Sunday 3 July 2011

afaqs! Round Table Conference: Education: Hard selling not needed, product speaks for itself; more people should turn to education

The august panel of educationalists presented some thought-provoking points and revealed surprising statistics regarding the questionable state of education in India that leaves much to be desired from both the government and the industry.

The afaqs! Roundtable Conference held on July 1 at Hotel Madhuban, Dehradun, focussed on the requirement of marketing education and various challenges faced by the sector in places other than metropolitan India.
The panel of speakers comprised Rakesh Sharma, principal secretary, Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand, Prof Krishna Kumar, director, Dehradun Institute of Technology, Dr A N Goswami, member -- management council, Indian Institute of Petroleum, S.C. Joshi, director general, Uttaranchal Group of Institutions, Dr Dharam Buddhi, director, Shivalik College of Engineering, Dr Vijender Chauhan, dean, HIHT University, Col P K Das, director, JBIT and Dr Vishal Deshwal, head of the department, Doon Group of Colleges. M P Singh, professor at Management, Graphic Era University moderated the panel discussion.
The panel debated and discussed multiple issues related to the education industry. Some of the hard-pressing questions raised during the round table session were: Does education, like any other sector, need hard-selling, or is it unnecessary? Are we spending enough on research and development? Should the educational institutes be autonomous, and if so, to what extent? The dearth of quality faculty - is it a reality or just hype? Mushrooming private institutes -- the mad race, or the more the better? And, what is the right curriculum, and how to develop it?
Yes, to marketing in education, no, to hard-selling
The conference commenced with one of the prominent questions of the day's agenda: Does the education sector required marketing like any other industry? "If you talk about 20 years back, there was no need for marketing, but things have changed now," Prof Gupta said. Dr Chauhan agreed and justified that with nearly 25,000 institutes of higher education in the country, marketing of the education sector is much needed. While making his points, Prof Gupta -- who taught at IIT Kanpur for over three decades -- cautioned that faulty data used to market an institute brings a bad name and is not healthy and sustainable in the long run. "Hundred per cent placements? There can't be anything farther from the truth," he affirmed.
Dr Buddhi raised the vital issue of a 'social approach' being used in marketing education by industry players. "Marketing should be a collaborative effort between students, faculty and the management of an institute," he said. "The aim of education is employability; marketing should focus on that," noted Joshi.
"Not-for-profit concept has no relevance in education sector today."
Singh added that quality education speaks for itself and needs no hard-selling tactics. "Your students are your ambassadors, and your product talks and walks," he said.
"The best educational organisations in the country are the least talked about," the speakers agreed unanimously.
Research and Development: How much is right?
Supported by a lot of surprising statistics, the panel of speakers agreed unanimously that inadequate research and development was a cause of great concern in India. According to Dr Chauhan, the US and the UK published 6,294 and 7,264 international publications in 2010; India and China published 2,680 and 3,455, respectively.
"While the US spends 2.5 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Japan spends 2.8 per cent on Research and Development (R&D), India keeps aside only 0.6 per cent of its GDP for R&D purposes," he said.
According to statistics, around 994 patents per million people are granted every year in Japan and 289 patents per million are awarded in the US. But, only one patent per million people is granted in India and China.
The panel members agreed that dedicated efforts are needed to excel in R&D globally. The suggestions offered for the issue were: dedicated people, dedicated funds and good infrastructure for research. Funds granted by the government should be equally distributed between the central and state universities. "Only 2 per cent population gets 85 per cent funds, and the majority of colleges and universities have to depend on state funding."
Governmental will and commitment has been mainly focussed on primary and secondary education, so far. But, Dr Goswami feels it's a different scenario today. "With eight new Indian Institutes of Technology and equal number of Indian Institutes of Management opening up, that's changing now," he said.
Dr Goswami, though, feels that more government participation is required to improve the quality of education. "Almost 75 per cent of higher education is taken care of by the private sector, which is why there is an acute shortage of faculty," he added.
Another major suggestion that came up through the discussion was to incentivise research. Dr Chauhan noted that today, an assistant professor became an associate professor in five years, and a professor in another four years. "Institutes need professors, therefore quick promotions are given to the teaching faculty," others in the panel justified.
According to Joshi, not much of incentisvisation of research is required. "Research has to be focussed, quotable and citable," said Singh.
"Research done in the education sector should be socially applicable and market applicable," said Dr Deshwal adding that the point system of promotion if followed properly, can help streamline faculty promotions and graduation.
"All said and done, research can be only done on a full belly, not on an empty one," said Sharma.
The panel of speakers noted that other than relevant conditions and a conducive environment, researchers should be provided adequate time, energy, incentives and resources.
Autonomy and quality faculty: The sticky wickets
Bringing to notice the sad state of affairs, Dr Goswami said that only 25 per cent of all graduates are employed, the rest are not usefully employed.
In the Indian oil sector, that refines around 185 million tonnes of crude oil every year, the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies is one of the few institutes catering to the rising demand of professionals and professors.
According to Col Das, IITs and IIMs have not fulfilled the objective of their existence, which was to give an impetus to quality higher education, and therefore, there should be an increase in the number of such institutes.
"The University Grants Commission has failed totally, All India Council of Technical Education is the most corrupt, and the curriculum taught is five-to-seven years old. The Education sector is in dire need of a revolution," he said.
Col Das cited the example of Spain topping the global list of human development index (HDI). India stands at a dismal 129th rank, out of the 172 countries. When the Spanish president met Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam, he gave the reasons for topping the coveted ratings. He quoted the Spanish first citizen as saying that the three reasons for Spain's commendable HDI were that "we educated our people, are educating our people and will continue to educate our people."
On autonomy, a lot of varied issues were raised by the esteemed panel of speakers.
"Autonomy is a double-edged sword, autonomy with accountability should be given to national educational institutes," said Dr Chauhan.
Summing up the session, Kumar said, "Autonomy with accountability means sheer empowerment. The affiliated-university system has become totally unyielding today."
Industry people should be a part of curriculum development. It has worked in the case of University of Petroleum, similar things can improve the facilities for other technical institutes, Col Das rounded up.
Summing up the productive deliberations aptly, Dr Chauhan highlighted that the students for the future are being taught by teachers of today, using the curriculum of yesterday.

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