AIU raises red flag on unemployment & wants new education policy should target for 120 % employability, Research Relevance and Integration of Education with Values

As Unemployment is assuming alarming proportions in India, Eminent Academician Prof. PB Sharma,President of Association of Indian Universities (AIU) has asserted that new education policy, being framed now, should be targeted to boost employability of professional education, from currently 15-20 % to 120% on one hand and ensuring relevance of research and innovations to the needs of the society and industry at home on the other.

He says it should also meet the regional and global aspirations, adding

“We need to align India's Education Policy to National Development to pay attention to creating “Advantage India” from the efforts we invest in education and research and make education a powerful vehicle of societal transformation”.

  

Unfortunately, the goal of successive education policies in the past revolved around increasing access in the name of increased Gross Enrolment Ratio, GER, in higher education and inclusive education being grossly misunderstood as driving everyone towards university education while focus on quality and relevance took a back seat. The net result being that we have achieved significant increase in GER, currently just over 25% but with utterly low quality of out-turn and also low employability.

So the prime question is whether the new education policy this time shall have a radical departure from the approach to policy formulation in the past?

Addressing 92^nd annual conference of Vice Chancellors at Central Institute of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi recently , he said to begin with, we would have liked that an approach paper to the new education policy should have been drafted with due diligence by the Niti Ayog and it should have clearly spelled out the major goals of the new policy. But now at least we have a few drafts of new education policy such as that of T S R Subramaniam report and a well-articulated vision documents, Indian Higher Education Vision 2030 prepared by FICCI earlier in 2012.

AIU on its part in its submission to the New Education Policy Drafting Committee in November last year has made it clear that unless the new education policy is targeted to provide to the Nation, a policy thrust to make education a powerful vehicle for National Development and attaining global esteem, education in India shall continue to reel under the crisis of poor quality and loss of values.

According to him, the AIU document presented to the Dr Kasturirangan Committee advocates for focus on “relevance driven excellence”, making Universities as the "Factories of Job Creation", harnessing creativity and innovativeness by making universities as "Cradles of Innovation and New Enterprise Development" and engaging the young inspired minds of students by promoting extended “learning by doing” rather than master minding the contents of the text books as in the past.

The AIU documents also strongly advocates for autonomy of the universities and institutions of higher learning, but with a caution that autonomy and accountability should go hand in hand so that autonomy becomes "Freedom to Excel" and not the "Freedom to Exploit" as in past. It is here the role of regulators is not to prescribe the curriculum but to enforce quality standards and facilitate the growth of scholarship and knowledge creation. 

The new education drafting committee headed by Dr K Kasturirangan is well advised to look into the draft national education framework left behind by Dr Sam Pitroda in his Knowledge Commission Report to the Nation 2006 and 2007 where integration of Education with Research and integration of Knowledge and Skills have been strongly advocated.

Dr Kasturirangan Committee is also well advised to take note that while on one hand India is reeling under the crisis of loss of human values and lack of focus on national and global aspirations, the integration of education with values should form a strong pillar of strength of the new education system that the new education policy intends shall promote.

“We the Vice Chancellors of Indian universities with the collective wisdom at our command should recommend to the Government of India to setup “10 Gurukuls of modern India” as the marvels for intellectual wisdom alongside nurturing universal values of “Satya mev Jayate”, Purity of thought and action, “mansa vacha karmana” as ordained in the Vedas, Humility, Peace and Harmony that shall drive the agenda of Education for Global Peace and Sustainable Development.”

He said the inclusive education should be redefined. The inclusive education that the new education policy intend to promote should mean inclusion and integration of education with values, education for employability and entrepreneurship and education for Nation building and for creating global esteem.” Let the signature towers of the universities of tomorrow be the Knowledge and Innovation Incubation towers and Centers of Human Development promoting universal human values, work ethics and professional morality”.

 Batting for paradigm shift in Research work, he said Universities and Institutions of higher learning are to be the lifeline of the local industries and drivers for change both at national and global levels to cause technology revolution and innovative new product development. This requires a paradigm shift in the way research is carried out in the universities and in institutions of higher learning.

