CONGRATULATIONS FOR PUBLISHING the EducationWorld India University Rankings 2015 (EW May). I am grateful the EW editorial team has taken the initiative to publish an India specific national universities league table, and highlighted the achievements of the country’s top varsities.
Over the past few years, the media has been providing disproportionate coverage to the under-performance of Indian universities in the QS and THE World University Rankings. Never mind that these same under-performing Indian universities are supplying the West with a regular flow of highly-qualified engineers and doctors.
I believe our universities deserve encouragement because they operate within a tightly regulated environment, and battle political interference on a daily basis.
Anant Kumar
Chennai
Wrongful double weightage
I ENJOYED READING THE EW India University Rankings 2015 (EW May). However I believe you have been ill-advised in giving the parameter of research and innovation double weightage (300). That’s the reason why two purely research institutions — Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai — have been ranked first and second all-India.
Though technically they are classified as universities, they are essentially postgrad research institutions and admit only a small number of undergraduate students. Their brief is to engage in research and development, not teaching.
Instead, the C fore team should have given double weightage to faculty competence because in the Indian context, teaching and pedagogic processes truly determine the quality of education delivered. In an ideal situation, research and innovation is paramount in universities. But unfortunately your tables rank Indian institutions, and the survey agency should have taken into account that they are mainly undergraduate teaching varsities.
Sumant Jha
Delhi
Accurate prediction
THANK YOU FOR PUBLISHING A separate EW India Private University Rankings league table (EW May). Your prediction that privately promoted universities will dominate the higher education segment in the country is accurate. With public universities facing a perpetual funds crunch, severe faculty shortages and unable to upgrade infrastructure and facilities, private varsities are set to emerge as preferred choices of students. Already new private universities such as Ashoka and O.P. Jindal have broken into the Top 50 national league table.
State governments are doing right by liberally legislating new private universities as it’s necessary to accommodate the increasing flow of students entering higher education. But they need to go a step further and liberalise the regulatory environment and guarantee the academic and administrative autonomy of private varsities, so they can excel internationally.
Amrita Deshpande
Mumbai
Silent majority danger
After reading your special report ‘World’s Largest Child Population Cheated Again’ (EW April), I could not resist congratulating you for candidly highlighting the multiple dimensions of the morass that has beset Indian education at all levels. The budgetary allocation, ASER reports, dropout rates and university rankings that your report covers are all symptoms of the malaise you have described with a passion. It speaks of the depth of your care and concern for children and youth, who outnumber all other demographic segments in India, and yet are rarely heard.
Our education system is increasingly getting sucked into the whirlpool of crass commercialisation, aided by social norms that seem to value education only in terms of monetary returns. Decentralisation of quality standards — an outcome of the proposed enhanced role of states in designing their education policies — might be the last nail in the coffin of quality education in schools.
Poorly educated children of today will become poorly educated parents of tomorrow, creating a vicious cycle which will be difficult to break for generations. Education, especially at the school level, must not be compromised on the altar of budgetary constraints, particularly when there are none, as your report again illustrates.
I wish to commend your excellently argued report warning of the serious education challenges confronting the country. It’s the silence of the majority, rather than tyranny of the minority, which is more dangerous.
Samar Verma
Delhi