Strategy Paper on Higher Education Government of Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Department Hyderabad. January, 2001.
Contents Strategy for Development of Higher Education 1.
Introduction
2. Current Status 3. Vision 2020 – Goals and Development 4. Strategy & Policy Interventions 5. Priority Programmes & Schemes
Strategy for Development of Higher Education Introduction:
Higher Education sector deals with the institutions imparting education at the Intermediate level, the degree and university levels. This sector also includes institutions offering courses in technical education like diploma and degree courses in engineering, Master of Computer Applications, Master of Business Administration and other professional courses. Higher Education also includes distance education programme at different levels. The vision of the Government is to usher in a “Knowledge Society” by the year 2020. Apart from providing facilities for Primary Education for all, Government would take necessary steps for consolidation and effective utilization of institutions of higher education in Government sector. Further the Government would facilitate development of educational institutions by involving private sector for the establishment of Junior Colleges, Degree Colleges and Engineering Colleges apart from colleges offering M.B.A and M.C.A. courses. In this endeavour investments would be encouraged setting up institutions in all parts of the state especially the educationally backward areas through suitable policy initiatives. The chief underlying concern of the Government is to make higher education more relevant and purposeful and also to see that higher educational institutions impart skills and knowledge which are relevant to the emerging job market with a strong emphasis on technical and professional courses. These courses would cater to the needs of a strong services sector. The main thrust of the strategy in higher education sector is for the Government to act as a facilitator for greater participation of private institutions in the field of education. It is also the concern of the
Government to raise standards of education and strive towards excellence by identifying and promoting centers of excellence. Suitable institutional mechanism would be set up to continuously evaluate the on-going academic programmes and also evolve and formulate new academic courses suited to the emerging needs of the society and the economy. As far as institutions under Government are concerned, efforts would be made to consolidate them and use the available resources for their proper development. Government also proposes to make use of the technology for improving the methods of teaching and enabling the students to have access to the best of teaching and learning material. It is also proposed to introduce a system of regular appraisal of the teachers in respect of their academic and co-curricular work. With a view to introduce restructured courses, refresher courses are being conducted for the teachers to update their skills and knowledge in their respective field of study. The Government’s role in Higher Education sector would be: 1. Providing regulatory framework for evaluating the students and awarding of certificates through various instruments of the Government such as boards, Universities etc. 2. Government would concentrate on effectively utilizing the investments already made and which are also committed in Higher Education sector in an optimum manner to meet the changing needs of the society and the emerging market economy. 3. In view of the Government’s over-riding priority for Primary Education and improving literacy levels in the State, Government recognizes the fact that the total needs of Higher Education cannot be met by Government alone and therefore, facilitate private partnership and private investments through appropriate policy initiatives. 4. Government would also set up a suitable mechanism to continuously evaluate the standards of Education, evaluate the students, teachers and the Institutions to attain the levels of excellence in various areas. 5. Government would also focus on continuously conducting research in Higher Education sector, identifying the emerging areas of technology, science and other subjects and take suitable steps for evaluating the courses which can be adopted by the educational institutions. Current Status:
At present there are 13 Universities under the Higher Education sector. Apart from these, the following are institutions are deemed to be universities, viz., Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati and Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Puttaparthi. In addition following institutions have been established by the Government of India in the State, viz., University of Hyderabad and Moulana Azad National Urdu University. Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad and Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Tirupati have the status of deemed universities. It is also noted that a number of Scientific and technological research institutions are located in and around Hyderabad. Thus Hyderabad has emerged as a centre of higher learning and research activity.
