Quality education is the first step in moving towards human resource development. The education system plays a vital role in the social as well as the economic progress. Even though, the Government taking initiatives to promote higher education system in India it hadn’t shown any visible change in the social scenario. So majority of our population is working under the poor operational environment and also we have a large figure to show in the unemployment rate.

Higher Education

A recent study reveals an alarming situation in India like only 8-10 percentage of the total passing out graduates are eligible for employment. This is evidenced by the Employers of the country. The corporate houses complained that they are facing shortage of the right talents which hindered their urge to excellence and become competent in the globalized world.

An interesting example of this fact is faced by one of the top software companies in India, which is like for one of their openings they got 14 lakhs of application from graduates in different field. After the screening process 1.64laks applicant are called for written test, from that only 48 thousand are qualified for interview and finally 21 thousand are eligible to get the appointment letter. But the company has to give training for this newly recruits so as to match their expectations. The gap between the eliminated candidates and that of selected is huge. It is not because the company didnt have enough vacancies; it is because from the applications they find only certain percentage possessing the required skills.

So here the question is why is such a big gap? What it indicates? Is this signifying the number of people who are unemployed or the poor quality of our higher education? Obviously we get a rough idea of how large the issue of unemployment in our country. The root reason for redundancy is our education system which gives emphasis on traditional and theoretical aspects. The universities in our country follow the same subjects for the last twenty to thirty years. Not only the curriculum and syllabus should need a change but the entire system needs a restructuring, so that nobody can stop our economic as well as the personal growth of the population.

Higher Education System

The Indian Higher Education system is recognized as one of the largest system in the globe. India’s growth in formation of educational infrastructure in the country is significant. We have around 24 central and 221 state universities, along with 11 private academes. Besides there are around 114 deemed institutes for higher education and about 13 National importance institutions. Also most of the professional, technical and non-technical courses are offered to the students here in India. But besides we face some issues like unemployment, capacity shortage and Management and regulative constrains etc.

Unemployment

In a country of 1.21 billon people around 50-70% of well educated prospects are unemployed. But we used to blame the lack of opportunity. When you go for a detailed observation you can find that there is always sufficient opening but we are unable to grab that. The authorities and Government should understand the fact that building infrastructure doesn’t bring employment. For that you need a sound system of education. We discuss the case of the software company, the employer always have expectation from the prospective. What makes a potential employee to perform well in any situation is his/her academic background. If our higher education imply the required skills in the student its of sure that the redundancy rate never be so high in India.

Capacity shortage

Yet another challenge we facing is a large number of students are waiting so as to open the system of higher education. This indicates that the demand for this sector is higher than the supply. We are drastically facing the shortage of accommodation in the education system and unable to satisfy a large group.  There are a large number of students who are compelled to be in a field that they are not interested. This happens because our system is not producing opportunity for all those who want to take a specific course/subject.  As a result they never ever can excel in any field and this also contributes to our rate of employment. This sector also lack in having required number of expertise teachers and trainers and face a crisis in the financial side also.

Management and Regulative constrains

Also this sector faces constraints like lack of proper management and other directives from the law.  As a whole the majority of the higher education is controlled by the central/state Government.  The public sector always faces the problem of improper management both in the operational and financial field. But, when it comes to private sector the system is managed well, but they have to deal with a lot of regulations from the respective authorities that delay the by and large development of the sector. The private entity is monitored by Government and forced to take decision according to the Government t authority.  The given freedom of decision making is less on private board and the influence of public authority decrease the attractiveness of higher education sector for investment.

All together our higher education system is far away from the actual world and our youth are nurtured by fake idealism. Most importantly the higher education system should be opened to every aspirant. This has to be change and we have to hope for a new system that rooted in the ground reality and capable enough to make our young once to go with their dreams.

Restructuring of Higher education

We saw the vital importance for a change in the system. Then the question is how this can be possible? There is lots of instigation from the Government side. It is a fact that Indian talents are ever appreciable in the global market and there is always a need for that. But the major problem is we are not utilizing the possible excellence of higher education and the facilities what we enjoys now is not reaching the majority. All the efforts are to strengthen our vast human resources, develop their living standers and also make unique signature of our higher education in the foreign market.

Public and Private Participation in Higher Education

The main motive of this type of initiation is to make possible the reach of higher education to common Indians. This is the reason behind the startup of private universities and that of Deemed universities. It is so important to make possible the quality education at a rational cost. It is not a practical approach that Government should give away all the responsibilities in higher education and should given to private body. Government should acts as a partner and make possible financing in the areas where private participation is not feasible. Also there should be a welcoming approach to the industries make partnership with the educational bodies and make a difference in the curriculum according to their requirements.

The world is changing with an immediate pace such that the courses should be designed and implemented to meet the future needs. So a committee, which constitutes the academicians as well as the industrialists, should be there to make the strategies for facilitating the necessary changes. And it is also important to make sure that qualified and expert teachers in higher education are given necessary training with private participation. All these plans should be implemented in an effective manner and make sure the quality at every field.

Control of Higher Education

Mainly the decision related to higher education sector is taken by the Ministry Of Human Resource and development and UGC. Also policies at different levels are framed by the planning commission. Here Government should be a facilitator not a controller. The power to facilitate the academic system should give to the respective universities so that they can implement the new required talents and skills in students that the industries are looking for. New methodology for the financial management need to be there, that these universities can manage their own financial affairs.

Also the academic system should focus on the economic and social growth of the nation. One more change that boost up the higher education sector is enough control should given to the private sector institution which help them to frame action plans and curriculum in such a manner that doesn’t affect the social setup and goal to make higher education reachable to every aspirants.

MHRD

Access and Equity in Higher education

Another goal of the reorientation is to make the sector accessible to all desired person and to ensure the quality the system. The major challenge we have to face is the high poverty rate that acts as a block for reach of higher education in all possible social class. A wide gap can be seen in the number of graduates from rural and urban area. So it is important to make higher education reachable to all home area of the country.

Government should promote a policy like educational chain which covers early education, post-graduation to employment. The system should give importance to transparency and merit policy. A handsome amount of scholarship should be given to the qualified students facing financial problems.  More importantly concepts like corporate university, technological universities etc. are to be implemented so as to achieve the goal which ensures the quality in education as well as in teachers.

A Step towards Excellence

Overall we need to eliminate unemployment or minimize the rate and to ensure the quality education in higher education sector. This is possible only by making our graduates and postgraduates more employable by executing two potential skills like performance capability and knowledgeable framework. This will enables them to act according to the changes in the job market.

Excellence in Higher Education

There should be a standard in our higher education system that allows the students to do a additional course in the interested field along with their graduation under the same university. This will ultimately develop a sort of vocational skill in them.

A study conducted by European University Association among the employers reveals that they are expecting the skills like management, creativity, team work and able to handle multiple work and also the social skill from a prospective employee. Hence our higher education system should able to address these skills in students along with the theoretical base.