Education is the process by which a person learns facts and skills and develops abilities and attitudes. More specifically, education denotes the methods by which a society passes its acquired knowledge, culture and values from one generation to the next. An educated individual undergoes physical, mental, emotional, moral and social development. This can be accomplished with the help of teachers, families, and other social institutions.

The philosophy of education includes precise thinking, speaking and writing capabilities. It seeks to aware people on important issues so that they can evaluate a particular situation. Analytical philosophers maintain that the philosophy of education explains the various approaches to the subject. The field includes a broad area of study. The philosophy and history of education are intrinsically connected and cannot be distinguished from each other.

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Many philosophers argue that educational philosophy must lead to the improvement of educational decisions, policies, values and methods. It is particularly concerned with the relationship between educational theory and practice, whereby theory is applied and tested in practice, which in turn improves theory.

It is often said that the quality of higher education in India is deteriorating with its quantitative expansion. Compared to other countries, very few colleges in India maintain satisfactory academic standards. One of the evidences cited by critics to back this statement is that nowadays the college and university pass outs are unable to express themselves properly. It is being argued that the depth of knowledge in the students of this generation is much less than the earlier generations.

Evaluation process of the students in colleges and universities does not always determine their capabilities. The subjective elements which are linked with the quality determining methods in the education system are often faulty.

A remarkable feature of higher education system post independence in India is the phenomenal growth in its size and spread. Today we have more than 300 universities, 10,000 colleges and over 70 lakh students against 700 colleges, over 15 universities and more than three lakh students in 1947. Today India has the world’s second largest education system. Though the records speak of a huge quantity, the ones on the front of quality are not equally impressive. This is evident from the fact that our degrees are not recognised as equivalent to the developed nations. Another reason is the increasing popularity of the recruitment centres launched by some of the foreign universities in India. Most important of all, India lacks a self-regulatory quality assurance mechanism.

University Grant Commission has taken several initiatives to improve the quality of higher education in the country. Several schemes and programmes of quality improvement have been launched. These are faculty improvement programme, university leadership programme, national educational testing, academic staff college scheme, national assessment and accreditation council among others.

The standard of performance is measured in terms of the attributes of efficiency, effectiveness and excellence. Quality of education depends on the ability to acquire occupational skills and work experiences and realise one’s potential for self development to become a better person in terms of physical, emotional, intellectual, aesthetic and moral character. One must be able to understand and analyse the emerging values of our times such as ecological concern, social harmony, pluralism, secularism and egalitarianism to build a healthy and harmonious society.

There are several processes, policies and factors that have contributed to the decline in the quality of higher education. The reasons may be attributed to processes like massification, commercialisation and politicising education. Populist policies like scholarships in the name of social justice, policy of privatisation, treating higher education as a luxury, system of affiliated colleges, outmoded examination system, emergence of unions in the academic profession and decline in the professional integrity of the academics.

There has been a massive increase in the number of educational institutions under regional, religious and ethnic compulsions, compromising the quality of these institutions.

Recently a trend of commercialisation of higher education is being witnessed, particularly in the field of scientific, technical and professional education. Earlier government used to provide funds to the growth-oriented faculties and disciplines such as science and technology. But since the 70s’ commercialisation has emerged resulting in decline of standards and accordingly has changed the psyche of students and faculties. It has undetermined the standard stature and influence of teacher in education system as well as in community.

Politicising higher education has done the maximum damage to its quality. It has eliminated the autonomy of the universities leading to loss of accountability. The political interference is evident from the manner in which vice chancellors are appointed, and politicians are nominated as syndicates. Faculty recruitments and promotions are manipulated and the powers of vice-chancellors are curtailed directly by means of financial control by the government over the universities and colleges. All this has taken a heavy toll on the quality of education.

The policy of privatisation is another source of decline in academic standards. Once a private sector sponsors an institution, the former begins to regulate the later. They are not bound to follow the standards set by the academic bodies that they have sponsored. Even the judiciary has permitted them to follow their own norms regarding free and payment seats.

Another policy of the country that is now gaining prominence is the growing negligence of higher education. It is argued that primary education is a necessity where as higher education is luxury. Funds meant for higher education are being cut down and diverted towards primary education. But it needs to be understood that the two are equally important. Primary education shapes basic development but the later is also important for human resource development. To accord priority to one at the expense of the other is anything but rational. It is a cause of serious concern that the allocation of funds for education in India is already low not only in comparison to the developed countries but also to developing countries. Even a poor nation like Thailand spends 10 times more than India on education.

On the top of it, India has now directed universities to generate their own financial resources. Many universities have already taken cue and created payment seats particularly for NRI’s in professional courses. These are the reasons that account for deterioration in the quality of higher education in India. The question is how to reverse the trend and pave the way towards quality upgradation. A formidable challenge by all means, it calls for urgent and serious thinking.

(The writer has a PhD in econometrics)