The Quest for
Academic Excellence
I tell my PG and UG students that if given the chance –
enough money and other related things – many of you would have gone abroad to
study (the favourite countries being the US, UK and Australia). A couple of
months ago I read the news in the Indian media that Indian students are going
abroad even for undergraduate studies. Sure, some of our students should go
abroad for study in the hope that they would return and add variety to the
intellectual deposit and technological know-how of the country. One of the
union ministers, the other day, advised such students to “learn, earn, and
return”. Even from advanced countries such as Germany or France students go to
the US, UK and Australia (or other way round) for higher studies. One may
wonder what is the most important reason for Indian students going abroad. The
general presumption being that educational institutions in the advanced
countries have better standards. But how do they maintain the standard? One
answer could be - by maintaining the standards of all that is related to
academics: infrastructure, faculty, library, labs, research, recreational
facilities, sporting facilities and so forth. Sure, all these costs more money.
That’s why the annual college fees is exorbitant, for instance in the US it is
$ 35, 000 (Rs 21 lakhs in today’s exchange rate), compared to Indian standards.
However, it is not a question merely of the higher quality
of infrastructure and facilities alone. It is the whole mental framework,
environment and ambience. Maintaining an atmosphere of academic formality
(surely, combined with friendliness) is one of the key factors. What do I mean
by that? I invited a friend of mine, who has just returned from the UK after
completing his Masters, to speak to my students to make them aware of the
academic atmosphere prevailing in the institution where he studied. This was
partly to remove the false impressions harboured by students in India about
academic terms and conditions that are prevailing abroad – especially images of
excessive freedom (I don’t mean academic) to do whatever they wanted. My friend
shared the following: At the beginning of the academic year during the
orientation the students were given the necessary instructions meant for the whole
programme and that was that: no cajoling with regard to attendance in classes,
no going after the students with regard to the completion of assignments, and
above all no spoon feeding as happens in Indian universities. Students were
given minimum necessary inputs by each course director and then the students
are left on their own to build on it. For this of course, the academic
facilities mentioned above – especially library (physical and online) are at
their disposal. Guess what? Students either perform or perish.
Why wouldn’t the Indian students perform? – Surely the will.
For, as I indicated above, education is mercilessly expensive. Most Indian students
join colleges abroad after obtaining educational loans back in India. Today
most American parents cannot send their children to college, due to the high
cost of education, without taking loans. So why wouldn’t the students take
studies seriously? In most higher education institutions in India many students
(especially those coming from well-to-do families) do not take their studies
seriously because they have invested very little monetarily. (After all, many
of the rich parents became so by milking the State-cow: bureaucrats through
outright bribe-taking; business people through lobbying on the corridors of
power to twist economic policies in their favour; farmers by not paying taxes
and by taking undue benefit of the state subsidies; politicians through corrupt
practices; and traders by not issuing proper bills and tweaking the
accounts.) They not only do not take
their studies seriously they are also a bad influence on others who have
monetarily struggled to get into college and on those who would like to do well
in their studies. Even if they are held up for a couple of years due to lack of
attendance or lack of internal marks (applies to autonomous colleges), they
lose only a paltry sum. This is all the more true in government run higher
education institutions, where the annual fees are abysmally low. The bottom
line is that higher education in India should cost more; it should pinch every
parent and every student. Then there is a probability that studies will be
taken seriously. Or else the money spent by the government (even though it is
only a paltry sum) is going down the drains; a pure national waste. I am unable
to fathom why the Indian education system should subsidise the rich. Rather the
fees should be increased to a proximate level that’s being charged in advanced
countries and provide the necessary facilities to an approximate level that is
being provided abroad, leaving enough fund to subsidize (even offering full
scholarship with stringent conditions attached) the meritorious poor students
from the lower strata of Indian society. This will offset the poor from the
effects of raising the cost of higher education in India.
You either perform or perish is the formal academic
principle that has to be embraced in higher education institutions in India. There
should be no room for mercy and compassion in academics. Mercy and compassion
can be shown in cases of emotional, psychological, or financial problems and
difficulties faced by the students. Or else the country will be churning out
unemployable degree holders as is already happening today. Many students
realize the mediocrity of their academic performance only when they get the
semester-wise marks card in their hands. Till then they are bindass walking around perfectly
relaxed, glued to the screens in their own gadgetry world, unmindful of what’s
happening around. When the naked academic truth strikes, they devise ways and
arguments to twist and manipulate the concerned authorities (lecturers,
controller of examinations, office staff ...) stooping so low as to request an outright
increase of marks for the subjects in which they have fared badly. There are
teachers who would succumb to the pressure. Needless to say, that there is an
absolute lack of educational ethics and morality on the corridors of many
higher education institutions in India.
If some of the NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation
Council) graded (A) academic institutions can follow up on the proposals for
drastic improvements the country will have at least some institutions with academic
standards on par with those found in advanced countries. Sadly, some
institutions are averse to bold initiatives; they seem to be happy and content
with the status quo. For, it calls for innovative academic programmes and
efficient and transparent administration. Innovative academic programmes
combined with efficient and transparent administration can build up excellent
educational institutions drastically reducing the need for Indian students to
go abroad, in the process saving much money and preventing brain drain, which
has been a curse for the country at least since the time of independence.
Dr. Francis Arackal
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