Higher Education in J&K State – Issues and Challenges

1. Higher Education in J&K State – Issues and Challenges Concluding workshop of the 60th General Orientation Course UGC-Academic Staff College MODERATED BY: DR GEER M ISHAQ

2. 1.INNOVATION AND DIVERSIFICATION • Lack of initiative, innovation, skills, independent constructive mindset and creative ideals characterize today’s system of our university education. • We need to shift from a system that encourages memorization in learning processes and theoretical explanation to areas that need practical illustration. • Need of the hour is to keep pace with brisk technological advancements in teaching learning process. • The role of a teacher in university education should change from knowledge disseminator to knowledge creator. • Emphasis should be laid on making university education more professional/vocational so as to make our pass-outs more acceptable in job markets of the world.

3. 1.INNOVATION AND DIVERSIFICATION • We also need to diversify our education by making more subject combinations available. • Vertical movement of students has to be diversified and made more choice-based. • For ages same courses are being offered by our University departments with little scope for new specializations and upcoming programmes. • We need to offer more specializations in all existing subjects and faculties and introduce new subjects wherever not available at present, so that our students emerge as specialists in specific areas rather than ending up being generalists.

4. 1.INNOVATION AND DIVERSIFICATION Technology: • Industrial Production, Biomedical Technology, Nanotechnology, Metallurgical Technology, Fashion Technology, Micro-processor Technology, Embedded Systems, Diagnostic Imaging Technology, Hydraulic Engineering, Building Automation, Stem Cell Technology, Medical Lab Technology, Propulsion Technology, Nuclear Science Technology, Hotel Management, Harvest Technology, Microbial Technology etc. Chemistry: • Polymer Chemistry; Textile Chemistry; Hydro Chemistry; Electro Chemistry; Environmental Chemistry; Petrochemistry; Analytical Chemistry; Industrial Chemistry; Applied Chemistry; Pharm. Chemistry; Chemistry of Natural Products. Physics: • Astrophysics; Geophysics; Nuclear Physics; Optical Physics; Biophysics; Particle Physics, Materials and Devices, Biosensors, Cosmology, Non-linear dynamics etc. Botany: • Ethnobotany; Paleobotany; Economic Botany; Phytochemistry; Phytomedicine; Agronomy; Phytopathology; Phytogenetics; Bryology; Phycology; Palynology etc.

5. 1.INNOVATION AND DIVERSIFICATION Management: • Rural Management, Urban Management, Hospital Management; Investment Management; Software Enterprise Management; Management Information Systems; Insurance Management; Education Management etc. Commerce: • Business Statistics; Business Law; E-Commerce; Investments; Insurance; Corporate Tax Planning; Agricultural Marketing; Consumer Protection; Rural Finance & Credit; Advertising; International Business; Entrepreneurship Development etc. Life Sciences: • Cell Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Biophysics and Structural Biology, Immunology, Biostatistics, Radiation Biology, Virology etc. Economics and Social Sciences: • Business Economics, International Finance, International Economics, Economics of public sector, Privatization and Deregulation, Agriculture and Environmental Economics, Resource Economics, Political Economy, International Trade, Macro Economics, Monetary Economics, Political Economy, Development Economics etc.

6. 2. MODERNIZATION AND AUGMENTATION • There is need to modify conventional teaching methodologies and introduce recent advances in technology into the teaching-learning process. • We must switch over from chalk and talk to more interactive mode of teaching and learning by making use of audio-visual aids, e-contents, databases, e-resources etc. • Adequate infrastructure, faculty, staff, funds and other facilities should also be made available to all university teaching departments and other affiliated higher educational institutions. • Adhocism and contractualismin higher education that has led to mediocrity should be abolished. • Prior to opening up of new colleges and new university campuses, adequate infrastructure, faculty and other facilities should be made available. • Diversion of faculty from old to new institutions or from main to satellite campuses must be done away with.

7. 3. INTEGRATION AND INTERACTION • Integrated efforts should be made by all stake holders in converting our higher educational institutes into the centres of knowledge and excellence. • There is need for greater integration, collaboration and better coordination between primary, secondary, higher secondary and university level education in the state and to have a supervisory council with advisory status for integration of these three units. • Interdisciplinary education must be fostered at all levels. • Academia-industry and academia-society interactions must be enhanced at all levels. • There should be greater autonomy to institutions of higher learning. Concept of autonomous colleges needs to be seriously considered. • A well-planned and structured interaction to be developed between Centres of Academic Excellence and our Universities/Colleges.

