The gross enrolment ratio (GER), designates a nation’s total student enrolment at a specific level of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of population in the official age group corresponding to this level. The GER in India’s higher education is merely 15%.

Infrastructural facilities, competence of teachers and research activities are some other factors that determine the overall quality of higher education. The regulatory bodies have failed to discharge their responsibility towards the maintenance of standards of higher education. The national knowledge commission and Yash Pal committee have advocated radical reforms in higher education so that it would produce a super-specialised human resource instead of a crowd of literates. The HRD ministry has also shown some enthusiasm for initiating reforms in higher education.

At the first step, the salaries of the college/university teachers have been hiked to attract and retain the best teachers in the profession. However, it may prove inadequate as the new jobs are being offered only on contractual basis.

The higher education in India comprises many distinct and divergent streams monitored by an apex body, indirectly controlled by the ministry. There were 20 universities and 500 colleges at the time of independence. By December 2009, there were 504 universities and university-level institutions, 243 state universities, 53 state private universities, 40 central universities, 130 deemed universities and 33 institutions of national importance established under Acts of parliament. In addition, there were 25,951 colleges. At the beginning of the academic year 2009-10, the total number of students enrolled, in the universities and colleges has been reported at 136.42 lakh (12.24% in university departments and 87.76% in affiliated colleges). The regular faculty strength in universities was 0.90 lakh (15%) and 4.98 lakh (85%) in colleges, totalling 5.89 lakh.

Quality of education primarily depends upon the availability of educational infrastructure and the quality of faculty. Recent years have shown some drastic improvements in the infrastructural developments. On faculty side, the central and state governments are spending good amounts on the salary bills of this resource. The salary structure and the recruitment and promotion rules of the faculty members in these institutions are adopted from UGC recommendations issued from time to time. The sixth pay commission has recommended higher pay packages and promotional opportunities to teachers working in colleges and universities. But two important issues are interfering with the quality of higher education.

States have a bigger say
The confusion in policy making and implementation stems from constitutional provisions. The education was a state subject in the colonial government. A similar provision was also adopted in the constitution.

Till the 42nd amendment to the constitution in 1976, which placed education in the concurrent list, education was in the state list, except for certain specified items in the union list like determination of standards in institutions for higher education or research, establishment and maintenance of the central universities as well as the specified institutions for scientific or technical education and research. This hardly had any major effect on the centre-state relationship in respect of higher education as this was more or less on the concurrent list.

The significance of this amendment was not that the centre acquired more powers in respect of higher education. Its significance was that even in respect of other levels of education, it could now legislate and such legislation would have precedence over the state legislation. The objective of incorporating education in the concurrent list was to facilitate the evolution of all-India policies in the field. States, however, continue to exercise main responsibility for planning and administration of school education. Despite the prominence of centre over states, the regulations proposed by the agencies like UGC and approved by the HRD ministry are not implemented by the states. Economic and political compulsions of states and the centre have created a lot of confusion over the years thus compromising on uniformity and the quality improvement.

What about teachers?
The second issue affecting quality of higher education is related to the system support, motivation and efficiency of university and college teachers. We already understand the reasons for less attraction towards teaching professions despite salaries being offered at par with the civil servants. Leaving aside all disincentives in the profession, certain interventions can still restore its prestige especially when there is dearth of good teachers and researchers.

The time spent on holidays, examination, evaluation and admission processes curtails the effective teaching sessions and creative activity in universities and colleges. The syllabus is also not revised so frequently and if revised the issues are readjusted between different courses of the programme and have little impact in terms of reading and consulting new literature. These issues obviously slow down the growth of intellectual minds. Declining popularity of traditional degree courses is also curtailing the students’ feedback pressures on teachers. Due to these two factors, teachers’ motivation to read more literature and update their skills has seen a big decline.

Those teachers who are motivated due to their personal goal settings are an exception. Aspirations for higher job pursuits and better job satisfaction are the two important factors that keep these people academically alive. These teachers apply for the research projects with much difficulty at the establishment level in the institute and the department level in the government. States embroil them in the red-tapism of ‘permissions’ and ‘proper channel application NOCs’.

The financial support is also negligible at the state level except some sort of funding from agencies like UGC. UGC recommendations with respect to mandatory participation in orientation/refresher courses are linked to career advancement schemes. However, the process to seek departmental permission for attending these programmes and academic activities like workshops and seminars is complicated and centralized at top levels. It is even more complicated, if teachers aspire for research and academic activities outside the country.

The question here is whether teachers are required to perform under static environment or in dynamic conditions where their personal growth is automatically linked to the higher standards of education. They need to be motivated for such pursuits through personal incentives in terms of career advancement options based on credits as have been done in the newly introduced UGC regulations.

The successful implementation however will require efficient support systems based on decentralised decision making. The current state of affairs in most states is very bad in this aspect. In some cases, bureaucratic delays in interpretations and decision making stretch up to five years till the next pay commission comes out with a new set of rules and recommendations. In this way teachers across states are wasting a lot of time and energy on getting UGC recommendations implemented and anomalies solved. Indifference on the part of the employer also brings indifference among employees, especially in the government sector.

Though some measures in terms of higher salaries and infrastructural spending have a favourable effect on the quality of education but major reforms are needed to develop an automatic mechanism wherein teachers are motivated for skill enhancement, professional recognition and career advancement. Research work and scientific writings are required for improving the teaching standards at higher levels. It helps not only in understanding theoretical contributions to the discipline but also in applying knowledge to real issues.

The research in social sciences at micro levels may be utilised for policy making. The inter-disciplinary research and teaching will also benefit the students beyond their disciplines and bring out the teachers from shallow disciplinary walls. The holistic view to higher education with a defined link between continuous learning, incentives, and system support will enhance the overall quality of education.

What needs to be done
To effectively implement the national policy on higher education across the states, the guidelines issued by UGC and similar agencies must be made mandatory to all of them once approved by the ministry.

For teachers’ motivation, it is essential that the necessary incentives are provided and linked to the measures like academic performance indicator (API). System support must be well defined with minimal red-tape as the research and teaching assignments require a free mind in order to evolve new ideas. Authorities must clearly define the processes and timelines for departmental permissions in areas where they feel it indispensable. It should be taken as a ‘deemed decision’ if not addressed within timeline. Decentralisation of powers with the immediate head in the institution who understand all rules and conditions better than anyone will prove effective.

Subscription of journals and books (as done with the e-Consortium and N-List initiative of the government of India) and the internet access have to be provided in all institutions. The current practice of having common staff rooms, especially in colleges, have to be replaced with the individual work stations. The institution must periodically bring out a print or electronic newsletter or bulletin to highlight the achievements of teachers and students. The institute website must also host the complete profile of teachers so as to put inter-personal pressures based on competitiveness in skill development and contributions to the knowledge.