ICT: Acceptance and Importance in Higher Education
Higher Education System
In simple words, higher education means in-depth study of a particular branch of knowledge.
The word “higher” refers to the “higher level” or “higher quality” (and not the higher age !!). In
education system, study is flowing from general to specific. An example is shown below:
Level-I
(Primary & Secondary level)
Level-II
(Higher secondary level)
Level-III
(Graduate level)
Level-IV
(Post Graduate level)
Level-V
(Research level)
General study of all the subjects, like languages, mathematics,
science, etc.
Study of particular group of related subjects, such as biology,
chemistry, physics, etc. (Science Stream)
Study of specific branch of knowledge, for example, Medical
Science (MBBS)
Study of specialized area in medical sciences.
(Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Orthopedic, etc.)
Very specific study of particular problem & its solution.
In above diagram, Level-III to Level-IV refers to “Higher Education”.
understanding of the term “Higher Education”.
This is our general
Note that, the term “Higher Education System” has different meaning. It is legislative act of a
country which defines rules and regulation for higher education. Few examples are higher
education system of India, HES of Australia and HES of Europe. The Higher education system
means rules & implementation of admission, registration, appearing in the examination, result
processing, evaluation, awarding degrees, regulating colleges, fee structures, opening new
universities, accreditation of university / college / research institute, etc. The ICT is very well
accepted as a technology in “higher education system” rather than “higher education”. Here is
summary of ITC usage in both – the higher education and the higher education system.
Use of ICT in higher education: (Focus is on direct teaching-learning)
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Surfing on internet to get information
Using digital library. (Also contributing in creation of digital library)
Watching educational programs on TV (Also participating in TV program)
Participating in on-line forums / groups to exchange the knowledge. Here one can put
his question to get answer from the group. On the other hand, one can answer the
question raised by someone in the group.
Using on-line dictionary or encyclopedia. Contributing in preparation of such on-line
dictionary.
On-line training through video clips on YouTube, etc.
Preparing self-learning courses on CD / DVD.
Uploading / Downloading abstract and full paper from e-journals & achieves.
Uploading / Downloading study material on educational web-sites.
Academic Staff College, Saurashtra University, Rajkot
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ICT: Acceptance and Importance in Higher Education
Use of ICT in higher education system: (focus is on data / information)
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Showing information related to courses, admission process, exam schedules, results,
etc. on web-site of institute / university.
Preparing various data and submitting to university or government.
Using institute management software modules for colleges.
Implementing and running ERP system for university. ERP provides complete solution
for financial management, personnel management, affiliation of colleges, enrollment of
students, etc.
Web-based Management of educational events like Seminar, conference, workshop,
etc.
Managing e-Journals on the web.
Keeping some data ready for “Right-To-Information”.
Initiatives taken by government to promote education using ICT
Gyan
Darshan
Launched in 2000, Gyan Darshan is a bouquet of channels that broadcasts
educational programs for school kids, university students, and adults.
Courses are contributed by IGNOU, UGC CEC, IITs etc.
Gyan Vani
It is a bouquet of FM radio channels which broadcast programs
contributed by institutions such as IGNOU and IITs.
eGyanKosh
It is a knowledge repository launched by IGNOU in 2005 which aims at
storing and preserving digital learning resources. Almost 95% of IGNOU’s
printed material has been digitized and uploaded on the repository.
NPTEL
National Programme for Technology Enhanced Learning
Approved in 2001, National Programme for Technology Enhanced
Learning (NPTEL) is a joint initiative of IITs and IISc.
eJournal
Consortia
As a part of its first phase, digital course content for 129
engineering/science courses has been developed and uploaded on
YouTube.
AICTE – Indian National Digital Library in Engineering & Technology (AICTE
– INDEST) is a consortium set up by the Ministry of Human Resource to
enhance greater access and generate annual savings in access of
bibliographic databases.
UGC has also launched its Digital Library Consortium to provide access to
peer reviewed journals and bibliographic databases covering subjects such
Academic Staff College, Saurashtra University, Rajkot
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ICT: Acceptance and Importance in Higher Education
Networking
of Higher
Education
Institutions
NME-ICT
www.saksha
t.ac.in
as arts, humanities, and sciences.
Education and Research Network (ERNET) promoted by the Department
of Information Technology, Government of India, provides communication
infrastructure and services to academic research institutions in India.
It is undertaking networking projects such as AICTE-Net, ICAR-Net and
UGC-Infonet to provide internet and intranet facilities.
National Mission on Education through ICT (NME-ICT)
Looking into crying need of ICT in higher education, Ministry of Human
Resource Development has established NME-ICT.
There are three guiding philosophies for this effort – [a] no talent of the
country should be allowed to go waste, [b] all the services available
through the content delivery portal Sakshat should be free and [c] freely
available material on the web should be used so as to avoid reinventing
the wheel.
India is facing challenges in using ICT
The following points highlight some of the facts regarding limitations of ICT in India:
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Access of computer: Number of PC per 100 people in India is less than 10, The
same in US and UK is more than 80. The interesting part is that, number of mobile
users in India, in urban and rural area, is increasing at very high rate. Therefore,
acceptance of ICT will be higher, if we develop “mobile” based software, rather
than traditional “PC” based software.
Access of Internet: Internet access and usage is growing in cities and towns, but in
rural area, internet access is not achieved. Hardly 5% of rural population is using
Internet. This shows digital divide between urban and rural population.
Student to computer ratio: ratio of students per college and computers per
college is very high. Because of population, states have started to open the
colleges, but these colleges are lacking basic computer and internet infrastructure.
Many rural and urban colleges have not achieved 1:1 ratio of teacher to
computer!
Knowledge of basic computing skills: The teachers and students are not aware of
primary computing skills. They need training if navigating websites, uploading /
downloading study material, registering for on-line courses, registering for digital
library, participating in groups of people in specific subject, etc.
Linguistic barriers: Very few literate rural people in India can speak in English.
Therefore, in higher education, they need web-sites and e-Content in local
language. Development and standardization of such resources in local languages is
a great challenge.
Academic Staff College, Saurashtra University, Rajkot
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ICT: Acceptance and Importance in Higher Education
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Technical problems: It is very frequent that users are facing technical problems
related to ICT. The common problems are sooth connectivity of internet, server is
responding very slowly, and therefore web-site is very slow, cant open the link on
web-site, etc. Such problems discourage users to use ICT.
Improper governance of ICT: ICT infrastructure, web-site development, e-Content
development, etc are carried out at all the levels - national level, university level,
College level, etc. Therefore, there is duplication of same work. We are lacking
proper planning and coordination of ICT projects at all levels.
Summary
The Ministry of Human Resource Development, UGC, and all national level councils, etc
have already accepted the ICT as very important tool for higher education. UGC has given
due weight for ICT in XII five year plan. Therefore, ICT in higher education is accepted at
policy level. But ICT infrastructure development and its acceptance in large nation like
India is a very big challenge. If ICT projects will be properly governed and well-managed at
all the levels, then, in next few years, the higher education in India will get benefits in
terms of better equality, access, and quality.
References:
1.
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4.
UGC: Higher Education in India 2008
Website of IGNOU
Website of NME-ICT
“Making the Indian higher education system future ready” – FICCI higher education
summit 2009.
S. R. Dwivedi
Associate Professor & Head
Department of Computer Science
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Bhavnagar
Academic Staff College, Saurashtra University, Rajkot
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