| Dr R S Gaud |
Education in India has undergone phenomenal growth post independence, especially, during the past few years, as Indians realised that education is the ideal route for social, and economic growth of individual and society. Around the time of independence, education in India was primarily, philanthropic. After Independence, when the demand for educational opportunities increased, due to rising aspirations of the society and encouragement by the authorities, private institutions emerged on the scene to meet the demand.
India is producing thousands of graduates, postgraduates and hundreds of doctorates every year, through its colleges and universities existing in public and private sectors. India boasts of best institutes in the world, like IIMs & IITs. Indian education is considered to be one of the best amongst the world education systems and Indian professionals are in great demand around the world, indicating the strength of the system.
Today’s technology-driven knowledge-based economy, requires qualified and skilled man power with higher education. Based on its talent pool, India is perceived to be one of the frontrunners in the global knowledge economy. Amongst the several disciplines that have shown tremendous growth and potential; science, engineering, technology and management fields are leading.
In sciences, the contribution of life sciences to the growth of the society is remarkable which has influenced every walk of life. Its greatest impact is seen on the longevity and quality of human life. Life sciences are broadly covering, basic life sciences like botany, zoology, along with medical, biomedical, paramedical, pharmaceutical and other life and health-related areas. These sciences have seen an exponential growth in the past two decades. However, there are several challenges faced by education and training provided in these areas today, leaving much to be desired. Foremost among them is the quality and excellence in education.
The goal of any education system is to empower the student with existing knowledge, capacity to think, analyse, inculcate problem solving approach, to enable the student to earn his livelihood while contributing to the economic growth and productivity of the society and be a responsible and socially sensitive citizen. This is a tall order to achieve which will lead to the creation of a progressive society. However, to achieve this, the key areas that are to be made available to the education system are: suitable curriculum, infrastructure, motivated faculty, inspired student community interested in excelling in the chosen area.
Curriculum is the core of any programme which acts as the differentiator amongst many equals. The current curriculum is antiquated and is not in line with the rapidly emerging trends, especially in the life sciences area, like developments in medicines, emerging of diseases unknown earlier, development of newer diagnostic devices and medical procedures. If the curriculum and training system do not keep step, they may derail the growth process of the society.
But curriculum, in the current Indian education system is not an area where all the stakeholders have a say in the matter. It is to be provided in a fixed frame work stipulated by the regulatory authorities and set in a point of time, covering all the bases available at that time. Some universities like SVKM’s NMIMS, BITs take feedback on curriculum from all the stakeholders’ viz. recruiters, professional from various industries as well as universities, parents and students and consider the suggestions for upgradation of curriculum.
This approach might have worked in the past but has become obsolete and is not futuristic. There can never be a common curriculum for the whole country or world as it has to change depending upon the regional needs, demands and the global requirement. While there is a need for certain basic skills which are commonly needed world over, which can form part of the curriculum, the rest of the curriculum needs to be dynamic in line with the emerging trends.
Employability of the graduate coming out the set curriculum acts as an indicator of the strength of the curriculum. It is repeatedly mentioned at many fora by the recruiters that only around 10-20 per cent of the graduates coming out of the thousands of institutions are employable. Even they need orientation and induction training, which is a drain on the economy. This indicates the huge gap between the curriculum and the society/industry/employer requirements. This can be resolved by understanding the needs of the employer, which are changing by the day, and incorporating such changes into the curriculum as and when the need arises. In short, dynamic curriculum is the need of the hour.
While considering the curriculum, all the stakeholders involved should be made to take an active part which includes the students, the faculty, the educationists, the policy makers, the employers and the end users namely doctors-patients or general public to provide inputs from their perspectives. There is a need for multi-level approach in the curricula as this can cater to the needs of society at various levels. It should enable certification, diploma and degree programmes with exit policy and scope for continuing education in future to allow flexible and lifelong learning. This enables the student to study and train at his convenience and contribute to society at various levels. It will also reduce the number of unemployable graduates and at the same time provide skilled man power in the para medical, allied and other health areas. The current curriculum does not provide for this, even though government is thinking on these lines for the 12th plan. It is very clear that current curriculum does not meet the needs of today’s society and industry, leave alone the future demands.
Curriculum and pedagogy augment each other in training socially sensitive young professionals especially in the life sciences sector, as after training in this sector, they will be contributing to human growth and well being. It should encourage social inclusion to make it sustainable and progressive. A radical change in the curriculum and pedagogy is the solution to this problem. This is possible in the private sector of education which is empowered with autonomy in the areas like curriculum. Many private/deemed universities like SVKM’s NMIMS, BITS, Manipal, VIT and many more have taken advantage of this opportunity.
Faculty and its quality has an enduring impact of the quality of education and the student minds. The faculty who deliver the curricula need to be upgraded on a regular basis to keep abreast with the changing curriculum and the latest trends, not only in theory but also application. The competence among staff needs to be constantly improved. The mindset of faculty that teaching includes lectures and practicals with no connect between learning and application has to be changed. There is a major responsibility on the shoulders of faculty to develop high quality individuals for the society. Traditional methods of assessment of students work well for certification and ranking purposes. Newer methods of teaching like case methodology, simulations, role plays, training at the place of future employment, understanding the end users’ and societal issues, development of interpersonal and soft skills play a significant role in the development of a well rounded individual especially in the life sciences area which involves humans at the receiving end of all the education and training. Practices like continuous evaluation, curriculum based on the requirement of industry, faculty – students exchange programme with international, as well as national linkages with universities and industry can contribute to this; which is successfully institutionalised by certain universities like Sikkim Manipal University, BITS, SVKM’s NMIMS and others.
