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India’s higher education (HE) system
is one of the largest in the world. It includes
more than 300 universities, and thousands
of colleges.
The 2005 review of the Trusts' education
portfolio by Dr Krishna Kumar, Dr Anandalakshmy,
and Prof Govinda Rao, had recommended a
multi-layer strategy of intervention, which
included:
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Strengthening
of education as a researchable discipline |
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Institutional
and research support |
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Enhancing linkages
between different sectors of the educational
system |
The
HE strategy recommendations
The Centre
for the Study of Culture and Society
(CSCS), Bangalore has put the Trusts' strategy
for Grant making within higher education
in place. The CSCS Strategy Recommendations
Paper drew attention to the fact that only
7 per cent of India’s population has
access to higher education, as compared
to the Asian average of 11 per cent. While
government spending on HE is less than 2
per cent of its total expenditure on education,
it still constitutes 80.5 per cent of all
Indian funding for HE. However, private
philanthropy could address some significant
gap areas in the field.
The Paper pointed out that the three key
locations of HE – the research centre,
the university, and the undergraduate college
– seldom have strong connections with
one another, and have structurally been
devised to stay apart. Envisioning a strategic
convergence of these three fields could
redefine the structure and role of higher
education in India.
The Paper recommended that such convergence
in key areas such as building curriculum,
research and teacher training, should form
the cornerstone of the Trusts' strategy
in this sector. It drew attention to several
recent developments in the field, including
moves towards privatisation and greater
autonomy, as well as the emergence of new
institutions.
The Paper emphasised the relevance of building
curriculum and training teachers for both
private and state-supported institutions.
This would increasingly create new spaces,
open to experimentation in curricular innovations,
and institutional collaborations across
the higher education sector.
Higher
Education Cell
Set up in July 2007 and housed at the CSCS,
Bangalore, through a Rs4.88 million grant,
spread over two years, the Higher Education
Cell, in partnership with the Trusts, is envisaged
as having four major functions through which
it engages with the HE sector:
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Research initiatives
(outcomes include analytical reports/reviews
and idea incubation for the sector) |
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Institutional
collaborations |
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Documentation
and archiving |
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Grant development
for the Trusts |
During the first two years, supporting the
Trusts’ grant making in the field, the
Cell is:
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Developing three
research initiatives specifically with
the purpose of bringing together the
three ends of the HE spectrum —
the research centre, the university
and the UG college |
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Employing a bottom-up
approach with approximately six new
initiatives at the college level (across
metropolitan and small town locations),
designed to feed into disciplinary change
at the university and research centre
levels |
The collective purpose of these programmes
would be to introduce a viable model for intervention
in Higher Education combining disciplinary
reform and infrastructure support together
with student aid. This is being done through:
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Focus on integrated
science education, women’s studies
and strengthening regional language
resources through eight university-level
initiatives in these fields |
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Focus on undergraduate
curricular revision in these three areas
and across the social sciences through
six initiatives located in key institutions
at this level |
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Library resource
development involving digital libraries
bringing together 35 colleges and five
independent research centres into a
consortium aimed at expanding UGC infrastructure
for digital access beyond the university |
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Strategic introduction
of fellowship programmes at each of
the three levels of higher education |
The Cell also undertakes research in:
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Gender studies
and new pedagogies |
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Globalisation
and higher education |
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General education
in comparative perspective |
The Cell’s broad initiative is to
work towards inter-disciplinarity and capacity
building of students and teachers through
institutional collaborations and through
strategic introduction of fellowships programmes
at each of the three levels of higher education.
The grant also supports documentation and
archiving of policy documents, research
reports and the material generated by various
new courses.
The impact of the project will include
presentation of significant new indicators
affecting higher education to feed into
strategically located educational institutions,
as well as national debates on the subject
and enhancement of higher education resources.
Inter-disciplinary courses will be made
available for use at UG level nationally,
with potential for curricular change in
330 universities.
At least 8 strategic institutions in various
regions of India will be listed for detailed
tracking of impact in discipline restructuring
in at least three disciplines, with significant
improvement expected in the overall student-teacher
performance in such institutions/ disciplines
through this restructuring.
Key
grants
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