The Human Resource Challenges for Higher

Education

Abstract Achievement of sustained and equitable human development is an

urgent need and a challenge before the present Indian society.

Though there have been considerable progresses in all walks of life

over the last few decades, large section of people in India still live

below the line of poverty. These people have inadequate access to

education, health care facilities and other economic resources. The

size of India’s higher education market is about $40 billion per year.

Presently about 12.4 percent of students go for higher education from

the country. However, This paper aims to highlight the perceptible

challenges of higher education in India in the way of developing

human resource in the Country.

I. INTRODUCTION:

In order to promote economic and industrial development in a

country, the essential requirement is the capacity to develop skilled

manpower of good quality in adequate number. According to

population projections based on the 2001 Census figures, in 2011

nearly 144 million of India’s population will be between the age-

group 18 to 23-the target age group for Higher Education. By

2013, India had 727 universities, over 35,000 colleges, and nearly 13,000 ‘Stand Alone’ institutions (World Bank, 2010; University Grants Commission, 2013; Choudaha, 2013). This paper tries to sum-up India’s higher education journey so far in terms of policy, growth in enrolment, and the myriad challenges being faced by the proposed “strategic shift from mere expansion to improvement in quality”.

II. Challenges

Mass Education and the Gross Enrolment Ratio:-

The ‘gross enrolment ratio’ (GER) is the total number of all

enrolees in higher education, regardless of their age, divided by the

total population age 18-23. In effect, it is a measure of the extent to

which the population is availing itself of opportunities in higher

education. It can be considered a measure of access to higher

education, but increasing the GER can require more than just

building more universities. Total enrolment of students in regular

mode in higher education institutes in India is around 257.6 lakhs,

with 55.3% male and 44.7% female enrolments. With a huge

population base (highest share of 18-23 population in India,

16.9%), Uttar Pradesh ranked first in terms of enrolment (39.6

lakhs, 15.4%); followed by Maharashtra (31.8 lakhs, 12.3%),

Tamil Nadu (24.52 lakhs, 9.5%), Andhra Pradesh (24.21 lakhs,

9.4%) and Karnataka (15.42 lakhs, 6%). The three southern states

of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka accounts for one-

fourth (25%) of the total enrolments across India. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said “We will

need 800 new universities and 40,000 new colleges to meet the aim of

30 percent GER (gross enrolment ratio) by 2020. Government alone

cannot meet this aim,”

Quality Education :- Quantity and quality of highly specialized human resources determine

their competence in the global market. According to a recent

government report two-third of India’s colleges and universities are

below standard.

For improving the quality education there are four regulatory

bodies exist within the Department of Higher Education in the

Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Central

Government that oversee higher education and are generally

responsible for accreditation.

University Grants Commission (UGC).

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Distance Education Council (DEC).

Council of Architecture (CoA).

Five research councils also exist within the Department of Higher

Education that focus on research in History, Social Science,

Philosophy, Civilizations, and rural issues.

But it is unfortunate that such grading is not

associated with either rewards or punishments. Neither is there a

motivation to re-accredit as it is disconnected with funding

mechanism. Rigidity and bureaucratic delays in accreditation on the

part of accreditation bodies further acts as a deterrent.

Equity: Women, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes,

the Poor :-

Equity of access to higher education in India is a triply complicated

problem. Besides the low GER for overall population of India, large

variations exist among the various categories of population like male-

female, rural-urban and SC/STs and the General categories. Due to

urban centric and uneven distribution of institutions of higher

education, it is not equally available to all in the State.

Falling standard of research :-

Though research is basically aimed at developing knowledge and

understanding for solution of vital problems faced by man and for

developing theories and generalizations, current practice in the field

can hardly claim to fulfil its basic purposes.

“only 4 percent of research expenditure is made through

universities. In the United States the corresponding figure is 17

percent and in Germany it is 23 percent. Moreover, India’s

higher education institutions are poorly connected to research

centres’. China’s investment in research manpower, estimated at

708 researchers per 1 million people, is six times that of

India’s”.

Though there has been considerable increase in the

number of academic research during the recent times, these

cannot be considered as attempts to satisfy the inquisitive and

scientific thirst for knowledge. The reason behind this

assumption lies in the fact of increased interest in research

among teachers and prospective teachers to meet the University

Grant Commission (UGC) of India’s directive making research

eligibility to enter teaching at higher level, a criterion of

promotion, incremental benefit and so on. This supposition finds

testimony from the fact of increased number of Ph.D.

registration with private universities, some of which are facing

criminal procedures due to widespread violation of norms.

The problem of Reservation in higher education:-

Caste based reservations in educational institutions in India are a

constitutional obligation having its own logic of equalizing social and

educational inequality. However, caste based reservation amounting

up to 49% of the total seats in the Govt. institutions of higher

education, including the institutions of excellence, prevents better

talent coming in from un-reserved categories besides causing social

unrest at times.

Neglect of Traditional fields of knowledge:-

Growing popularity of professional courses with prospects of quicker

and better employability has negatively affected the enrolment of

students in traditional fields of knowledge like basic sciences,

classical language and literature, art etc. The enrolment registers of

colleges and universities in India stand testimony to this fact. Most of

the talented students move out of the State after completing Senior

Secondary course in search of good professional and technical

colleges like medical, engineering, management etc. leaving only a

few for pure and basic fields of knowledge. Diminishing enrolment in

B.Sc. /M.Sc. courses verify this fact.

Faculty shortage :-

According to a recent report of HRD Ministry premier educational

institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and the Indian

Institute of Management (IIMs) are facing a faculty crunch with

nearly one-third of the posts vacant. According to a report published

in IANS around 35 percent posts are vacant in the central universities,

25 percent in the IIMs, 33.33 percent in the National Institute of

Technology (NITs) and 35.1 percent in other central education

institutions coming up under the Human Resource Development

(HRD) Ministry. However in order to overcome this, government is

planning to have short-term measures like raising the retirement age

in teaching posts from 62 to 65 years and enhancement in salaries and

other benefits for teachers. Also some long-term measures have also

been initiated for attracting young people to opt for this (teaching)

career. These include enhancement in fellowships and attractive start-

up grants in various disciplines.

III. Conclusion

In this paper we have presented the development and present scenario

of higher education in India by analyzing the various data and also

identify the key challenges like demand-supply gap, quality

education, research and development and faculty shortage in India’s

higher education sector. Looking to the present scenario of the higher

education in India we recommended some points in order to further

meet the challenges.

Presented By :- Krupa Pandit

Reference

www.wipo.int

www.eajournals.org

Ministry Of Human Development Of India

ASHE2014