The mindset of the students that college is a place for edutainment, rote learning, memory recall test and certification should change. It should be inculcated in the students’ mind that learning should be application oriented in real life, problem solving on day-to-day basis, being a socially sensitive individual contributing to the growth and well being of the society. Current generation of youth is endowed with better opportunities and exposure to the world and its changing trends, due to the improved communication system, world over. The time required to access, process and deliver information has reduced drastically, which converted the world into one global community with shared ideas, needs and development. Students who globe trot for acquisition of skills, employment have become the norm of the day. In such a scenario, college education plays a tremendous role in creating a quick impact on how the students deliver and contribute to the society. Curriculum in the college needs to be developed keeping all these factors in mind. The faculty should be able to encourage the students to find their calling in life and the curriculum should support them in achieving this.
Multidisciplinary approach is not seen in the existing curriculum. Compartmentalisation of various disciplines, especially in the life sciences area is not acceptable anymore as every discipline has to intermingle with the other area to deliver a meaningful product/service/device/drug etc. This needs to be incorporated into the curricula immediately. Students should be provided with opportunities for horizontal and vertical movement in the curricula and flexibility to learn at their pace and with choice of subjects. There has to be credit-based system, with a number of prerequisite credits for the award of certificate, diploma and degree. This will allow choice of subjects to the students and encourage multidisciplinary learning depending upon the choice and requirement of the student.
While infrastructure plays a great role in imparting the curriculum, teaching learning process and pedagogy are the deciding factors for the success of any education system. Till date the curriculum is oriented towards input-based approach. It is changing towards outcome-based approach. The impact of the curriculum and training on the employability of the students and contribution to society is measured as an indicator of the strength of the curriculum. With the advent of knowledge-driven economy, intellectual property (IP) generation has taken the front seat in the education system where universities are seen as the places of growth and development of intellectual property. Curriculum should provide freedom of thinking for generation of IP to faculty and students, which can be converted into commercial applications for the benefit of society at large. This will in turn drive the growth of economy of the country and also improve the productivity and life style of people. Medical stents which increased the longevity of life and cellular smart phones which drastically changed the way the world communicates are only a few examples of the outcome of IP.
The current curriculum is also lacking in training the students in developing innovation and entrepreneurial skills. It culminates in producing employment seekers but not employment generators or leaders. There is a greater requirement for these skills in the life sciences area. This can be addressed by the curriculum which provides multidisciplinary skills including leadership, entrepreneurial and decision making skills. Indian mindset is genetically scientific in nature and also known for innovation for past many centuries. These skills need to be identified, honed and put to good use for the benefit of society, which can be done through innovative curriculum.
The limited number of years of degree courses prior to certification may be inadequate in preparing the young professionals to meet the demands of tomorrow. This is because there are multi-disciplinary skills required, especially in the life sciences area to cope up with the day to day demands of the work place. Today’s youth is very techno savvy and very much into the technical gadgetry. E-tools like Internet, e-brary, e-journals, e-books available on their mobiles and other technical gadgets keep them updated with emerging trends. The multi-purpose use of social networking sites like facebook, twitter, linkedin has great impact on the some of the important outcomes, including the US presidential election. The delivery of curriculum should deploy these new technologies like cloud computing, social networks to improve the quality of higher education in the life sciences area. While these practices are part of infrastructure and teaching learning process at IITs, IIMs, NMIMS, BITS and some more educational institutions, it is not widespread in all the government and private sector institutions. Very few universities like SVKM’s NMIMS has adopted blackboard technology to upload study material, updates related to knowledge areas for the students who can access the blackboard any time, any whether through Internet. Practical use and application of such technologies can positively contribute to the current curriculum in the life sciences sector and prepare young professionals to meet the demands of tomorrow.
If the curriculum can provide the basic skills and inculcate the analytical and thinking capacity in students and enable the self study mode by providing them with the sources of learning and opportunities for continuous learning, the education system can prepare the youth to face the challenges of tomorrow of not only India but also the world.
The above mentioned approaches are being used world over and SVKM’s NMIMS (Deemed to be University) has been using these techniques successfully since inception, which is the secret of the success of the students.
SVKM’s NMIMS, is the first University to provide innovative inter-disciplinary dual degree courses in pharma-management, technology-management etc. meeting the requirements of the industry and providing industry ready youth, who are in great demand in the market and society. The curriculum is exemplary as all the stake holders including the students, faculty and the recruiters decide the curricula, adding the emerging areas and deleting the obsolete courses / subjects / topics. Also pure science have been brought in pharma interlink to produce interdisciplinary manpower to sever pharma-medical sector. Experiential learning is the core of the education system delivered which improves the confidence of the students to face real time issues and come up with solutions.
This model can be replicated for the better growth of the graduates in particular and community in general.
The author can be contacted at rsgaud@nmims.edu