There are 176 Government Colleges, 181 Private Aided Colleges, 654 Private Un-aided Colleges and 38 Oriental Colleges making a total of 1049 Colleges in the State. The number of students enrolment in conventional courses is 1,56,672 students in science, 1,33,273 in commerce and 95,081 students in arts, social science faculties. It is envisaged that these courses would be made more relevant from the point of view of securing employment and also for self-employment. Accordingly, syllabus has been revised in 49 subjects and restructured courses introduced in about 100 colleges in the State. Technical Education:
The State Government has taken the initiative to liberalise the policy for sanction of engineering colleges. A decision was taken to sanction colleges in uncovered areas of the state so that these colleges would be available to students throughout the State. As a result, the State has witnessed a tremendous growth in the facilities for the engineering education at degree level. As on date there are 106 engineering colleges in the State with a intake of 30,716 students in various branches. Government is also laying lot of stress on the development of Information Technology related courses for which there is very good potential. It is worth noting that there are 18,041 seats in IT related courses in the State at present. Government is also attaching lot of importance to the increase in the seats in MCA courses so that the youth would have better employment opportunities after getting the requisite skills in computer applications. There are 162 MCA Colleges with an intake of 6395 during the academic year 2000-2001. With a view to cater to the needs of the growing requirements of the industry and services sector, it is necessary to increase seats in the Master of Business Administration courses. Number of MBA seats has practically doubled in the last 5 years. There are 110 colleges offering MBA courses with an intake of 4680 during 2000-2001. Pharmacy Education:
Government have also given lot of importance to the development of pharmacy education to meet the growing requirements of health sector. The number of seats in pharmacy has increased almost four times since 1995-96. During the academic year 2000-2001 there are 24 colleges with 1190 seats. Polytechnics:
There are 103 Polytechnics in the State with an intake of 17860 seats. Out of these 66 are Government Polytechnics, 4 are aided and 33 are unaided Polytechnics. The World Bank Project for strengthening Technician Education was completed during the year 1998-99 at a cost of Rs.140 crores. The project included modernization of laboratories, training of teachers, increase in the enrolment of girls, purchase of books and improvement of infrastructure. Medical Education:
The Government is expanding the facilities for medical education by permitting at least one medical and one dental college in each district. The new colleges are being opened by encouraging private participation. At present there are 16 medical colleges including 6 private colleges offering a total of 2100 places. There are 2 government and 1 private dental college providing an intake of 140. It is expected that all the districts of the State will have at least one medical and one dental college in next five years.
Agricultural Education:
The State has the following educational infrastructure in the field of agriculture and allied sciences under Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University. College
No.
College of Agriculture
6
Intake 770
College of Agricultural Engg 1 Colleges
of
Veterinary
28
3
273
College of FisheryScience
1
30
Home Science Colleges
2
281
Science
The strategy for future is to develop centers of excellence with facilities for education and research in emerging areas such as Plant Bio- Technology, Food Science and Technology, sustainable agriculture, conservation of germ plasma etc. It is also proposed to improve the facilities for practical training in agricultural marketing and veterinary science. There is an imperative need for expanding educational facilities in agricultural and allied sciences particularly keeping in view the necessity to up grade the farming technology for increasing productivity on a sustainable basis. Intermediate Education:
Junior Colleges: Junior Colleges functioning under various managements are shown below:Government Junior Colleges
529
Government Composite Colleges
6
Private Junior Colleges (Aided)
273
Private Unaided Junior Colleges
1183
Social Welfare Residential Jr.Colleges
117
A.P. Residential Junior Colleges
25
Co-operative Junior Colleges
103
Tribal Welfare Junior Colleges
06
Railway Junior Colleges
05
Total
2247
From among the above colleges, vocational courses and conventional courses are simultaneously functioning in 656 junior colleges. 25 private (vocational) junior colleges have been permitted during 2000-2001 by the Board of Intermediate Education exclusively for Vocational courses. 51 new Government Junior Colleges were started in backward areas during 1999-2000 to bring Intermediate Education closer to all. Enrolment: The enrolment of students in the conventional courses for the academic year 2000-2001 is 4,59,061. The enrolment of students in the vocational courses for the academic year 2000-01 is 14,500.
