Viewpoint
RS Grewal
Collaborate for Knowledge Sharing, Not Immigration
T
he past decade has seen a flurry of MoUs between Indian and foreign universities. A development triggered by mutual needs wherein foreign universities wanting to boost their financial resources are looking towards India; while India, unable to fulfil the demand for high-quality education casts its nets wide. For foreign universities looking for fertile student recruiting grounds, India is a preferred destinations with its young demographic profile. However, these collaborations are still very limited in scope and much needs to be explored by both sides for benefits to flow in.
The Indian Scenario Indian students in foreign universities are recognised for their diligence. The aspiring Indian middle class parents are prepared to pay a high price for educating their children and are known to have a penchant for foreign education. With its emphasis on English, our education system produces well educated, English speaking workers of better quality than many other developing countries. Indian students are already contributing to the economies of the countries where they choose to work and with better academic input this workforce will multiply. Almost 30 per cent of the workforce in NASA and 38
8
EduTech April 2012
per cent of doctors in the USA are of Indian origin. India’s past colonial linkages with Britain help in easy assimilation of students in the Western culture. Indian higher education system is teacher-centric with tremendous emphasis on rote learning. It inhibits critical thinking and creativity. Till the recent past, the Indian industry, especially the manufacturing sector, was driven by imports and relied on low-end technology. Therefore, the academia, instead of nurturing problem solvers and knowledge creators produced process managers. Both application-oriented and fundamental research, have been neglected in the universities. Though the USA and India have almost similar numbers of engineers per million of population, the former produces about 3,500 PhDs in engineering per year while the corresponding number in India is close to 1,000 and that too of questionable quality. The reasons are not far to seek. The quality assurance benchmarks in India are based on inputs where ‘brick and mortar’ score over intellectual capital and student outcomes. Both Central and State governments spend phenomenal amounts on public universities without tangible outcomes. The lack of a culture of accountability ensures that the numerous centres of