Institutional autonomy for Institutions of Eminence

                                                Institutional autonomy for Institutions of Eminence

I had written many times in the past about the status of higher education in India. There have been many experts, academicians, parliamentarians and administrators of higher education who have frequently deliberated on the basic question: “What has gone wrong with Higher education in India.” Many wise suggestions have been given both in the form of articles and oral presentations in seminars that are frequently convened to discuss this question. Yet strangely we have not moved forward and continue to wrestle with the same problem with no plausible solution in sight. The government’s decision to promote Institutions of Eminence (IOE) and provide them financial support to the tune of Rs.1000 crores per selected institution besides granting them administrative and financial autonomy is a step in the right direction.

What I propose to say in this article is not rocket science, but in simple terms, with the wisdom hindsight of more than four decades of teaching graduate and post graduate classes, I shall give a few suggestions that I feel are practicable and implementable. I do hasten to add that these are not the last hundred odd words on this subject. But this is like a storyboard of 15 panels upon which a new narrative of our university education can be written.

1. Bring back meritocracy as the only criterion in the selection of faculty members, the Vice-Chancellors and Principals of colleges affiliated to these Universities of Eminence. Even if one may sound politically incorrect, it merits consideration to disallow quota reservation for selection to these posts.  Teachers are the pivot on which the society turns. They have the onerous responsibility for the promotion of citizenship in young men and women to take on the reins of the society in the near future. This is not an exaggerated idea of a teacher. Just as we take special care to bring up our own children in a holistic way, teachers shoulder the huge responsibility to develop the future citizens of the country. A lot depends upon their knowledge, their conduct, their commitment and their being an inspirational role model for the young to emulate. This is not being idealistic because what I have written is borne from my personal experience.

 Six decades back, when we were students first in school and later in college, we had the  good fortune to study under some of the most erudite professors who complemented their robust and profound scholarship with their admirable deportment, polished diction, rectitude, propriety and formal attire. Even the school teacher with his coat and turban commanded great respect and obedience from his pupils in those days. The teachers in colleges and universities earned our respect not only by their inspired teaching but by their sheer presence in the class.  Punctual to the last second, they came, they taught and they conquered us. We were mentored and shaped by the correctness of their conduct and by their encyclopedic knowledge. Professors were ready to take questions from us and answer what Jacob Bronowski in his compelling book The Ascent of Man says: “the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer" Today we hear a lot about inter disciplinary learning, but unfortunately with no focus either on breadth or on depth of learning. There are very few academics who can make cross disciplinary references to give a wholesome understanding of the taught subject. If my personal example is not mistaken as nostalgic exaggeration, I affirm that the lectures I received in my college days kindled in me a love for knowledge that has not been extinguished till today.  They were vintage lectures that related literature to art, history, sociology, politics, philosophy and the sciences-in short lectures that spanned the entire realm of knowledge.  When I started teaching, I brought before me the image of my professor and recalled how he made even a complex poem like the Wasteland with its innumerable classical and Biblical allusions simple and easy of comprehension. That is the mark of a truly great scholar and unless we accommodate such professors in IOEs, we may fail to provide quality education to our young men and women.

This  brings me back to the proposition I had made that no consideration other than merit should be the sole criterion in the selection of faculty members at all levels of higher education and in particular, to the IOEs. It may seem politically incorrect, but the teaching profession should be an exception to quota based reservation. It is to be merit based. It is the same merit that is to be given recognition in the selection of Vice Chancellors and Principals who head the universities and colleges. For this purpose, the columns on caste and physically challenged in the application form are to be deleted. The focus should rest on the applicant’s academic achievements and his/her vision for quality improvement in higher education irrespective of his/her caste and physical disability.

2. Enhancement of salary for the academics in universities and colleges. If we need to get the best brains into our academic institutions, salary should be negotiable. This means let there be a bold initiative to do away with pay scales and let them be replaced by consolidated amount after negotiations with the selected faculty.  It should not be misunderstood that any assistant professor will get the same or higher emoluments than the associate professors and professors. There has to be an upper limit in fixing the pay for each grade. Other facilities like health, transport laboratory and library expenditure, pension etc should be on par with class I service scale.

3. Free mobility of researchers between university to university or dept to dept, college to college or from universities to IIMs and IITs must be permitted. This kind of openness and fluid movement will help produce quality research.

