The Government of India has declared six educational institutes as Institutions of Eminence for targeting entry into Top 500 University Rankings in the world in the next 10 years. There has been much debate and discussion over the Jio Institute being given the tag, as it is yet to start. I feel that it is not just the Jio Institute but few other points that require attention and analysis.
The Lack Of Review Of The Past
I have read that the Committee to arrive at Institutes of Eminence focused on the future road-map proposed by the institutions and not the past achievements. It is of course not crying about spilt milk, but I suppose it will be of help to ascertain that even after 70 years of Independence why should we focus on the next 10 years to get entry into Top 500 World Rankings?
Where did we go wrong? What have we been continuously getting wrong? Even now 1/6th of the world population has no access to even one of the Top 500 World Rankings Institution?
What Does Institutions Of Eminence Gain?
It has been mentioned that Institutions of Eminence will gain autonomy. These institutes will be free to decide on courses, curriculum, fees and students intake. This is apart from the 1,000 Crores over the next 5 years for the three public Institutes.
Leave the money aside, let us focus on the autonomy part. If even after 70 years of Independence, there is no Indian representation in the Top 500 World Rankings, what good has Government control and oversight served for all these years?
If the Government regulations after so many years have not yielded any results, why not let all institutes get the freedom? We are anyway nowhere near the top, how bad can it get?
Out Of Proposed 20, Government Could Identify Only Six
The initial plan of the Government was to name 20 Institutions of Eminence, it was brought down to six.
Well, these Institutes have to target Top 500 World Rankings in next 10 years, and we cannot even come up with 20 candidates. There were 114 applications and the committee could select only six. Can it please be made public what the other institutions got wrong? The students and the citizens have the right to know what is missing in these institutions. For example, what IIT Chennai and IIT Kanpur cannot do what IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi promised?
There will be reasons floated around of impropriety for making this information public. We know that we are nowhere near the Top 500 World Rankings and we would like to keep our secrets to ourselves.
Not Even A Single University In The List
India has 800 + Universities and not even one could make it to the list. I wonder what is being taught, who is teaching, who is learning and what’s the end result at these universities? Can we have a debate on why so many inferior, not even mediocre, institutions continue to function? For whom? For what purpose?
Life Beyond JEE
All the three public institutes require JEE for their admissions (IISc also accepts NEET and KVPY). The message given to the students and the society at large is that unless you crack JEE, there is no way forward in reaching up to global standards, at least in the public Institutes of Eminence.
Life Beyond Engineering
Actually, the message is not limited to JEE. The message is that Government has limited its thinking, planning and execution to Engineering alone. The two IITs, IISc, BITS do not look beyond Engineering courses. They do have Humanities and Social Sciences Departments, but I suppose all of us know what these Institutes focus on.
If one has to study Law, Commerce, Languages, Social Sciences, Liberal Arts, Medicine, whatsoever, Indian Institutes are not up to the mark. The Government thinks that none can come close to the Top 500 World Rankings in the next 10 years in these disciplines (barring the exception of Manipal, who has some of these courses and not sure of what Jio will have to offer).
IITs Are World-Class Institutions
I have always read and heard that IITs are world-class Institutes and IIT graduates dominate the world. So, when I got to know that IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay will take 10 years to break into Top 500 World Rankings, I am unable to comprehend what I was being fed till now.
What Differentiates IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay and IIT Palakkad, IIT Dharwad?
All IITs give admissions basis JEE. All IITs teach engineering courses and refer same textbooks. Of course, faculty and infrastructure vary. However, if the oldest IITs are going to take 10 more years to break into the Top 500 World Rankings, why cannot IIT Palakkad and IIT Dharwad do it? If it is just about autonomy and 1000 Cr, why not give it to IIT Palakkad and IIT Dharwad?
If it is about alumni and academic lineage for the older IITs that matters, then why consider Jio in the first place? It has none.
Jio Can Achieve In 10 years That The Government Has Not Achieved In 70 years?
On one hand, the Committee that has picked Institutes of Eminence says that to get entry into the Top 500 World Rankings is a time-consuming process. It takes years to achieve excellence. Hence, it is understandable why Indian Institutions do not feature there. On the other hand, it picks up Jio and accepts that Mukesh Ambani can do in 10 years what Government has not been able to do in 70 years.
I am completely missing the paradox. If anyways Jio has to make the cut, why not Azim Premji University, Ashoka University, Krea University, Bharti University? What sets Jio apart?
How Indian Institutions Can Actually Become World-Class:
First and foremost, the current admissions procedure in undergraduate courses needs to be scrapped. The current methodology focuses on treating a student as a mere cut-off mark of the entrance test. Till the time, students’ intellectual imagination and application, the strength of character, their ability to exercise good judgment and contribute to society as a whole are considered as a critical factor in the admission process, none of the Indian Institutes is going to go anywhere.
Excellence is not just achieved through JEE, NEET, CAT, GATE, MAT, CLAT, Civils scores but also through extra-curricular activities and personal qualities. It is not just what the student achieves inside the classroom that matters but also what the student engages in outside the classroom.
Unfortunately, the Indian educational system treats the student as a commodity of cut-off marks. The Indian student is a by-product of a dysfunctional school system and parasitic coaching industry. This is anyways what the Indian society demands out of education – a job and nothing else. When the foundation is non-existential, the results are bound to be in line with the same.
If we want Indian Institutes in the Top 500 World Rankings, we need to be clear about what we want from our students and the education system. With the current status, even after 10 years, we will be where we are today. Maybe even behind.
I checked Times Higher Education (THE) rankings. IISc is ranked in the bracket of 251-300, IIT Bombay in 351-400, IIT Delhi in 501-600, BITS Pilani in 801-1000. Manipal is 1001+. As per QS rankings, IIT Bombay is ranked 162, IISc is 170, IIT Delhi is 172. Manipal is in the bracket of 751-800, BITS Pilani in 801-1000.
They, of course, do not have rankings for Institutes that have not started – Jio.
If the three public institutes are within the Top 500 World Rankings, the stated objective of the entire exercise, what purpose does the exercise or the objectives serve? It needs to be re-calibrated, unless the Government wants to market, at a later date, on how it got these three public institutes in the Top 500 World Ranking when they have actually already achieved this.
Or is it that somebody forgot to tell Prakash Javadekar – Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development and the N. Gopalaswami – Chairman of the Committee, what the current rankings are?
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