Vision 2020 Goals and Development Targets:
The aim of the Government is to usher in a “Knowledge Society” by the year 2020. The State higher education system would emphasise on providing courses which lead to development of specialized and technical skills in the students, through Professional Courses in emerging areas such as Information and Communication Technology, Engineering, Bio-technology, Environmental Management, etc. A.P. State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE):
APSCHE would be actively involved in introducing innovative educational programmes, evolving new programmes considering the required changes in the field. Universities:
Universities would have to strive to improve the quality of higher education and also encourage more and more institutions to go for assessment and accreditation of their courses. Further, it would also be the endeavour to see that well established colleges get autonomous status so that academic performance of these institutions would improve. The Universities would continue to provide the leadership in the matter of higher education in the rapidly changing social, economic and technological environment. To play this role effectively they would have to establish enduring relationship with industry and research bodies both at home and abroad. Technical Education:
The basic strategy as laid down in the Vision – 2020 document for higher education including technical education is to ensure an enabling environment conducive to rapid growth, particularly by encouraging private investment. The following are the thrust areas: a) Increase in private investment in Technical Education. b) Introduction of flexibility in choosing subjects of study. c) Designing courses in tune with industry requirements. d) Creating centers of excellence. Further, while involving the private sector, the following are also required to be ensured. a) Access for the poor and disadvantaged groups. b) Regulating quality and administrative standards. c) Maintenance of transparent procedure and standards for admission. It is also proposed to introduce networking of various institutions so that the institutions of higher learning would share their resources and take up other co-operative activities for raising standards. It is proposed to increase the seats in Engineering Colleges by 15% every year. Government has notified 46 places for opening new engineering colleges during 2001-02 and 2002-03. This would give a further boost to engineering education in the state. A decision was taken to sanction colleges in the uncovered areas of the state. The following tables show the past and the projected growth of Engineering and Professional Colleges:
Engineering Colleges: Year
No. of colleges
Intake
1994-95
32
9335
1995-96
37
10155
1996-97
37
10455
1997-98
57
14155
1998-99
89
19773
1999-2000
102
25064
2000-2001
106
30716
2001-2005
245
70000
Growth in information technology education: Year
No. of Engineering
No. of Engineering Seats in IT
Colleges 2000-2001
106
18041
2001-2005
245
36287
Expansion of Professional Education:
As a result of the pro-active policy adopted by the Government, the state has witnessed an impressive growth in the facilities for MBA/MCA education as shown in the table. Year
MBA Colleges
Intake
MCA Colleges
Intake
1996-97
57
2145
44
1320
1997-98
81
3000
75
2770
1998-99
92
3825
99
3020
1999-2000
109
4660
152
4040
2000-2001
110
4680
162
6395
2001-2005
222
9413
326
12863
It is also proposed to provide increased opportunities to Diploma holders to upgrade their qualifications for upward mobility by increasing intake to 10% in Engineering Courses from the existing level of 5%. Government would also examine the feasibility of raising some resources for maintaining, improving the quality of infrastructure and teaching standards to enable them to remain competitive and viable.
Community Polytechnics:
At present there are 44 Polytechnics offering Community Polytechnic Schemes for imparting skills to the rural unemployed. Degree Colleges:
An effort will be made to achieve 60% of vocationalisation of courses in the year 2020 at a growth level of 10% per year. It is expected to achieve 25% of enrolment in vocational courses compared to the present level of 11.5% by the year 2005. Restructuring of Courses:
It is proposed to introduce restructured courses integrating the conventional and vocational courses. The lecturers in degree colleges will be imparted training through refresher courses and it is programmed to expose all college teachers to refresher courses in related restructured subjects to enhance knowledge and teaching skills. During the year 2000-2001, 31 refresher courses have been organized effecting training of about 2200 lecturers in the State. During the year 2001-2002 it is programmed to organize 60 refresher courses for 4000 teachers in the State. To achieve this, the system of Higher Education has to lay more emphasis on vocationalisation, restructuring, training of lecturers. At present 100 Government Colleges out of 176 have introduced restructured courses and by 2005 it is expected that all 176 Government Colleges would offer restructured courses. For this purpose refresher courses are being organized for the lecturers Autonomous Colleges:
It is also proposed to continuously strive for enhancing the standards of education in the State. This is proposed to be achieved by encouraging more and more colleges to attain autonomous status. There are at present 16 colleges which are autonomous. It is proposed to prepare 10 Government Colleges and 10 private colleges for grant of autonomy during the current year. The policy would be continued and by the year 2005 it is expected that 80 more colleges would take steps to become autonomous. It is also proposed to make Computer knowledge of an appropriate standard compulsory for all students of degree courses in the State. Intermediate Education: Stress on Vocationalisation
Government have decided to strengthen the Intermediate level education and bring it within