4. Teaching schedules have to be reworked. The present quantitative limit like 16-18 periods for an assistant professor and a graded decrease in teaching hours for associate professors and professors have made university education function like tutorial colleges, leaving no scope for self study by the students. The teachers also are left with no time to pursue research and advanced learning. The faculty should be asked to submit in advance before the start of every academic session their course design and structure, the outline of their proposed lectures @ two per week, the themes for fortnightly seminar discussions and weekly tutorial topics related to their course. The present system of curriculum change as a separate exercise to be undertaken once in five years that stretches often to another two more years subject to clearance by the Academic Council, followed by the Executive Council is antediluvian. We are in an age of knowledge explosion. New subjects built on the older disciplines like Cyber security, Nano sciences, new Nobel prize winning Economic theories like Game Theory, Asymmetric Information, Public Choice theory, Management of Common Pool resources, Behavioural Economics etc have to be introduced. The academic autonomy to be given to IOE should make it possible for faculty in every discipline to structure new courses and to upgrade existing courses. The lectures should be broad in their sweep and sufficiently deep in content that will arouse the curiosity of the student to learn more through self study. The faculty should be available in their cubicles for students to clear their doubts. Instead of quantifying 16 periods and making it compulsory for teachers to stay in the campus for four hours, this will enable the teachers to be present for longer hours and pursue their own research work besides helping the students outside the class hours. Also making capsule lectures that include the latest advanced research findings is different and demands a new pedagogy from what is being attempted through the present spoon feeding methods in a class room. As the Hebrew proverb says “Do not confine your children to your own learning for they were born in another time.”

5.What is needed is teachers with a liberal arts background irrespective of their chosen disciplines in Science, Social science, Arts or Commerce to teach undergraduate classes. Unless students are exposed to inter disciplinary and cross cultural studies, they will not be able to prepare for a graduate/professional program which benefits from undergraduate study across disciplines. It is important to do away with traditional single discipline major and replace it by an individualized inter disciplinary major. For example, a student desiring to pursue Law in post graduation can take up courses on Legal Administration, English and Political Science or a combination of any three from History, Psychology, Sociology and Political Philosophy.

It is preferable to have a minimum of three Minor for each individualized Major with one in Arts and one in Science. Mathematics, Finance and Economics is a possible combination for one who wishes to take up Acturial Science as his Major.  CreativeWriting, Music and Philosophy/ Sociology should be available for those interested in taking Theatre Arts as their major. Any three out of Journalism, Cinema Studies and Sociology/ Literature/ Political Theory can be offered for  those wanting to major in Mass Communications. Similarly those wanting to major in  Bio -Ethics can take Biology, Philosophy and Psychology, while for Bio-Humanities, the combination can be from Biology, English and Sports Sciences/Natural Sciences/psychology. Faculties should sit and design combination courses to enable a student get adequate knowledge of the discipline chosen as Major alongside allied subjects chosen as Minor.

6.Instead of insisting on NET examination as is the current requirement, those wanting to join teaching profession should take up an examination in three subjects of their choice.  After selection, they shall undergo a six week course in World Book Series where they will be  given lectures on seminal books on Arts and  Sciences, Social Sciences, Management and Law – classics that have shaped human thought over the centuries. This course should also expose them to Music and Dance appreciation, Fiction appreciation, Theatre appreciation and Arts appreciation. Such training enables  the new faculty members to integrate knowledge of different disciplines, art, culture and history  and to look at knowledge as one whole and not as compartments.  “We must give more attention to the interplay between the science of teaching – pedagogy – and the art of teaching… A teacher must be anchored in pedagogy and blend imagination, creativity and inspiration into the teaching learning process to ignite a passion for learning in student.” (Peyton Williams)

7. Faculty members will be made tenured faculty on the basis of their teaching, mentoring and personal research work. Students’ assessment of the faculty members shall be a key part of this rigour. The assessment must be made with reference to the teacher’s knowledge, his/her articulation punctuality, mentoring ability, availability for the students and above all his/ her conduct and behaviour.

8. The IOEs should be very selective in the admission of students. Admission to IOE will have to be through a written examination and an interview. There is no need to insist on what grades they had secured in the school final examinations. The selection has to be based on the aptitude and potential of the student wanting to pursue academic studies and research.  With good grades in their first degree, they are eligible to join the post graduate and doctoral programmes wherever they wish to apply and wherever they meet the eligibility requirement for such programmes. Again the admission to IOEs has to put aside reservations.

