India

General Survey: Addressing the graduates of the Allahabad University in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, said:

A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search for truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race toward higher objectives. Universities are places of ideals and idealism. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then, it is well with the nation and the people. (Quoted in Joshi 1998)

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According to Joshi, although prior to independence the university system grew slowly, after independence the pace quickened. Evaluating India's progress towards these goals in higher education almost 20 years later, critic Robert Gaudino described the dueling motives controlling the growth of higher education in India, saying:

Higher education in India is less purposeful innovation than casual change, less inspired initiative than hastily assembled new departures, less far sighted planning than uneven movement. Irregular and unpremeditated as this moment may be, it is pushed forward by two clear, self-consistent, antagonistic impulses, two persuasions, each sure of itself but in tension with the other. One is the drive to democratize, to expand, to admit greater numbers; the other is the drive to professionalize, to raise the standards, to increase equipment and research in special fields. (1965)

Since then, despite dramatic changes, some of the fundamental challenges remain the same. Expansion and decentralization, not to mention increasing privatization, have opened up institutional gates to millions, but three basic issues continue to vex educational planners: diversity, excellence, and accountability.

India's higher education system, the largest in the world according to the Indian government, includes 237 universities, 10,600 colleges, 41 Deemed Universities, 7.1 million students, and 331,000 teachers. Among these, there are 12 science and technology universities, 7 open universities, 33 agricultural universities, 5 women's universities, 11 language universities, and 11 medical universities. Specialized schools of journalism, law, fine arts, social work, planning and architecture, and other studies are also a part of the Indian university system. The government expenditure on higher education was Rs. 42,126 million in 1996 to 1997, and it has increased since then.

Degrees Offered: The higher education continuum involves three levels: bachelor or undergraduate, master's or post-graduate level, and doctoral and predoctoral level. Diploma courses are also offered at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Bachelor's degrees in arts, commerce, and sciences involve 3 years of education after 12 years of primary and secondary school education. Honors and special courses are selectively offered. Professional baccalaureate degrees require four years of education in agriculture, dentistry, engineering, pharmacy, technology, and veterinary medicine; five years in architecture; five and a half years in medicine. Degrees are also offered in education, journalism, and library science. A bachelor's degree in law can be taken either as an integrated degree lasting five years or as a three-year course as a second degree. It normally takes two years to obtain a master's degree with or without research work. Engineering, technology, and medicine require the Graduate Aptitude Test and Combined Medical Test, respectively, for admission. A pre-doctoral program, Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), is taken after completion of the master's degree. The Ph.D. is usually awarded two years after the M.Phil. or three years after the master's degree. Students are expected to write an original dissertation to earn doctoral degrees.

Administration: The central government regulates and funds policies and programs relating to higher education in the country. Through the University Grants Commission and other institutions, the government promotes higher education to help students achieve national and international recognition and to address the country's complex needs.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), established by an Act of Parliament in 1956, discharges the constitutional mandate of coordination, determination, and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination, and research. It also serves as a vital link between the Union, state governments, and the institutions of higher learning. It monitors developments in the field of collegiate and university education, disburses grants to the universities and colleges, advises central and state Governments on the measures necessary for the improvement of university education, and frames regulations such as those on the minimum standards of instruction.

Its composition comprises of the chairperson, vice-chairperson, and 10 other members appointed by the government. The chairperson is selected from among those who are not officers of the central government or any state government. Of the 10 members, 2 are representatives of the central government. Not less than 4 must be teachers in the universities. Others are selected from among eminent education specialists, academics, and experts in various fields. The chairperson is appointed for a term of 5 years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The vice-chairperson is appointed for a term of 3 years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The other members are appointed for a term of three years. The chairperson, vice-chairperson, and members can be appointed for a maximum of two terms.

Although a central funding body, UGC has no funds of its own. It receives grants from the central government to carry out the responsibilities assigned to it by law. It allocates and disburses full maintenance and development grants to all Central Universities, colleges affiliated to Delhi and Banaras Hindu Universities, and some of the institutions accorded the status of "Deemed to be Universities." State universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education receive support only from the Plan grant for development schemes. In addition, the UGC provides financial assistance to universities and colleges under various schemes and programs for promoting relevance, quality, and excellence, as well promoting the role of social change by the universities.

Beyond the UGC, a number of professional councils are responsible for the recognition of courses, promotion of professional institutions, and provision of grants to undergraduate programs. The statutory professional councils include the All India Council for Technical Education, the Distance Education Council, the Indian Council for Agriculture Research, the Bar Council of India, the National Council for Teacher Education, the Rehabilitation Council of India, the Medical Council of India, the Pharmacy Council of India, the Indian Nursing Council, the Dentist Council of India, the Central Council of Homeopathy, and the Central Council of Indian Medicine.

