Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Higher Education: NR Narayana Murthy’s Prescriptions

Posted : December 26, 2005 at 8:54 pm [IST]

In a world of knowledge and human capital, technically India should be among the top ten nations in the world. India has a tradition. It started with Vedas, the very word “veda”, knowledge seemed to be the hinge on which everything revolved: not only thought, but life itself” in India.

In today’s context, it is the quality of technical and management education that has become critical for a nation to survive, compete, and grow to excel. The strength of intellectual capital will primarily shape 21st century. India’s higher education systems -one of the largest in the world has 237 recognised universities, 46 deemed universities, more than 10,600 colleges and employs more than 330,000 teachers. Surprisingly, total enrolment in higher education forms only about 6 per cent of the relevant population (17 to 23 year olds).

The higher educational institutions, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Regional Engineering Colleges, B-schools and other colleges must triple its intakes and the necessary infrastructure must improve. Infosys Technologies chairman and chief mentor N R Naranaya Murthy proposes four tangible prescriptions to transform India’s higher education system.
His four prescriptions are:

1. Liberalise education: The role of government needs to be minimised. Higher education must function as an industry in a free-market environment with suitable regulatory mechanisms. Licensing must be removed in education along the lines of the trade liberalisation of the 1990s. Educational institutions must be allowed to function as corporations making their own decisions. Full autonomy needs to be granted to all institutions of higher learning.

2. Private funding: Many prestigious American institutions such as MIT and Stanford are funded almost entirely by private money. With the government’s excuses of lack of funds, education must get widespread infusion of private money at least into our higher education system. Market-driven fees will enable universities to provide competitive salaries and scholarships. This will enable them to compete for high quality faculty and students, and to procure the latest teaching tools, computers and Internet connectivity.

3. Performance pay: Meritocracy must be the only criterion among faculty for their remuneration and perks. All benefits to faculty members including compensation and promotion must be based on feedback secured from students through bi-annual surveys.

4. Students loans: Subsidies should exist only in basic education and not in higher education. Parents below a certain income level can be given vouchers by the government that can then be used for payment to schools and educational institutions. An Educational Development Finance Corporation can be fund higher education through a National Student Loan Program.

IT sectors will require a resource pool of almost 1.3 million professionals in next 4years. In number perhaps, India does not foresee any problem. Vivek Wadhwa, Executive in Residence and Adjunct Professor, Master of Engineering Management Program, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University remarks, “if the annual production of bachelor’s and sub-baccalaureate degrees in engineering, computer sciences and IT awarded per million citizens is taken into consideration, the United States is producing roughly 750 technology specialists, compared with 500 in China and 200 in India. China has roughly four times the population of the US, and India is approximately three times as large,”

But it further requires improvement in education standards. McKinsey & Company reported recently, “Only 25 per cent of the technical graduates and 10 to 15 per cent of the general college graduates are suitable for employment in the offshore IT and BPO industries respectively.”

India thus must give serious considerations to Narayana Murthy’s views that are also the views of many more. US-based Arjun Malhotra is now the CEO & chairman of Headstrong - the company that merged with TechSpan in 2003. His illustrious corporate track record apart, founded the Prof GS Sanyal School of Telecommunication at IIT Kharagpur with a personal endowment of Rs 3 crore. He said recently in one interview, “Higher education should not be treated as the forte of the government. Allow private participation and let the area grow of its own momentum.”

Further to these suggestions, I think we must introduce the system of research assistants and teaching assistants followed for the university students to finance their education. It will to certain extent make some of them interested in R&D work and teaching profession.

Media must also cover the contributions of scientists and teachers in professional institutes and universities who are doing good work. The government and other private bodies such as CII, Nassocham and FICII or even large business houses must come out with more rewards to recognize their work. The country must know and appreciate their contributions. Somehow, an average Indian hardly knows what is happening in this important sector of education.

P.S. Mera Bharat Mahan? It’s just a slogan.

- Indra

Category: Employment/Education |