The Prime Minister’s recent announcement that Rs 10,000 crore would be allocated to the country’s top 20 universities for their upgrade to global standards may be described as a step forward towards achieving the commitment made by the previous government to set up 20 “world class universities”. It is presumed that 10 private and 10 public institutions of higher learning will be designated “world class institutions deemed to be universities”. It must be conceded, however, that there are uncertainties and misgivings in our Prime Minister’s vision Plans for such upgradation are marked more by political expediency and zeal; they do not reflect the vindication of the people’s will.

There must be some substance in what the Planning Commission’s then Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had said a decade ago at a meeting on higher education ~ “It will take 15-20 years for a new university to achieve world class standards. And world class universities require resources that are way beyond the scope of the government”.

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India has of late slipped in world university rankings, falling from 31 to 30 in the global list of 1000 campuses, as per the latest data published in the Times Higher Education supplement. It is cause for concern that no Higher Education Institution in India finds a slot in the top 20. The excellence of an institution, going by global standards, is measured by the parameters of QS accreditation, namely, academic reputation, employer reputation, student-teacher ratio, citation per faculty, international faculty ratio and the international student ratio. Apart from international rankings, other parameters of judging quality of an HEI are employability and employer satisfaction. A recent survey conducted by World Bank and FICCI revealed that about 64 per cent of Indian employers are not satisfied with the quality of engineering graduates passing out from Indian HEIs.

In view of the fact that Indian universities have drawn a blank in the ratings of the world’s top 100 educational institutions, it is time to consider that if we aim at dominating the global discourse, we need universities that not only create skilled human resources but also encourage indigenous research and development and instil scientific thinking among the people.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has also identified the quality deficit in our higher education system which has paid more attention to access and equity than to quality and excellence. This may well be exemplified by the number of HEIs in our country, constituting the third largest system in the world and comprising 759 universities, which include 47 central universities, 350 state universities, 123 deemed universities and 239 private universities. As of July 2016 enumeration, these institutions produce five million graduates and postgraduates every year. However, the fact remains that even after this exhaustive data, the Gross Enrolment Ratio is only around 20 per cent.

The government had planned to set up 14 central government-run world class universities with the motto of competing with the best higher education institutions across the world. On the contrary, in order to raise enrolment levels in higher education and ensure academic standards, the National Knowledge Commission suggested the restructuring of large universities into smaller ones and allowing autonomous colleges to expand to universities.

Things appear shabbier still if one cares to look at the present educational scenario, unmistakably characterised by laxity and financial constraints. Does the government have the required funds and the will to implement the envisaged plans, the required vision and perspective to give meaning and relevance to them? Experience does suggest that the so-called “inflation” of the establishment in the field of higher education without a clear perspective of its role in terms of growth, has turned out to be hazardous both for the health of education and the development of society. The drive for literacy as an absolute measure of welfare, the universalisation of primary and secondary education undertaken as a welfare measure is to be welcomed. But expansion of higher education without ensuring the desirable quantum, quality and the kind of output to be received by society, is questionable. The society of course requires philosophers and scientists oriented towards the inculcation of values.

But for that we have enough universities in India. What we need today is the acceptance of the modern perception of the university’s role which ought to be focused on utilitarian interpretation tempered by social idealism. After Independence, the department of education, set up in 1945, was converted to a ministry of education. The University Education Commission (1948-49) recommended rapid expansion of higher education “on a priority basis” and the period from 1947 to 1950 saw the establishment of seven new universities. Since then, there has been a phenomenal growth of higher education. But sadly, in the garb of quantitative expansion, there has been a total qualitative failure.

This is evident from the huge pool of educated persons who are unemployable. This, in turn, points to a low standard of education. There is admittedly a state of near anarchy even in the administration of existing facilities leading to social tensions and mediocrity of output. Much of this is traceable to ethical, moral and social values being divorced from the educational process.

This can have far-reaching consequences on the quality of manpower which holds the key to our country’s progress, In fact, the expansion of higher education has been the most important post-war trend, regardless of the political system, the level of economic development, or educational ideology. It had expanded dramatically first in the USA, then in Europe and currently the main focus of expansion is the Third World.

The higher education scenario in India today can be compared to the post-war situation in the UK, when new universities were set up to meet the genuine demand which Oxford and Cambridge would not supply. It was marked by lack of financial resources and circumscribed by a dearth of intelligent students. In general, these universities came into being in a haphazard manner in response to certain societal needs.

(The writer is former Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Gurudas College, Kolkata)