The university grants commission has admitted in a recent report that it gave to HRD Minister Arjun Singh that one half of the students who pass the class xii or school leaving examination, do not enter colleges or the higher education sector, and that 90 percent of colleges and nearly 70 percent of the universities all over the country are of middling or poor quality.
The report conducted by UGC's Bangalore based National Assessment and Accreditation council (NAAC) has said that on almost all the indicators, from faculty standards to library facilities, from computer availability to student teacher ratio, the higher education sector is in urgent need of an upgrade.
The quality gap in both universities and colleges is alaraming:25 percent faculty positions in universities remain vacant, 57 percent teachers in colleges do not have either an M PHIL or Ph.D, while there is only one computer for 230 students on an average, in college.
The report, which has been submitted to Prime Minister Dr , Manmohan Singh by HRD Minister Dr. Arjun Singh, is based on a survey on 123 universities and 2956 colleges across India . Approximately 60 percent of these institutions were private and the rest government-run.
The institutions participated on a voluntary basis. And the parameters were based on seven broad parameters including curriculum, teaching, research and consultancy, infrastructure, students support, management and innovative practices.
The data acquired extra significance because there is reported boom in the higher education sector and the possibility of growth expected in the coming years. The numbers of universities have grown from 20 in 1947 to 378 in 2006, colleges from 500 to over 18000 during the same period. But the ground reality is that a little more than 52.61 percent of those who passed the 12th standard get into colleges and universities, says UGC chairman Sukhdeo Thorat.
The dropout rate among Scheduled Tribes is the maximum-61.5 percent followed by Scheduled Castes-51.21 percent and other backward castes, who add up to 50.09 percent.
NAAC's director Mr VS Parsad claimed that they followed a rigorous methodology for each institution which on an average took seven months. This include a self appraisal, a peer view and an independent monitoring. The key findings, according to the report are starting; of the 123 universities, only a third were a good quality, over half were of B grade and a six C grade. Among 2,956 colleges, only 10 percent made the Grade A, 66 percent were B grade and 24 percent C grade.
The UGC authorities felt that there is urgent need to focus on bridging the quality gap between A grade and the rest. The main reason for the quality gap according to them was the availability and quality of facilities and quality of faculty. According to Mr Thorat one of the main reasons behind the quality gap has been under investment in higher education since the 1980s.
Between 1951 and 1980, the government spending on higher education sector grew at the rate of 17 percent, but after 1981 to 2003-04, it had shrunk to just 10 percent.
As a result of this UGC has not been in a position to fund 60 percent of the colleges and 40 percent of state universities. If the situation is to improve, UGC will require, with the backing of Human Resources Development Ministry nearly Rs 78,000 crores as funds for the 11 th Five Year Plan.
The Government has at last woken up to the existing lacuna in the system. In the second week of June, it was announced that there will be an equal opportunity office in each university now to ensure that the socially backward get their due in education.
UGC chairman Mr Thorat said on June 11th that this office will administer all schemes meant for OBCs, SCs and STs, Muslims and women in higher education. It will also look into grievances of students from the socially marginalized sections. It was admitted that uptil now SC and ST cells in universities have dealt with teaching staff and not students, except during admission.
Better late than never, the government has allocated Rs 1,920 crores for setting up 16 central universities in states that do not have one so far. The plan was announced by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh very recently. Once these universities are in place the government plans to have two central universities in each state.
The allocation would take care of non-recurring costs like infrastructure and recurring costs like salaries and other yearly expenditures throughout the 11 th plan period. While Rs 60 crores is in non-recurring cost to set up a university, a yearly amount of Rs 12 crores would be made available for five years to take care of the recurring costs