reach of all aspirants. A suitable policy framework has been evolved for the location of privately managed junior colleges. Government have also decided to facilitate starting of new Junior College in all the 527 college-less mandals by the year 2005 by giving suitable incentives such as reduction of corpus fund, phased refund of the corpus fund after 4 years and per capita grant for each student admitted for 2 batches ( to be completed within a period of 3 years) The Vision 2020 Document has laid down that 70% of enrolment of Intermediate Courses by the year 2020 shall be in Vocational Courses. At present there are 14,500 students enrolled in the Vocational Courses, which is a little over 3% of the total enrolment. In order to achieve the target it is planned to increase enrolment by 3 to 4% annually. It is also targeted that the enrolment in Vocational Education should reach 18% by the year 2005 by enrolling one lakh students in 23 new Vocational Courses which are relevant to the emerging job market and have been introduced recently. More of such courses would added in the years to come. Government have also simplified the procedure for opening of vocational sections in existing colleges or opening of Junior Colleges exclusively for vocational courses. Courses of Lecturer
Refresher Courses are organized for Junior Lecturers to improve their knowledge and also to train them for offering the restructured courses. Considering the importance of English Language in Communication skills, special reorientation classes are being planned to be held for English Junior Lecturers. The following are the details of the teachers being trained. During 2000-2001 about 3,000 Junior Lecturers would be trained and a similar number trained in the year 2001-2002. Counselling for transfers:
It is also proposed to evaluate the performance of the teachers based on the performance of students and introduce performance based counseling for transfer and posting of teachers in junior and degree colleges. Stress on Computer Education for all:
It needs no emphasis today that a student without computer knowledge coming out of the College will find extremely difficult to get along in the present Information Technology system. Several initiatives are being taken by the Government at the School level and Intermediate level for imparting computer skills and literacy. It is considered necessary that computer education of the appropriate standards is made compulsory at the Degree level irrespective of the subject. Such education would provide a degree holder a professional tool and make him much more flexible in choosing various professions and jobs. Accordingly, it is decided to make computer education compulsory in all the Degree Colleges from the academic year 2003-2004. It is proposed to provide a room in the Colleges located in big towns to the Private agencies to set up Computer Literacy classes. The agencies shall impart training to the students during working hours by collecting a nominal fee. The agency shall be free to run the training classes to the
outsiders before and after College hours. Involving the Community in development of Institutions:
Government have also decided to involve the local community in the planning and development of degree colleges and junior colleges by setting up the College Development Committees in the Junior Colleges and the College and Planning Development Councils for degree colleges. Recognition of Excellence:
To recognize the services of outstanding teachers Government have introduced the schemes of State Awards for the best teachers under which 58 persons have been given the best teacher awards in the year 2000. Government have also constituted the Pratibha Awards for recognizing meritorious students and granting them scholarships for higher studies. Under this scheme 2,460 scholarships during the year 1999-2000 have been sanctioned. The scheme is being continued. Special Coaching to SC & ST students:
Special coaching classes to SC & ST students for EAMCET in 6 centres and IPE in 11 centres are being conducted at various centers in the State to help them improve their performance in exams. It is proposed to introduce coaching facilities for EAMCET and other entrance test in Government Junior Colleges and Government Degree Colleges self financing basis. Strategy and Policy Interventions: Universities:
Universities would have to share resources while utilizing the available resources optimally, initiate new forms of academic collaboration by adopting new technologies, introduce on-line networking facility among universities not only to prepare a data-base of learning resources but concentrate on their strengths and produce quality materials for use by other institutions. Universities will also be encouraged to go in for consultancy and mobilize resources which could be used for the development of the University. A high power Research Board at the State Level would be constituted for Research and Development work, for innovations in curriculum and in teaching and learning. The Research Board would act as a sensitive antenna to forecast the anticipate future trends in the academic and employment sector. It will have to think in the future tense and act in the present and provide an early warning system for change management. A corpus of Rs.1 crore is to be set apart for competitive bidding by universities in sending proposals for consideration for innovations in Research and Development.
As the University is a learning organization, emphasis will be given to periodical training and retraining of teachers to update their knowledge in their respective fields. While it is understandable that there would be lot of demand for courses which offer prospects of immediate employment, it is also to be ensured that sufficient number of students would continue to take up studies in the field of science, basic engineering disciplines, humanities and arts and social sciences so that the treasure of knowledge is enriched and the supply of skilled man power is maintained these fields also. Priority Programmes and Schemes Universities:
It is proposed to establish networking of Higher Education Institutions by using new technologies. This will also enable establishment of networking of Higher and Professional institutions in the State. New Coalition between Industry and University:
The methodology also enables academic institutions to form new coalition between Industry and Institutions of Higher Learning. Once we incorporate some enabling provisions in the statutes of the Universities, recognition can be accorded to corporate training institutes as also governments own institutes like MCIHRD to award Diplomas and Degrees. Resource Mobilisation:
In addition to the existing financial support by the Government, the Institutions of Higher Education will be encouraged to mobilize additional resources by achieving better interaction with the industry and business and take up research and consultancy projects in a mutually beneficial manner. The Universities and Colleges will also be facilitated to take up self-financing courses so that there is optimum utilization of available faculty. Universities would also be required to have a close scrutiny on their own internal financial management and gradually attain viability. Network of Engineering Colleges:
