S. Bisaliah, economist and former Vice-Chancellor of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, has stressed on the need to upgrade the quality of higher education in India to accelerate economic growth.
He was addressing the 26th convocation of Kuvempu University at Jnana Sahyadri campus in Shankaraghatta on Thursday.
Mr. Bisaliah said that, at present, the quality of teaching and research in institutes of higher learning in the country was dismal. It is unfortunate that the gross enrolment ratio (GER) of students for higher education is far less than other developing nations like Brazil and China.
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It is necessary to take necessary measures to enhance the quality of higher education and to ensure its access to students from all strata of the society, he said.
For deprived sections
The government should enhance the expenditure on education to ensure better performance in GRI and Human Development Index.
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It is a known fact that students from low income groups and deprived sections of the society cannot afford to enrol in private institutions. The onus is on the government to improve the quality of education in State universities through adequate budgetary allocation and creating special learning opportunities for students from low-income groups and deprived sections, Mr. Bisaliah said.
Without the participation of youths from marginalised sections, the nation will not be able to make optimum utilisation of its vast pool of human resource. If India has to become a knowledge-based economy, the quality of higher education should be improved, he said.
Mr. Bisaliah called upon teachers to redesign their teaching methodologies to reach out to students in an effective manner. Classrooms should become more interactive, for which teachers should shift from lecture method to discussion method. Along with delivering academic knowledge, they should motivate students to develop creativity, communication and analytic skills, he said.
Knowledge generators
Institutions of higher education should not be mere consumers of knowledge, but should generate knowledge for which research activities need to be promoted. It is necessary to introduce a reward system for research that would motivate faculty members and students, Mr. Bisaliah added.
Governor Vajubhai R. Vala presented honorary doctorate to medical professional V. Lakshminarayan and industrialist H.V. Subrahmanya. Minister for Higher Education T.B. Jayachandra and Vice-Chancellor Jogan Shankar were present.