9. Since the Government is ready to finance up to Rs.1000 crores for each institution under the IOE category, top class research facilities should be provided for the faculty and the students. The best of faculty and researchers from abroad should be made visiting faculty to teach students and train our faculty members. Mutual arrangements to exchange faculty members between institutions abroad and IOEs must be made. Knowledge and research are not the prerogative of a few institutions; they have to be shared for advancement of knowledge.

10. Examinations have to be in the form of continuous assessment of paper presentation, seminar participation, tutorial assignments and one final examination at the end of the year. This means the final examination is on what had been taught for the whole year and not as examined at present every semester. Knowledge must  be in the mode of continuity and not like the present stand alone semester. There has to be for every course, a group of 3-4 faculty members who will jointly examine the students’ assignments and evaluate their seminar papers to ensure a fair and just assessment. For quality learning that is wholesome, it will be better to give up semester system and switch back to annual year mode.

11.A proverb in Tamil says: Ettu Surakkai karikku udavadu i.e., A picture of a gourd (the vegetable) is not useful to cook with. It means simple theoretical knowledge alone will not help in real life practical situations. We need both theoretical knowledge and application of that knowledge for new ideas geared towards the welfare and for the betterment of life for the vast millions in the country. It is a known fact that what is invented by 1%of the population is enjoyed by the rest of the 99% in the society. So the need for proper industry- academia interface is a must, as a part of higher education.. But it has to be different from is what is attempted today, where students of a few professional colleges are  mandated to go for internship and spend a few weeks to get a certificate of attendance without getting any professional skill or competence to meet the requirement of the job market.       The Japanese model of combining theory and application is to give students half a day in the college/ university to learn the fundamentals of theory and the second half at the industrial site/organization  for  training. This practice is to be followed only at the UG level.

12. Residential complex to house both faculty and students is to be given top priority. Nothing is more satisfying than learning to live together and have time and opportunity to take part in extra- curricular activities beyond class hours. It also helps the students to hone their inter- personal skills. If students of both genders stay together, it will be an effective way of putting a stop to gender discrimination and other unseemly activities like stalking, molesting and raping of young women. Residential living for both faculty and students must be mandatory. This is the adoption of Gurukul practice of our ancient times in a modern setting. Faculty and students eat together in the mess, mix with each other in the Common room, watch Television as a group and all these  build up the camaraderie of institutional life.

13. IOE students should serve at the least for six months in tribal and rural areas to be eligible for a         degree.

14. Scholarships for those who do not have the means to pay the course fees should be given in the form of fee waivers in addition to a minimum monetary support for their living expenses. They should have free access to internet both int heir rooms and in the library. The library should be open till late at night to enable students to study. This,nter alia, is the greatest advantage of being in university residences.

15. Industries should be approached to set up chairs and provide money for research related to their products. Pharmaceutical industry, IT industry, Construction firms, Nutrition departments of hotels and hospitals, Mechanical and Aviation sectors must be asked to provide money for advanced research in their fields. The patents will be in the name of the researcher and the industry that sponsored him/her.

 These are a few suggestions- and there can be many more. IOE is not just an ideal to be dreamed, but a reality to be established. If IOEs have to be a distinct group of institutions, they have to be given academic, administrative and financial autonomy. In the words of Infosys Founder Mr.Narayana Murthy on the importance of academic autonomy: “I think, my own personal view is there should be higher and higher levels of autonomy; government should not interfere in setting up colleges, in running colleges. The market, the society will decide which is a good university, which is not a good university, rather than government mandating”. While I subscribe to his views on academic autonomy, for a huge nation like India, the government proposal to set up IOEs is of as great value as Pt.Nehru’s visionary launching of IITs, IIMs, and institutions like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research developed hundreds and thousands of engineers, scientists, technocrats, and managers, but once established, the running and functioning of the institutions should be on the basis of BOT- build-operate and transfer model where the Government sets up the infrastructure with financial grant and transfer it to the academia to develop, design, structure, provide education at university standard, provide facilities for, study and research; encourage the advancement and development of knowledge, and its application to government, industry, commerce and the community. Functional, financial, academic autonomy should be the cornerstone  of Universities and Institutions of excellence.