Central Universities: Universities that are under the statutory control of the central government serve under the president of India, who is the Visitor of all Central Universities. As Visitor, the president nominates some members to the Executive Committee, the Board of Management, and the Court and Selection Committees of the university. The Department of Education provides secretariat service for appointment of the vice-chancellor, Executive Committee nominees, Court nominees, Selection Committee nominees, and so forth. A brief description of these central universities follows.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU): IGNOU was established in 1985 as an Open University to promotion the distance education system. It offered 43 programs during 1998. The total number of students registered for various programs was 163,000. Students supports services in 1998 consisted of 19 Regional Centers and 346 Study Centers. IGNOU programs telecast on the Doordarshan Network six days a week. Its jurisdiction is throughout the country, and study centers can be designed for overseas demands. The Distance Education Council has the responsibility for the coordination and maintenance of standards in open and distance education system in the country.

University Of Hyderabad: Also called "The Golden Threshold" (the residence of the late Sarojni Naidu), the University of Hyderabad serves as a city campus to promote post-graduate teaching and research. The university has eight schools and a Center for Distance Education offering post-graduate diplomas in five disciplines.

University Of Delhi: Established in February 1922 as a residential university, the University of Delhi has 14 faculties, 82 teaching departments, and 78 colleges spread over the national Capital Territory of Delhi. Indraprashtha Vishwavidhlaya has come up in Delhi as a new affiliating state university.

Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAHV): MGAHV came into existence in 1997 as an outcome of the Wardha Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya Act passed by the parliament in December 1996. As an international institution, four schools were proposed under this university.

Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University: Established as a state university in 1994 in Lucknow and recognized as a Central University in January 1996, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University seeks to provide instructional and research facilities in new and frontier areas of learning. Currently it has three schools and three centers: the School of Ambedkar Studies, School for Information Science and Technology, School for Environmental Studies, Center for Rural Technology, Center for Vocational Studies, and Center for Human Rights.

Pondicherry University (PU): PU has jurisdiction over the Union Territory of Pondicherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Established in 1985 as a teaching-cum-affiliating university, it has 6 schools, 16 departments, 2 post-graduate diplomas and 27 postgraduate courses, 17 M.Phil and 22 doctoral programs, and a 5 year integrated master's degree program in 2 disciplines. It also has a community college. Several institutions are affiliated to PU (13 are located in Pondicherry, 3 in Karaikal, 2 in Mahe, 1 in Yanam, and 3 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands).

Visva Bharati: Founded by Rabindranath Tagore, Visva Bharati was incorporated as a Central University by the Visva Bharati Act of 1951. Its jurisdiction is restricted to the area known as Santiniketan in the district of Birbhum, West Bengal. It is unique in its inclusion of education from the primary level to post-graduate and doctorate levels as a unitary residential body. It has 12 institutes: 8 at Santiniketan, 3 at Sriniketan, and 1 in Calcutta. There were 6,336 students enrolled in 1997.

Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar: Recognized as a Deemed University since 1962, it acquired the status of a Central University in December 1988 by an act of parliament. It has six faculties, eight centers and five schools. A.J. Kidwai Mass Communication Research Center provides training at the post-graduate level in mass communication, and produces educational material on different subjects for the UGC and INSAT Program. Admissions are made on the basis of merit adjusted through an admission test.

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU): AMU, established in 1920, is a leading residential institution. It has 92 departments, institutions, and centers grouped under 11 faculties. It maintains four hospitals, six colleges (including medical, dental, and engineering colleges), and two polytechnic schools. Six diploma courses are exclusively for women.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU): BHU came into existence in 1916 as a teaching and residential university in Varanasi. It consists of three institutions: the Institute of Medical Sciences, Institute of Technology, and Institute of Agricultural Sciences. It has faculties with 121 academic departments and 4 interdisciplinary schools. It maintains a constituent Mahila Mahavidyalaya and 3 school-level institutions, including a 1,000-bed modern/Ayurvedic hospital.

Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU): Primarily established with a post-graduate mission in education and research, New Delhi-based JNU has 7 schools consisting of 24 centers of studies and a separate center for biotechnology.

Maulana Azad National Urdu University: This university was established in 1998, with its main administrative office in Hyderabad. It has three regional offices in Delhi, Patna, and Bangalore. Its aim is to promote and develop the Urdu language and to impart vocational and technical education in Urdu through traditional and distance education.

Assam University: Established as a teaching-cumaffiliating university in 1994, Assam University commands jurisdiction over the districts of Cachar, Karimganj, Karhi, and Hailakandi in the state of Assam. It has 53 affiliated colleges, 24 Departments under 8 schools of studies, and 3 centers of studies.

Nagaland University: Established as a teaching-cumaffiliating university in 1994, Nagaland University serves the whole of the state of Nagaland. It has 39 affiliated colleges with campuses in Kohima, Lumami, and Medsiphema.

