Indian higher education needs to be reformed
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's observation at the convocation ceremony of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences that India lags behind in medical research cannot be faulted. Despite this country offering quality healthcare that attracts patients from around the world, including the developed West, the fact of the matter remains that the quality of research that is done at Indian medical colleges and universities remains much to be desired. And this is true not just in the field of medicine but across all streams of higher education in India. Those still in doubt need only look at the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings. One of the world's three most prestigious rankings, it does not feature a single Indian institute of advanced learning in the top 275. Just four Indian institutes make it to the top 400 — Panjab University and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, are in the 276 to 300 bracket (there are no individual rankings beyond 200) while the Indian Institutes of Technology at Bombay and Roorkee scrape the bottom in the 351-400 bracket. Some academics here have complained that such ratings, which inevitably come out West heavy at the top with American and European universities leading the list, are not ‘East friendly'. They argue that the ratings are biased as they hold Indian education up to Western standards. While there may be some truth in this, it does not explain how other Asian universities, judged with the same Western yardstick, continue to climb the ratings chart. In fact, over the years Western domination has been on the decline while universities from Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even Turkey and Israel, have consistently improved their scores.
The ratings look at several factors such as teaching environment, research quality, industry application and international exposure among others. India ranks lowly on almost all fronts but performs especially poorly in academic research, which is simply not given adequate institutional, social or policy-level support. Consequently, most serious Indian scholars move abroad, where they shine, yes, but are also sucked into the Western academic eco-system. Meanwhile, Indian academia lies impoverished which eventually takes a civilisational toll on the nation as well. One reason that is oft-cited for India's listless research fields is that students prefer an ‘industry-oriented' higher education. While this only feeds into India's larger research malaise, it is also an argument that does not hold water even at face value given that Indian industry routinely complains that Indian graduates maybe certified but are not employable. Clearly, there is a large-scale deficit in the Indian education sector. Instead of passing the blame, Indian academics and policy-makers need to acknowledge the problem and begin a large-scale reforms project. Rejuvenating the research sector is a good place to start.