Apart from Universities, technical institutions will also have a separate networking of their own. They have already registered a society for this purpose. This is perhaps the first such initiative in the country which would provide electronic class rooms and video conferencing facility for delivering of lecturers by the best faculty in various disciplines. The Degree colleges offering BCA and MCA programmes can also have a networking on similar lines. It is also proposed to encourage excellence in teaching by having a proper system of assessment. Assessment of teachers will also be done by the students. Performance of the students will also be evaluated and a counselling system will be introduced for improving their
performance. Degree Colleges
The following measures would transform the field of collegiate education in the next two years. 1. Encouraging participation by the community in the planning and implementation at the college level through CPDC. 2. Vocationalising the courses by introducing computers, IT as one of their core group subjects and introducing BCA course keeping in view the students demand. 3. Changing / Restructuring the subjects at regular intervals keeping in view of social needs. 4. Teachers training with orientation and refresher courses. 5. Establishing community colleges to offer certificate courses, diploma courses to the community at their neighbourhood. 6. Granting autonomy to the colleges to make suitable decisions at their levels in starting the courses and in procuring and expending the funds. 7. Continuous assessment of quality through state accreditation and assessment councils or through NAAC to maintain good standards. 8. KU band programme to extend quality teaching learning process uniformly to all the students in the state utilizing the experienced teachers’ services. Already recording schedules for preparation of 400 cassettes is prepared and at various stages of implementation. 9. Starting of PG courses with computers, IT, electronics, bio-technology subjects as specialization for advance studies and research work in each district. 10. Computer knowledge of appropriate standards would be made compulsory in all degree course and operationalised by academic year 2003-2004. Distance Education
Distance Education offers a methodology which would provide wider and better access to all forms of education. Hence, the Government would emphasize a creative use of new technologies to provide skill based training programmes to the non-formal sector as also for training and retraining of teachers on the job. With the help of networking technologies, there is scope for offering on line training programmes also. Technical Education
State Government have facilitated setting up of Indian Institute of Information Technology at Hyderabad by bringing together the world leaders in IT industry. This institution offers world class courses in IT related subjects. The programmes requiring priority involve encouraging the setting up of institutions, starting new courses and also motivating the existing institutions to restructure their courses particularly by carrying out innovations in the field of information technology. As a result of this the following
programmes have been taken up. a. Master of Science (Information Technology): This prestigious programme is being grounded in collaboration with the APSCHE, local universities and IIIT in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, USA. The core strength of this programme is to combine the benefits of distance learning systems with an institutional arrangement for mentoring the students. The mentors selected in the learning centres will guide the students in a flexible manner so as to maintain the pace of the course according to the needs of the students. Further, the students are also from diverse backgrounds and the course is expected to offer degrees co-signed by local universities and CMU of USA. b. Opening of Engineering Staff College: The UGC has given a grant of Rs. 18.5 lakhs towards initial infrastructure to establish an Engineering Staff College in JNTU. This is expected to provide a platform for training the teachers in engineering colleges particularly in private sector to upgrade their quality and skills. c. Master of Science (Information System): The terminal courses like BCA and B.Sc. (Computers Science) do not provide opportunities for further higher learning. The MSIS course is being planned under the overall guidance of APSCHE to be taken up in all the universities in the State with the target group comprising of the students from non-engineering background. This will also provide vertical mobility to the students in newly sanctioned BCA colleges. d. P.G. Diploma tailored to the needs of the B.A., B.Sc., B.Com. graduates are offered in all the Universities in the State. P.G. Diploma in Management Information Systems and P.G. Diploma in Computer Applications are highly popularized diplomas providing opportunity for graduate students to acquire computer knowledge.P.G. Diploma like foreign trade, international business tourism are under preparation to be offered from the academic year 2001-2002. e. The State Board of Technical Education and Training has also started a scheme for giving affiliation to private computer training institutions in 18 short term computer courses. f.
In order to impart basic computer skills to all the students studying in technical education system, knowledge of computers and programming has been made compulsory irrespective of the branch of study both at the diploma and degree level in Engineering.
Intermediate Education
The following are the Priority Programmes for the Intermediate Education in the State: 1. Encourage private initiative in setting up the Junior Colleges. 2. Suitable incentives have been evolved for opening Junior colleges in 527 college-less mandals so that mandals would have Junior Colleges by 2005. 3. Strengthen and popularise Vocational Education. Bring about integration of vocational courses with conventional courses in Arts/Social Sciences. Better interaction and coordination with industry and business. Provide vertical mobility for Intermediate by running suitable degree course. Allow SSC failed to provisionally join vocational course.
4. Involve local community for mobilising resources and development of infrastructural facilities in the colleges. 5. Improve the Science Laboratories and provide hostel facilities for girls with the help of Govt. of India or External Funding Agencies.
Source: http://www.aponline.gov.in/ Access time: 04/03/2003
