Modernisation of courses, revision of curriculum and reform of the examination system are imperative to bring in quality improvements on a scale that would match the quantitative expansion in the higher education sector, C. Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said on Sunday.
Delivering the 17th annual convocation address at the GSS Jain College for Women, Dr. Rangarajan said that while the quality of our best students was not in doubt, it was the average that had come down even as there has been a tremendous expansion of higher education facilities in the country.
“Deterioration in quality, resource crunch and the consequent poor infrastructure and serious problems of governance caused both by the quantitative expansion and the present system of educational administration are some of the concerns,” he said.
Noting that improving quality required action on many fronts, Dr. Rangarajan said the most imperative need is the modernisation of syllabus to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. “There has to be a constant review of course content so that our students are kept abreast of modern developments,” he said.
Alongside this is the emerging need to reform the examination system, Dr. Rangarajan said. He called for a revamp of the present evaluation system which was more often a test of memory than an appraisal of a student's critical abilities.
“The revamp of the examination system must incorporate two basic features — the process of assessment must be continuous so that the interest of the students can be maintained all through and that the examinations do not become purely a test of memory. Second, the examination must test the critical and analytical abilities of students,” he said.
Noting that efficient teaching was the key to the promotion of academic excellence, Dr. Rangarajan urged teachers to make the course interesting to students and at the same time keep themselves apprised of the latest developments in their disciplines.
Students, on their part, must regard learning as an exciting experience, Dr. Rangarajan said. Students must show a genuine desire to learn and be the ones demanding a more rigorous education and better examination system, he said.
According to Dr. Rangarajan, the system of affiliated colleges worked fine so long as the number of colleges was limited.
With the growth in the number of affiliate colleges, the task of improving quality of education remained a challenge.
