delay, if we have to take our place in the comity of nation. Moreover, University/colleges and industries should work together and be made compulsory for mutual benefits and for national interest. Moreover, applied research should be maximized in collaboration with industry which will also help generate income and productivity.
Education in general and higher education in particular is undergoing a rapid transformation propelled by a number of factors. It has now become the responsibility of the educationists to position our education institutions especially the universities to adapt to the emerging new trend. Technology as a key component ensures easy accessibility to those who aspire for higher education. Higher education has a strong future by expanding the top quality education globally. Education has the ability to expand opportunity and change lives. In fact, quality education has the potential to raise the standard of living of people and increase the global prosperity. Hence, it is imperative to broaden the access to education through colleges and university globally. UNESCO and WORLD BANK attest that it is graduates who are the principal drivers of economic development of the nations; and they design and build infrastructure, establish education systems, create job across all sectors of the economy. Higher education thus has profound impact on improving the standard of living of the people both in developing and developed countries.
Non-formal system of education should also be developed faster in order to meet with the increasing demand for higher education
The quality of education is another factor that should be taken care of by the government. Quality of excellence should be maintained at any cost. In order to maintain the quality, merit should be the criteria of selection for the teachers, students and other functionaries; and the institution should have its own selection process and procedures in accordance with international standard.
Module based fee structure should be prescribed. More and more of modular courses with less rigidity in rules and procedures should be introduced to provide maximum flexibility. A thorough analysis is necessary to know whether our institutions are equipped to meet the new challenges, its strengths and weakness, and the opportunities, to arrive at a conclusion. These conclusions would become the starting point for the required and projected changes.
Our present system of education has many outdated procedures which requires certain changes. Some of the areas that require immediate attention are as follows.
- Decision making process should undergo a change to make them quick and capable of being implemented smoothly and eficiently.
- Availability of equipments as well as teaching and research facilities should be in high quality and maximum return should be ensured before investment.
- Appointments and all service matters should be made on merit basis.
- Budgeting, allocation and monitoring should be done on scientific norms and transparency should be ensured.