The Goal: Education has always been associated with higher achievement
in life. Aesthetics, Health, Wealth, and Kingdoms could be created &
experienced by an educated mind. Ancient
India gave highest regards to teachers by addressing them as Guru. A Guru is one who dispels darkness by
enlightening human mind.
Innovation vs. Tradition: Couple of decades ago India allowed private
capital into setting up of higher education Institutes & Universities. AICTE & other regulatory bodies were
created to oversee the quality of education so that suitably trained human
resources are made available for nation building activities. The initial focus
of this move went into creation of capacity in Engineering, Medical &
Management field. This led to proliferation of large number of Education Enterprises
across length & width of India. Since Indian society do not encourage
independent original thinking therefore everything
new can only be allowed if there is enough evidence of its existence somewhere else
on the planet.
Wrong biz model: India is a land of happy number two unlike some
other cultures that encourage & reward original thinking & innovation. So
to justify the case for privatization of higher education, the success of privately
managed US universities were cited. Our bureaucracy
did not bother to study the financial model for independently funded higher
education institutes. It’s criminal to allow
such institutes to meet their finances entirely from students’ contribution. Did the Babus in government borrow the model
from infamous tuition shops in India? Receipts from tuition fee do not make
more than 20-30 percent of the revenue of such higher education institutes in
the world. They have other fund raising routes & the head of institution spends
most of his time on raising funds leaving academics to the faculty.
Private vs. Public: A society needs to invest in education for sake
of its future. No reasonable country leaves the task of educating its citizens
to parents alone. That’s why Indian govt too provides free compulsory school
education to all citizens. Why the same government
does not rationalize the financing of higher-ed institutions in India? This has
led to deterioration in quality of education and entry of questionable people as
promoters in this critical sector. For instance if you look at the profile of
such institutes you shall find that most promoters themselves have had no
education at all and they do not understand the value of core purpose of
education which is to enlighten a mind. So many of such institutes have names
from our ancient past that shows how much freedom such institutes would allow
to students & faculty to prepare for a better future.
Education & Employment: Student in India struggle to enroll in
courses & schools that could ensure them a campus placement since employment
scene in India is getting darker by the day. Rise of IT sector in India led to
large number of students opting for IT related courses. Investments in infra sector attracted
students to go for civil & mechanical courses. MBA had emerged as all
encompassing route to enter corporate sector which changed many lives in a
significant manner. Architecture courses
attract many looking forward to join construction design boom. Medical education
in private sector has expanded a lot despite many controversies. Even after more than a decade of opening up
of this sector the craze for government & autonomous higher education
institutes have not diminished. B.Tech & MBA seem to have lost their attraction as
reflected in dwindling admissions in private universities & institutes.
B.Sc or B.Tech? Why the students have begun to opt for traditional
of B.com or B.Sc instead of B.Tech or BBA/BCA? Why Industry has refused to
offer higher salary to MBA grads in comparison to other courses. It wouldn’t be inappropriate to mention that
they syllabi & teaching methodology of B.Sc courses & B.Tech is exactly
same. Even the hallowed IITs teach
Engineering science rather than technology. There is hardly a privately funded
institute that is treating B.Tech program as a technology course. So a student
has the option to enroll in a B.Sc course rather than wasting time & money
on a B.Tech program. Market forces have played out and student enrollment in
B.Tech courses have fallen in 2012.
MBA Edge: As the industry left Hindu rate of growth behind and economy
began chugging along with an unprecedented 8 plus growth rate millions of jobs
in corporate sector were created. The corporate began recruiting MBAs in 1990s
on higher salaries in droves. This fuelled mushroom growth of MBA institutes
across India. Unfortunately an MBA from an average institute cannot find a job these
days so new admissions have become a challenge.
Experience vs. Degree for Faculty: MBA has lost its sheen primarily
for the same reason which led to unpopularity of B.Tech program which is lack
of suitable faculty. B.Tech & MBA courses
require industry experienced faulty with or without a master degree or PhD. AICTE dominated by academicians from public
funded institutes cannot appreciate difference in approach to teaching of B.Sc & B.Tech course. MBA is taught by faculty
that can handle MA Eco or M.Com courses. So what’s the difference in the two programs? A B.Tech with 10 years of engineering experience
would be an excellent replacement for an Engineering professor with PhD.
No institute can guarantee a job
unless economy starts gaining momentum once again. Main purpose of education is
to open a mind and develop new skills of an individual. Unless an institute
gets down to teaching courses in right manner it would find difficult to
survive in mid to long run. And students who could master appropriate skills
& attitude would not find it difficult to get a great invitation to put
their learning to test.
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