The article highlights major challenges in India’s higher education system, especially in engineering and technology fields. It points out that while more colleges and IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) have opened to increase access to education, most students graduating from these colleges do not have the basic skills that industries need. Research institutes also struggle to find well-prepared students for advanced studies. This lack of skilled graduates is becoming a serious issue for India’s industries, research institutions, and overall growth.

Main Problems

1. Poor Teaching Quality: A key problem is the low quality of teaching in many colleges. Teachers are often more focused on publishing research papers and getting patents (which help their college rankings) instead of improving their teaching. This results in poorly trained graduates who struggle in the job market.
2. Skill Gap: Companies and research institutes want skilled graduates, but they’re finding it hard to hire qualified candidates. The gap between what students learn in college and what jobs require is growing.
3. Faculty Shortages: There are not enough qualified teachers in many colleges, and this shortage could become a bigger problem over time.
4. Wasted Resources: Large amounts of funding are being directed towards advanced fields like quantum computing and artificial intelligence, but without skilled people, this money won’t be effectively used.

Suggestions for Improvement

The article suggests some key solutions to improve higher education:

1. Focus on Teaching Quality over Research: Teaching-focused colleges should not put so much pressure on teachers to produce research papers. Instead, they should focus on improving teaching skills and methods. Teachers should be evaluated more on how well they teach rather than on their research output.
2. Separate Rankings for Colleges: Colleges that focus mainly on teaching should be ranked based on their teaching quality, not on research metrics. This would encourage them to concentrate on educating students better.
3. Collaborations with Research Institutes: To improve the skill levels of students, teaching colleges could work closely with top research institutes like the IITs. For example, students from teaching colleges could spend their final years studying at a research institute, benefiting from a higher level of education. Teachers from research institutes could also train teachers from teaching colleges.
4. Joint Degree Programs: The article proposes joint degree programs where students from teaching colleges could complete part of their degree at a research institute. This way, students get a “hybrid” degree and better training, improving their job and research prospects.
5. Incentives for Good Teaching: To improve teaching quality, funding bodies could support special centers for teaching excellence, where teachers can develop better teaching skills. State and central governments could support and reward institutions that focus on high-quality teaching.

Expected Outcomes

These suggestions aim to improve the quality of education in Indian colleges, making graduates more skilled and better prepared for jobs and research. By focusing more on teaching and less on low-quality research, colleges can create a stronger foundation for India’s workforce. If applied across different fields like engineering, science, humanities, and arts, these changes could create a larger pool of skilled people who are ready to contribute to India’s growth and innovation.

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Time for Action. Climate Conference in Baku, Ajerbaijan. The Hindu Editorial Explanation 5th November 2024.