The world has narrowed to a neighbourhood; but it would take a long time for it to broaden to a brotherhood. We are yet to come together for the common public good.



With various countries vying with one another to either export or import higher education, it is of vital importance for India to have some understanding with other countries, to evolve a mutually beneficial and acceptable code of assessing and accrediting institutions of higher learning to achieve uniform international standards. This would facilitate skilled manpower movement freely beyond the narrow borders of our countries.



Is there need for India to have foreign institutions?



Whereas India would have an enormous demand for higher education in the next fifty years, as there would be more than 800 million young men and women looking for higher education, the present two hundred and ninety odd Universities would not be able to cater to all of them. Compared to some of the western countries; for example the UK, we have too few institutions of higher learning. While there are 335 Universities for 58.8 million people in the UK, India has only 290 for a population of nearly 1.2 billion. At that rate we would need at least 6,500 universities here. Hence the great demand for foreign universities.



Distance Educational needs.



There would also be an increased demand for distance education. In a vast country like India all the eligible students might not be able to reach the portals of an institution of higher learning. Education will have to be taken to their doorsteps in future to cover most of them. This would be easy with the present day communication facilities.



What should be the characteristics of the new university?



* Mainly privately supported but increasingly publicly accountable and socially committed.

* Academically independent, but constructively partnered.

* Knowledge-based, student centered, and research driven, but learning focussed.

* Technologically sophisticated but community dependent.

* Quality obsessed, but procedurally simple and efficient.

* Professionally managed but humanely informed.

* In the rapidly changing world greater emphasis must be given to flexibility.

* In the “knowledge industry”-the institutions should be able to move information more quickly and economically.

* Provide the student with all the infrastructural tools to learn for himself/herself.

* Academic mobility-national, transnational, student exchange, faculty exchange etc.

* Agency to strive to build confidence between the accrediting agency and the participating institution of higher education should be in place.

* Control of educational programs delivered electronically from outside and on shore.

* To achieve bilateral recognition of diplomas and certificates.

* To achieve student mobility.



Problems of governance: -



* University as a federation (or holding company) with as much autonomy as possible to the different units in human and financial resources.

* No multi-layered decision making. One level must be competent and the next only to control.

* Special budget for innovative courses or research and also the power to close down non-priority areas.

* Develop the university with a strategic plan that involves the whole community; the final decision rests with the head of the institution.

* Improve the management skills of the leaders.

* To provide guidelines for equivalency workload

* How to establish professional accreditation bodies where they do not exist?



Newer demands: -



With WTO and GATS coming into effect soon many foreign universities would show interest in India.

As of now there are more than thirty applicants with Govt. of India.

In India every University has to be under the control of many governmental watchdog bodies - ten to be precise! At times they could work at cross–roads. The true academic autonomy to innovate education is missing.

In the present scenario the foreign Universities would not have these disadvantages when they operate in India.

There is an urgent need to address this question to provide a level playing field for national as well as international players.

It would be better to have an international accreditation agency to have common standards acceptable all over the world; to assess and guide institutions of higher education in different counties.

This should have very close liaison with the national accreditation bodies in each country, e.g.: - National Accreditation and Assessment Council. (NAAC)

Periodic review of the guidelines of this international organization would help the growing needs of higher education.

This body better be a Non-Governmental set up for it to have authenticity and credibility.

There is an urgent need to accredit and grade various institutions of higher learning to provide a guide for the students to pick and choose.

The market forces would eventually, per force, control the very existence of the institutions. Those who are below standards like the “diploma mills” would die a natural death in this milieu.

National bodies should have their independence in deciding the courses, the curricula, as also the value-based content of humanities element even in science and technology courses, to propagate the national ethos as also to prepare the future citizens with their civic obligations for public good.

The course content for the skills training for various degrees, however, should have international standards lest there should be differences in their equivalence, recognition and marketability across the globe.

This should help remove the present barrier and difficulty for technical and medical degree holders in India to work in developed countries. The degrees should be such that the qualified person, with an Indian degree, should have equal status in another country. The standards, however, should be set and monitored by the international agency, though.

Periodic review audits of the end products would automatically update the courses.

The courses must be relevant to the real life situations outside.



Indian institutions should have identical freedom that the foreign universities enjoy in India to innovate and enhance the value of their degrees, keeping in mind “excellence” as the key mantra.

This should motivate educational institutions for competitive performance; aiming at an educational model of “excellence”.

The proposed international body should help Indian institutions to embark on a long journey to attain perfection in higher education.



Conclusions: -



The proposed international body should work with the Indian (national) agency to help institutions to embark on a long journey to attain perfection in higher education.



Many of the deeply entrenched and fossilized ideas in the field Indian higher education, brought here in 1857 AD by the East India Company, to start the first three universities in India, need to be changed. This would help Indian institutions to adapt to the ever changing scenario that seems to be demanding more and more to give the future citizens truly well rounded education to make them “act justly, skillfully, and magnanimously under all circumstances of peace and war”.



The above efforts might not be able to end all our differences; but our effort should be to make the world safe for diversity in higher education.



Acknowledgement:



I wish to thank President Robert Glidden of the University of Athens, for suggesting my name and Barbara for assisting with my trip to Phoenix. I am grateful to the CHEA for financial assistance for the trip. I thank Dr. Latha Pillai, Advisor NAAC for her inputs.