We need to devise mechanisms which supports the growth of Solution Research and with the active participation of the industries engages the innovative minds of the faculty and students in developing technology, knowhow and innovations that shall give rise to the growth of new enterprises.

The new structure of the Higher Education in India need to rejuvenate the universities to create the desired ecosystem for Solution Research, Technology Incubation and supportive environment for I2IP, ideas to innovated products and commercialization. In short, it call for a major departure in our approach from “Universities as centers of learning and scholarship” to “Universities as Global Knowledge Enterprises”. Centers of learning and scholarship, technology incubation, innovation and enterprise development. Universities then shall adopt the mantra “Knowledge to Prosperity” and become the propulsive thrust for accelerating the Socio- Economic development of the society.

I must not hesitate to add that while Innovations are a great creative power to make a better world, they are also a great disruptive power! Often the power of disruption is much more than what could be comprehended and assessed. Therefore, we in the universities must be prepared to produce the manpower of tomorrow as also to retrain the manpower of today to manage this disruption caused by new and exciting innovations. Agility in the age of disruption and uncertainty is something new and we the leaders of the universities in India must take up this challenge head on, said Prof Sharma.

He said the need of the hour is therefore to nurture interdisciplinary education, engage in cutting edge research, cultivate translational and solution research and foster creativity and innovations in abundance and take them to the level of commercially viable technologies and products of vital value to make India a world leader in quality education and research.

He called upon VCs to collaborate not only with the best in the world but also to collaborate and cooperate between our universities in India, create regional and national network of Indian universities and pool together  capabilities and transform our universities in India as the world leaders in higher education and research.

Prof Sharma told VCs that historic meet was taking place at a time when the resurgence of India as the brightest star of the East is being acknowledged by the world at large. As such it is responsibility of Vice Chancellors, in the universities in India to make universities a major partner in progress for the making of a New India, a developed and prosperous India of our dream.

“At the same time we must commit ourselves to reviving the ancient wisdom of practicing a righteous way of life based on  strict compliance to truth, maintaining purity of thoughts and actions, conforming to self- discipline, unending quest for research and new knowledge creation, but on top of that a caring concern for the wellbeing of mankind and Mother Nature, attaining perfection in work activity and conformance to work ethics and professional morality, discovering the meaning and purpose of life, and living a live full of divine bliss and happiness in plenty, said Professor Sharma while in his Presidential Address at the VCs Conference.

                                                                   

The Indian Universities of Nalanda at Rajgir in Bihar, Takshashila in North West of India, close to Gandhar at that time and Viramshila at Ujjain in Central India and later in Bhagalpur in Bihar and the Gurukuls of Sandeepni Ashram at Ujjain, Dronacharya Ashram at Gurugram, Viswamitra and Bhardwaj Ashrams at Chittrakut during Mahabharata and Ramayana times were the centers of higher education and research for cultivation of  most advanced science and technology that created the wonder that was India and brought the much acclaimed  global eminence for its scholastic and scientific advancements. Scholars from around the world and seekers of knowledge congregated to these “centers of global excellence” in India for attaining enlightenment and cultivation of peace and harmony.

                           

These and many more residential Gurukuls, universities of ancient India provided education in harmony with nature and inspired the seekers of knowledge to adhere to the principles of peace, purity and righteousness as the cardinal principles for leading a dignified human life. The focus here was on integration of education with values, capabilities with virtues of humility and simplicity to serve the society and Mother Nature with utmost devotion and unconditional commitment.

He paid warm tributes to Dalai Lama who inaugurated the 92^nd Annual Meet of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, at Sarnath. The VCs Annual Meet was attended by over 150 Vice Chancellors of Central, State and Private Universities. The meet was also addressed by the World Bank Lead Education specialist in India, Dr Francisco Marmoleja and by the representatives of the Apex Bodies such as Indian Council of Agriculture Research, ICAR, Indian Council of Historical Research, ICHR, Indian Council of Philosophical Research, ICPR, Council of Architecture, CoA and Central Depositing Services.