User talk:Dr. Ramakanta Bal

'Knowledge-based Economy: India’s 21st Century Higher Education System'

Education develops the intellect; and the intellect distinguishes man from other creatures. It is education that enables man to harness nature and utilize her resources for the well-being and improvement of his life. The key for the betterment and completeness of modern living is education. But, ‘Man cannot live by bread alone ‘. Man, after all, is also composed of intellect and soul. Therefore, education in general, and higher education in particular, must aim to provide, beyond the physical, food for the intellect and soul. That education which ignores man's intrinsic nature, and neglects his intellect and reasoning power can not be considered true education: Haile Selassie

Higher Education is recognized as the driving force for the economic and technological development of a nation. India is rushing toward economic success and modernization on high-tech industries such as information technology and biotechnology to drive the nation to prosperity. Higher education plays an important role in case of all three major sectors such as agriculture, industry and services. The higher education in India is at crossroad. Prof. K. V. Subramanian says that the 21st century higher education is substantially important for India both in terms of complexity of the systems and also in terms of its utility for converting education into an effective method for cultural and economic changes. Recently Peter Drucker says India is becoming a economic power house and its progress is very fast and more impressive even than the China Unfortunately, India’s higher education system is neglected today and this is a matter of concern. A recent study labeled India as a world-class country without a world-class higher education system. India’s higher Institutes neither produce world-class researchers nor many highly trained scientists/managers to sustain the needs of India’s fast growing, developing nation, aiming to become a developed country in the shortest possible time.

In case of higher education India is competing with Japan, China, Singapore and South Korea. China is investing large amounts bring higher education research to a world-class level. China, Singapore and South Korea are establishing separately few research universities on par with world-class research. Recently London Times ranking of world’s top 200 universities included 53 in USA, 23 in UK, 9 in Japan, 6 in China, 2 in Hong Kong, 2 in South Korea, 1 in Taiwan and 3 in India (IIT, IIM and JNU).

Without sophisticated research it is almost impossible to propel the nation to prosperity. Contemporary large-scale development requires a sophisticated knowledge–based economy. India has chosen the path of knowledge-based economy but it will face the music unless it develops higher education research into world-class level.

India has large number of higher education institutes and also it is the third largest in the world in student numbers, after China and United States. It has a long academic tradition and academic freedom. There are very few high quality institutions in India that can form the basis of quality in higher education.

Only 10 percent of India’s young students enter higher education. It is very low number by international standards, compared to more than 50 percent in the major industrialized countries as Prof. P. G. Altbach mention in his recent article “A World-Class Country Without World-Class Higher Education: India’s 21st Century Dilemma”. Most of the academic system in India is of modest quality at best. Only a few of the Indian Universities occupy a position at an international level. There are a small number of outstanding under graduate colleges in India.

World-class institutes are mainly limited to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the India Institute of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian/International Institute of Information Technology (IIITs), National Institute of Technology (NITs) and few others such as the Indian school of Business (ISB), the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

The worry is that only few Indians are thinking creatively about knowledge-based economy in 21st century. According to Prof. Altbach, India needs enough world-class universities/institutes that not only produce bright graduates for export but can also support sophisticated research to on going development of the country.

India’s knowledge-based economy is struggling to establish a standard higher education. The newly emerging private sectors are maintaining reasonably high standards but it is doubtful that these institutions will be able to sustain in themselves in long run. Most of the private institutes are reluctant to invest in the higher education research. Only public universities or institutions have the potential to be world-class institutes in India. These public institutions/universities require enough funding from Government sources.

World-class institutes required world-class teachers, world-class students and world-class infrastructures. According to Prof. Arun Nigavekar, “The 21st century is a century of knowledge but our teachers …should know that the whole world today is talking of knowledge-linked economy and knowledge itself is treated as a unity of currency.” The public institutions should increase the salary of the teachers. Bright students should have encouraged with enough scholarships. Premier institutions should receive significantly greater resources than other universities.

It is not possible for India to establish number of world-class institutions. India needs to create a dozen of universities that can compete internationally. Without world-class universities and world-class research India will remain economically and scientifically backward.

Dr. RAMAKANTA BAL, ICFAI UNIVERSITY, 6TH FLOOR, ASTRAL HEIGHTS, HYDERABAD-500034 INDIA, E-mail:ramakanta_b@yahoo.com Phone:+919441227436