‘Education policy out of step with times’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: Painting a bleak picture of the higher education scenario in India, an industry report pointed out that its gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 16% was much below the world average of 27%. 90% of colleges were average or below average in 2010, on the basis of their NAAC accreditation, the report says. 
    The higher education sector is plagued with various challenges such as low GER and lack of quality research and education, said the report ‘Higher Education in India: Twelfth Five Year Plan and Beyond’’ by Planning Commission-FICCI-Ernst & Young. This situation is compounded by 11% increase in student enrolment in higher education and a 9% growth in institutions during the last decade, it added. 
    Speaking on the issue, minister of state (MoS) for HRD Shashi Tharoor said that the university system was not producing “well-educated” graduates to meet needs of Indian companies, giving an opportunity to firms to enter the sector in the “guise” of training. 
    He also said that the national education policy in the past has been out of step with the times. “The major problem remains that our national education policy in the past has remained out of step with the time. Whereas countries in the Middle-East and China are going out of their way to woo foreign universities to set up campuses in their countries, India turned away many academic suitors who have come calling in recent years,” he said. 
    Speaking at a two-day higher education summit, Tharoor said, “Companies are entering the higher education space in the guise of training. Our university system simply is not producing well educated graduates to meet the needs of Indian companies today.” 
    The minister said there will be no need for many Indian students to go abroad to study if good higher education institutes were set up in the country. “We will also work towards putting our reform agenda back on track.” 
    He addedthat there is a proposal to establish 50 centres for research in frontier areas of science, design innovation centres, innovation centres in different universities and also research parts of the IITs and other technical institutions. “If finally established, it would transform the research environment in our country,” he said.


Source::::: The Times of India, 06-11-2012, p.11. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW