Education sector, state varsities lurching from one crisis to another
Hyderabad: Is the role of the state universities increasingly becoming irrelevant to society and the students?
Speaking to The Hans India, a senior professor who was also earlier a member of the Telangana Higher Education Council (then the Andhra Pradesh State Higher Education Council) said, 'The good days of the state universities have lost their charm and importance about two decades ago. Since then, neither the political leadership nor the bureaucracy of successive governments has shown serious interest in higher education and state universities. Neither there is a vision nor a mission, resulting in the state universities fast losing their relevance.'
Sharing out of 40 years of his experience being an activist, an academician and associated with the higher education council, he pointed out, barring science and technology, in most of the other fields, the syllabus and the teaching methods used by the faculty are outdated and irrelevant to the contemporary requirements of the society. Besides, the degrees awarded to the students neither give them the confidence to advance their knowledge nor get them gainful employment.
Seconding him, a former professor of Osmania University and who also served as former vice-chancellor pointed out, 'Currently, it is a watershed moment in higher education. The days of teaching political science, sociology, history, and economics as core or independent subjects are a thing of the past.'
For example, the incident of the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir has not only a security issue. It has also led to changes in geopolitics, geoeconomics, international law, defence, security studies, and more.
Thus, if an economics teacher fails to teach and trigger his students to think about how all these developments are connected to the broader subject areas of economics, political science and governance, 'he is teaching nothing relevant to the contemporary times.'
Further, 'We visited the Cornell University in the USA. We are intrigued to know that the university has in its position the record of the old editions of the Andhra Patrika Telugu Newspaper, till it ceased publication in the 1980's.'
Students and researchers at these universities not only conduct serious research but also hold teaching positions; several think tanks are either founded by the universities or are associated with them. It was against this backdrop that universities are considered to become intellectual assets drawing funding from both the federal, state, industry and alumni networks from across the globe, he added.
Further, Central universities, national universities and even some private universities are developing schools of study (to conduct serious and focused studies) like prominent universities abroad in India.
However, the State Universities lack such culture, leading to them being stuck with the old practices that are leaving them to lose their credibility and relevance.
For example, establishing a School of Telangana Studies would help the political, economic, cultural, and internal security dimensions under the regional studies. This initiative would help to develop comprehensive case studies and build intellectual capital that the state government and state planning board can rely on for informed policy decisions, rooted in thorough independent research and data-driven analysis.
Yet, neither the political leadership nor the bureaucracy takes the initiative to develop policy decisions that strengthen higher education and state universities, as they continue to face one crisis after another.
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