Tezpur University: As a non-affiliating unitary Central University set up in the state of Assam in 1994, Tezpur University seeks to offer employment-oriented and interdisciplinary courses, mostly at the post-graduate level. It has 11 departments under 4 schools of studies and 6 centers of studies.

North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU): Established in 1973, NEHU has a campus at Aizwal and a center in Tura with its headquarters in Shillong. Its jurisdiction is over the states of Meghalaya, Arunachal, and Mizoram. Six schools of studies include certain post-graduate departments and four centers of studies. It has 58 under-graduate colleges, 8 professional colleges, and is affiliated with the North-Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST). It also has a Regional Sophisticated Instrumentation Center.

Specialized Institutes & Research Centers:

Inter-University Centers: Heavy investment in infrastructure has placed some facilities beyond the reach of individual universities. Under Section 12 of the UGC Act, the Commission has established the following Inter-University Centers (IUCs) to provide common facilities, service, and programs to universities:

• Nuclear Science Center, New Delhi, 1984 (Accelerator-oriented research);
• IUC for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune (State of the art instrumentation for research in astronomy);
• Inter-University Consortium for the Department of Atomic Energy facilities, Indore, 1989;
• Information and Library Network (INFLINET), Ahmedabad, 1996 (Networking of libraries through electronic media);
• Consortium for Educational Communication, New Delhi, 1993 (To disseminate countrywide programs through television);
• National Assessment & Accreditation Council, Bangalore, 1994 (To assess and accredit public and private institutions of higher learning) (Government of India 2001).

National Facilities: National Facilities represent India's cutting edge fields, such as science and technology, that are deemed essential for the country's future advancement. These centers are funded by UGC in selected universities:

• Western Regional Instrumentation Centre, Bombay (Design and development of indigenous equipment and training of staff in instrumentation);
• Regional Instrumentation Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (Design and development of indigenous equipment and training of staff in instrumentation);
• Crystal Growth Centre, Anna University, Madras (Research and dissemination of knowledge and organization of training program in crystal growth);
• MST Radar Centre, Sri Venkateswara Tirupati (Studies in atmospheric dynamics to enable teachers to use MST/radar facility;
• Eastern Center for Radio Astrophysics, Calcutta University (Research in astrophysics);
• Japal-Rangapur observatory, Osmania University, Hyderabad (Science research observatory); and
• Center for Science Education & Communication, New Delhi (Popularization of science).

Trends:

Organization & Growth: In 2001 the Ninth Five-Year Plan was in process. Its main foci included measures for quality improvement, modernization of syllabi, renewal of infrastructure, extra-budgetary resource mobilization, and greater attention to issues in governance. Access and relevance would also receive attention. The plan placed a priority on the conferment of greater autonomy to deserving colleges and the professional upgrading of teachers through Academic Staff Colleges.

Emphasis is being placed on consolidation and optimal utilization of the existing infrastructure through institutional networking, restructuring, and expansion, so as to meet the demands of the traditionally underserved populations, with a focus on women and underprivileged groups. The Open University system, which has been growing in popularity and size, is striving to diversify its courses and offerings and to gain wider acceptability by upgrading its quality. The main focus of this effort is also to serve the educational needs of women and rural populations, including professional training of in-service employees (Government of India 2001).

Among other new initiatives is an emphasis on career orientation in higher education. Under a program launched in 1994 to 1995, a university or college could introduce 1 to 3 vocational courses to provide career orientation in 35 identified subjects. Attention to higher education for women is also a contemporary trend. According to Joshi, "A special emphasis has come to be laid on women's education. The number of women's colleges has recorded a substantial increase, and India has 1,195 women's colleges today. The enrollment of women at the beginning of 1997-1998 was 2.303 million, 34 percent of them being of the postgraduate level" (1998).

The growth of the system overall has also compelled the evolution of the universities' structure. Most of the universities are affiliating universities, which prescribe the affiliated colleges' course of study, hold examinations, and award degrees. Many of the universities, along with their affiliated colleges, have grown rapidly to the point of becoming unmanageable. Therefore, as per the NPE-1986, a scheme of autonomous colleges has been promoted. In the autonomous colleges, whereas the degree continues to be awarded by the university, the name of the college is also included. The colleges develop and propose new courses of study to the university for approval. They are also fully responsible for conduct of examination. There are at present 138 autonomous colleges in the country.

Additional trends and initiatives of the early twenty-first century include protective discrimination, diversification, a national eligibility test for the selection of qualified teachers, an emphasis on quality, and examination reforms.

Cultural Traditions: India's classic Vedic culture bequeathed a rich heritage of Vedas, which many Hindu scholars consider the fount of knowledge. This ancient belief system continues to inspire and guide dominant ideologies that determine educational policies. Thus universities and the UGC have clashed over the validity of subjects and sciences considered by some to be obsolete. An example is the 2001 dispute over the status of astrology.