EDUCATION: INDIAN SCENARIO
R.R.Puri
Human Resource Development Division, BARC
and
Homi Bhabha National Institute
Education System – Non-Professional
• 10 years for Secondary School Certificate
• + 2 years for Higher Secondary School Certificate.
After HSC, students may opt for non-professional or
professional streams .
• + 3 years for Bachelor’s degree in non-professional
streams (Sciences, Arts, Commerce).
• + 2 years for Master’s degree.
Education System – Professional
• 10 years for Secondary School Certificate
• + 2 years for Higher Secondary School
Certificate. After HSC, students may opt for
non-professional or professional streams .
• + 4 years for Bachelor’s degree in professional
streams (Engineering, Medicine).
• + 2 years for Master’s degree in Engineering.
Skill Development
• Certificate and Diploma courses available in
various technical skill development courses
after SSC and HSC.
• Management diplomas open to bachelor’s
degree holders in any stream.
Status of Higher Education-1
Number of Universities and universitylevel institutions
504
Number of Deemed Universities
130
Faculty
0.6 Million
Status of Higher Education-2
Enrolment in universities and colleges
13.6 Million
Intake in Technical Education (for Degree)
1.4 Million
Intake in Technical Education (for Diploma)
0.5 Million
Number of PhDs produced in a year
14,000 (5000 in Sciences, 1000 in
Engineering, 1000 in Agriculture, 7000
rest)
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)
12.4%
GER (World Average)
26.7%
GER (Developed Countries)
57.7%
Regulation of Higher Education
• Universities and University-level institutions set
up by Act of Parliament are self-regulating. These
include IITs, and NITs for engineering and
technical education; IIMs for Management; and
Central Universities, and IISERs for Sciences. IITs
conduct Science education as well at post
graduate level.
• Others are regulated by University Grants
Commission (UGC) for non-technical education,
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
for technical education and Medical Council of
India (MCI) for Medical education.
Plans for Reforming Higher Education
Higher Education needs
• Expansion
• Improvement in Quality
Initiatives for Expansion and
Quality Improvement
Existing by March
2007
Additional Proposed to be
set up by March 2012
Central Universities
19
16 + 14 Innovation
Universities
IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology)
7
8
NITs (National Institutes of Technology)
20
10
IISERs (Indian Institutes for Science
Education and Research)
2
3
IIMs (Indian Institutes for Management)
6
7
IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information
Technology)
4
20
Initiatives for Expansion and
Quality Improvement
• Establishment of new Central Universities and
Polytechnics (178).
• Establishment of 14 innovation universities:
Education embedded in research environment.
• Implementation of e-learning: EDUSAT scheme
for virtual classrooms that connect premier
institutions with others.
• On-line access to journals to all universities being
provided by UGC through National Knowledge
Network.
Regulatory Reforms
• A National Commission/ Council for Higher
Education and Research is proposed to be
established as an Apex body in place of UGC
and AICTE for determination, coordination
and maintenance of standards and promotion
of higher education and research.
Problems in the Way of Reforms
• Major problem is non-availability of faculty.
The faculty is not adequate even in existing
universities/ institutions.
• Attracting good students for career in sciences.
• Number of engineering students opting for
PhD is small.
Nuclear Science and
Engineering Education-1
• The Nuclear Education has so far been conducted
only in the Department of Atomic Energy. The BARC
Training School is its flagship nuclear education and
training programme since last almost 53 years. IITKanpur has only been another place where Master’s
degree programme in Nuclear Engineering is
conducted.
Nuclear Science and
Engineering Education-2
• With the envisaged expansion of nuclear energy
programme, several universities have started
education in nuclear science and engineering.
These include
- Delhi University, Delhi
- Jadavpur University, Kolkata
- Deendyal Upadhyaya University, Gandhinagar.
Several other universities are taking initiatives to start
Nuclear Engineering education.
DAE’s Initiative in Education
• Setting up of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI)
with following units of DAE as its Constituent
Institutions (like SOKENDAI in Japan):
1. BARC, Mumbai,
2. IGCAR, Kalpakkam
3. VECC, Kolkata
4. RRCAT, Indore
5. Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai
6. Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar
7. Saha Institute for Nuclear Research, Kolkata
8. Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar
9. Institute for Mathematical Sciences, IMSc
10. Harish Chandra Institute, Allahabad
Programmes in HBNI
• Ph.D. in all engineering and Science disciplines.
• Integrated MSc-PhD
• M.Tech.
• Diplomas in Radiation medicine and radiation
protection.
• Specialty degree courses in medicine.
Highlights of PhD Programme in HBNI
• Course work for one year.
• Doctoral Committee for each candidate.
• For some of the PhD fellowships, two
supervisors for each candidate; one having
strength in basic sciences/ engineering and
the other in technology development.
Enrolments in HBNI
Number of PhD students
enrolled in Sciences
890
Number of PhD students
enrolled in Engineering
230
Total numbers enrolled in all
Programmes
2830
Issues Needing Attention-1
• Study needed to find the number of degree holders
required at various levels in industry and academia.
• Correcting imbalance between Engineering and
Polytechnic education: Number of engineering
degree holders produced is almost same as the
diploma holders whereas number of diplomas should
be about three to four times the degree holders.
Hence more emphasis needed to establish
polytechnics.
Issues Needing Attention-2
• A large number of engineering degree holders
are employed for the tasks meant for diploma
qualification.
• Establishing more universities and institutions
means spreading resources too thin which
may have adverse effect on improving quality.
Issues Needing Attention-3
• More financial support needs to given to Universities and
academic institutes. Presently they suffer from lack of
adequate funding for infrastructural development
including setting up of laboratories.
• The concept of managing educational institutes on “no
profit no loss” basis needs to be re-examined carefully to
enable serious private investment in education including
reputed foreign universities. This would also help to curb
currently observed malpractices in education sector.
• Where are the jobs?
THANK YOU