1. CRISIS IN TECHNICAL / HIGHER
EDUCATION
Uma Garimella
Teacher’s Academy
www.theprofessor.in
2. CAPACITY BUILDING
There has been a concerted effort to privatize education to cope with
growing need of the population – the sheer numbers and also
even the agriculture/business families see education as a means to growth
Recommended teacher student ratio for under graduate is 1:25
and for graduate it is 1:10.
Source: University Grants Commission (UGC) report from
http://www.ugc.ac.in/pub/index.html#report
5. ACCESS TO TECHNICAL EDUCATION
Phenomenal increase in access by establishing 4000+
colleges in India
In AP alone in 2011-12 there are 900 engineering 1004 MBA
674 MCA and 331 Pharmacy colleges (just about 2.5%
government/university colleges, the rest in private sector)
Admissions
Coaching institutes for success in entrance exams
Qualifying levels brought down
Student demographics have changed
Rural, regional language
Ignore interests, strengths and capability and choose
engineering only as a ‘trend’ or as ‘employment’ generator
Percentage of students interested in putting efforts for ‘learning’
<<< interested in ‘’degree’
Poor quality school education feeding into higher
education thus aggravating the problem
6. MISMATCH OF SUPPLY-DEMAND
Colleges > Students < GDP
Many seats remain vacant. Number still does not address talent shortage.
7. SUPPLY-DEMAND-QUALITY
Students and families want education which may
improve their prospects of employability and
upward mobility.
Time for colleges / universities and policy-makers
to focus on qualitative dimension of the demand
and adapt to it to remain relevant and
competitive.
AICTE received only 400 applications for 2012
as compared to 1,067 in 2011, and was 2,176 the
year before. Has the private sector woken up?
8. FORMATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL
UNIVERSITIES
Past model was to affiliate colleges to the regional
universities
Tech Universities have become only ‘operations’
managers rather than agents for excellence in
research, teaching or innovations
Learning process
Templatization of labs, exams; scaling up has resulted in
mismanagement
Proliferation of ‘guide’ books that have past paper
solutions
The university colleges are autonomous and have their own
curriculum and evaluation processes and these issues don’t
apply to them – however they are busy in committees to
manage the affiliated colleges!
11. TEACHER EDUCATION
Competent in the subject with good
communication skills
Engaging the student to derive value from the
curriculum
Ensure students with high potential are excited
too (differentiated instruction)
Using IT for self growth and for teaching
Extending beyond curriculum – projects, labs
Enable students to gain higher order thinking
skills
Certifications in class room teaching,
teaching with IT, mentoring, counseling, lab
teaching that ensure minimum standards
12. STUDENT EDUCATION
The value of the curriculum
The content of the subjects they study may or
may not be directly useful in their job/life. But
each subject teaches a way of thinking.
Achieve their potential
Engage in group learning
Build higher order thinking skills
Build soft skills and general awareness – social
outreach
Learn to learn
Participative and active learning vs. rote
learning
13. PARENT EDUCATION
Understand strengths and interests of their
children for choice of career
Understand quality of education and learning vs.
marks and grades
Deal with issues at different stages of their
children’s education
14. INSTITUTION STRENGTHENING
Long term efforts in
Faculty training and motivation
Learning material preparation
Student awareness
Research capability
All stakeholder participation
360oPerformance appraisal
15. WHAT WE ARE DOING
E-Newsletter for teachers – 3000+ since 4.5 yrs
Workshops and lectures for teachers (reached
2500+ teachers)
Institutional strengthening
Appreciation and recognition of good teachers
(awards to 70 teachers for 2 yrs)
Student awareness sessions
Sharing IT resources on web site
Business mostly by word of mouth and references
