Reform in higher education an opportunity says HRD Minister Smriti Irani at EPSIs National Conference

Setting the agenda for reforms in higher education not as a challenge but as an opportunity, Smt Smriti Irani Minister of HRD, Government of India inaugurated EPSIs National Conference on the theme Reforming & Rejuvenating Indian Higher Education A Stakeholders Perspective on May 18, 2016 in New Delhi. Former Cabinet Secretary, Mr TSR Subramanian was the Guest of Honour. Mr Subramanian is currently heading the Drafting Committee for the proposed New Education Policy.

Speaking as the Chief Guest at the conference, Smt Irani said Currently Indian higher education is facing many ripples. However, I feel looking at an issue as a challenge brings negative connotation, but viewing at it as an opportunity will bring new perspective and inspiration. We need to leverage technology to benefit the education sector

Urging the Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI), Minister of HRD called upon the Society to identify such elements that are diluting the students interest just to gain financial benefits and are playing with the future of students. Addressing the conference she said I believe it is the students who are the main stakeholders and every policy and reform should revolve in the interest of the students.

Smt Irani revealed that many international MOOC (massive open online course) platforms despite claiming to be not-for-profit, are profiteering as they ask academicians and institutions to pay for designing and putting up a course. But the Indian MOOC platform Swayam is truly free.

Appealing the top institutes, she said We are engaging with IITs, IIMs, and Central universities, and have appealed to them to give us one diploma and one certificate course for one semester from the degree courses.
Seeking the co-operation and engagement of the academicians, she further said Give us the professor that you deem fit for engagement for that course and we will pay for the development of the course and the audio visual component, we will also pay the professors for their time and effort.

In the beginning, the content will be available in 10 languages and will be provided free to every Indian citizen. The regulator will also give credit for all these courses exclusively on the Swayam platform.
In the inaugural session, Dr H Chaturvedi, Alternate President, EPSI & Director, BIMTECH delivered the Keynote Address which captured the salient points included in the theme paper.
In his Keynote Address, Dr Chaturvedi talked about probable dangers if the Indian Higher Education is not reformed and rejuvenated in an expeditious manner. He said that for the last 25 years, we have been waiting for reforms to happen but earlier governments did not deliver it. He said the dangers facing the Indian Higher Education are currently not visible but are quite real and will have severe consequences.

Dr Chaturvedi said that disruptive technologies like MOOCS, artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality have already involved the big industries in US, Europe and worldwide. It is destined to disrupt higher education in India. He said the current jobless growth in the economy and the recruiters reluctance to accept the quality of young university graduates are giving sparking birth to violent agitations even among the young graduation who are from not-so-poor families.
Dr Chaturvedi was of the view that the future success of Make-in-India, Digital India, Start up India and 100 Smart Cities, will also require removal of all kinds of redundancies and obsolescence from our colleges and universities. Higher Education Reforms require huge investments to the tune of Rs.10 lakh crore which no government can provide in next five years or so. The current spending on higher education is 1.22 per cent of GNP needs to be enhanced to 2 per cent to 3 per cent of GNP at least, as otherwise reforms will not be successful.

Raising certain questions about the success of higher education reforms which need to be answered by policy makers, regulators, academicians and edu-entrepreneurs, he asked to fix the time frame for reforms; how to build consensus and how to bring it on the national agenda of the country? Another key concern he raised was how a trade-off should be made between autonomy and accountability of educational institutions.
EPSI, a not for profit autonomous society with mandate from Universities and institutions as its members is the frontrunner to deliberate on the issues and concern to raise education quality and attain benchmark standards of the national and international level.

Apart from the objective to lay down standards and quality of educational programs EPSI also takes initiative with an objective to advise or represent to Government, Local Authorities, Bodies on the policies adopted by them in relation to governance of education, if such policies or measures have a bearing directly or indirectly on this sector.