Taking Indian Education to 21st Century
Speech delivered by Kiran Kodithala, at The Gateway Hotel, Vijayawada on December 21st, 2010
We have gathered today to discuss one of the most important priorities for Higher Education institutions in India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular. Over the last few years, we have seen an explosion of new colleges, universities and programs for Engineering and Medical students. The advent of new educational institutions has certainly created a larger pool of students studying in Andhra Pradesh instead of going to neighboring states. This is a sound financial and educational priority and produces better pool of students and allows for State entities to capitalize on the growing demands of the students in Andhra Pradesh.
World over the higher education is passing through interesting phase. The development of higher education in 21st Century, features among the highest national priorities throughout the world. It is changing radically, by becoming organically flexible in diversity of programs, in its structure, in its curricula, in its delivery systems and it is adopting itself to clever use of information and communication technologies.
India has been a primal driver of education since Ancient times. Some of our greatest contributions to the society include Nalanda University, Takshila and Vikramashila. There were other prominent universities also during this time.
The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4 th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Nalanda University was spread over an area of 1:6 km x 0.8 km. It had about 1500 professors and 10,000 students. Such eminent people as Panini, Jivaka and Chanakya are said to have studied there. It was supported by the revenue from many villages donated by the kings and also by donations from merchants. According to Hsuan Tsang's report, it was a six-storeyed building. It was a residential university where the staff and students had free board and lodging. No fees were charged and the students were admitted after a tough entrance test. The famous Shilbhadra, who was generally known as the 'Treasure of Right Law', had once been the head of this university.
Nalanda University offered a choice of many subjects for study, though it specialized in Mahayana Buddhism. Instructions were imparted in logic, grammar, philosophy, astronomy, literature, Buddhism and Hinduism. The method of discussion was used in the class rooms. The university had helped to spread Indian culture in foreign countries such as Tibet, China, and Central Asia and also in South East Asian countries.
Indian Higher Education has seen an unprecedented growth in last 50 years and it is one of the biggest higher education systems in the world today. Our higher education system is certainly facing several constraints but on the whole it has played a significant role in developing a sound education foundation. The Indian economy has shown steady growth in recent years. The Indian graduates, in all subjects and disciplines, have given a new image to India both internally and also at a global level. The Indian graduates are now accepted at global level as value-added-skilled human power at premier level. Thus India is now recognized as a nation with a potential to give "knowledge creators" to strengthen both our internal as well as world economy.
This does not mean that all is well with our Indian Higher Education system. We continue to face issues like increasing demand, resource constraints with infrastructure and human resources, relevant services for students, staff and faculty, quality and excellence of our student services, governance and resource crunch.
These issues continue to encircle our higher education system mainly because of extreme unwillingness of all the players in higher education to change with time and adopt new ways and methods to address various issues that emerge over a period of time. The access to higher education, even after 50 years of independence, is still an important issue. Today there are 8.8 million students in formal and non-formal system. To meet with our current population and global demands, we may have to cater the need of around 14 million students by the end of 2007-08. How can one meet such an enhanced demand? We may have to go for a strategy where the existing physical and academic structure is used more effectively, probably round the clock, and also by combining both conventional and distance education modes in an open seamless structure.
One of the key constraints for visionaries and entrepreneurs leading the Higher Education institutions is their need to provide high quality education and run a profitable and successful business venture at the same time. This is a difficult problem to solve because this requires a capitalistic and a service oriented approach at the same time. From our current discussions and analysis, we have heard some concerns that are encapsulated in some questions similar to this
How can we increase enrollment to our institution?
How can we increase the types of services provided by our institution with the existing faculty and staff (ex: online programs, distance learning programs and certification programs)?
How can we provide transparency with our services – grading, attendance management, financial management?
How can we keep the alumni engaged and committed to the institution? How can we leverage the alumni to build a better donation and placement network?
How can we deploy an ERP without over leveraging our financial budgets and not adding too many staff to support the new system?
We have heard several other questions and concerns during our brief visits and discussions with several leaders in colleges and universities in Andhra Pradesh. We have reviewed these concerns by discussing them with the leaders in US and also looked at historical paradigms to evaluate the best course of action for building better services and solutions for institutions in Andhra Pradesh.
However, it is not only the challenge of number. We are facing a bigger challenge of giving quality education. And I must also mention that almost every nation in the world is struggling to meet diametrically opposite demands of education that of quality and enhancement in number of students. Quality and quantity, both, ask for better academic and physical infrastructure and also greater financial resources. This is where the importance of LaVya initiative, eVidya and N2 Information Network comes in the picture. This would enormously change the quality of teaching and learning in the classrooms, across the country, because it would allow teachers to blend multi-media support material while interacting with students.
eVidya offers the first state of the art ERP system with focus on building an affordable ERP system with manageable maintenance costs and low additional costs in terms of additional human resources and staff. eVidya ERP system comes with several modules and sub-modules to support Admissions, Alumni Management, Fee Collection, Hostel and Mess Management, Learning Management Systems and other critical functions of a higher education institution.
LaVya initiative is N2’s flagship initiative to collaborate with different partners to promote and enhance facilities in public middle schools and high schools in India and other developing nations. LaVya initiative specifically focuses on promoting the improvement of public school systems by providing better information technology infrastructure to these schools. The infrastructure will include remote learning facilities, volunteer based network for instructors, qualitative and quantitative analysis of metrics to evaluate school performance and student performance.
Kiran Kodithala is currently CIO and Vice President of Information Technology at N2 Services Inc. (USA).
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