8. 4. EXTENSION AND APPLICATION • We need to augment residential facilities available to students as well as teachers at district, sub-district and block level. • Extended library facilities should be made available beyond normal working hours in all degree colleges. • In view of limited intake capacity in colleges and universities, distance mode of education should be fostered and expanded to enhance accessibility to education. • Second stream of courses, say vocational, be run in the evening/night so that the available /created infrastructure is better utilized. • Meritorious students coming from lower income groups could be used as teachers so that they can be partly be compensated. • Quality of research work has to be drastically improved. • Research work has to be made more applied, socially relevant and productive.

9. 5. ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION • Principles of total quality management (TQM) procedures need to be adopted in teaching, research and extension at the institutions of higher education. • A teacher must be evaluated not only for his teaching but also for his research and extension activities. • Regular internal assessment of teachers should be carried out through students. • Carry out regular review and reforms of conventional examination and evaluation patterns. • Non-scholastic aspects of the learners’ personality should also be assessed. • Assessment of all educational institutes by NAAC, NAB etc should be made mandatory and financial support to be provided in accordance with the ranks obtained therein. • All university departments and affiliated institutions offering technical courses must offer courses duly approved by AICTE and other relevant Councils like MCI, PCI, Nursing Council of India etc.

10. 6. INCENTIVIZATION AND HARMONIZATION • Creative skills and competitive spirits of the students of university education should be encouraged in order to make them accomplished achievers rather than passive knowledge-seekers. • In order to make our students better citizens, value based education for inculcating ethics and morality among them needs to be reinforced. • Link education with livelihood and make it job-oriented. • Professional and vocational education should be fostered and employability promoted to alleviate skill-deprivation among students. • The shifting from traditional incremental budgeting to performance based one is now necessary to arrest the erosion in quality. • Good performance must be suitably rewarded.

11. 7. PARTNERSHIP AND PRIVATIZATION • Privatization of education should be allowed in a controlled fashion and subject to a strict regulatory mechanism under the aegis of a regulatory authority or higher education council. • Partnership should be the key to development rather than complete privatization of the education sector. • Possibilities under public private partnership (PPP) model of education need to be explored in view of Govt. constraints in terms of GER, STR, investments, infrastructure, quality, innovation etc. • PPP shall not only reduce the burden of Government in incurring high cost of providing basic infrastructure facilities but also lead to construction of state of the art buildings, labs, libraries, hostels etc.

12. 8. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY • Alongside providing better perks and remuneration to teachers and non-teaching staff, they should be made more accountable. • Transparency in educational institutions should be enhanced. • Recruitment and transfer procedures and policies in educational institutions should also be made more transparent. • Admission policy in colleges and universities needs to be streamlined and made fool-proof. • Admission should be strictly made on the basis of total intake capacity of the institution and the merit of aspiring candidates. • Political interference in academic matters like admissions, appointments, promotions, transfers etc has to be got rid of. • Irregularities must be thoroughly probed and culprits punished in order to create deterrence against corruption and gratification..

13. 9. PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION • Prior to opening up of new colleges, there should be proper planning to make adequate infrastructure, faculty and other facilities available well in time. • Haphazard and unplanned expansion of higher educational institutes has to be halted. • Promulgate a new robust and comprehensive state education policy. • Bridge the gap between academia and policy-makers and frame policies after mutual consultation with academia. • Reports and recommendations submitted by various expert committees and academicians should be promptly implemented and same should find place in the ultimate policies of the government.

14. 10. REORIENTATION AND CONSOLIDATION • Address gross academic issues like admissions, syllabi, coordination, faculty strength, examination, research etc effectively and consolidate upon the gains made so far. • Training and placement of pass-outs should be made an integral part of University education besides conducting refresher courses and QIPs for teachers on regular basis. • Provide greater autonomy to well-established premier degree level colleges, particularly in designing their own curricula, making admissions and conducting examinations/evaluation etc. • Orientation of students towards professional subjects needs to be done at an earlier stage so as to provide greater avenues and foster their inherent capabilities in one particular stream rather than making them study all kinds of subjects irrespective of their personal interests and inclinations.

15. THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION THIS PROPOSAL HAS BEEN ADJUDGED AMONG TOP THREE BY THE RISING KASHMIR CONCLAVE