EDUCATION: INDIAN SCENARIO R.R.Puri Human Resource Development Division, BARC and Homi Bhabha National Institute

Education System – Non-Professional 10 years for Secondary School Certificate + 2 years for Higher Secondary School Certificate. After HSC, students may opt for non-professional or professional streams. + 3 years for Bachelor’s degree in non-professional streams (Sciences, Arts, Commerce). + 2 years for Master’s degree.

Education System – Professional 10 years for Secondary School Certificate + 2 years for Higher Secondary School Certificate. After HSC, students may opt for non-professional or professional streams. + 4 years for Bachelor’s degree in professional streams (Engineering, Medicine). + 2 years for Master’s degree in Engineering.

Skill Development Certificate and Diploma courses available in various technical skill development courses after SSC and HSC. Management diplomas open to bachelor’s degree holders in any stream.

Status of Higher Education-1 Number of Universities and university- level institutions 504 Number of Deemed Universities130 Faculty0.6 Million

Status of Higher Education-2 Enrolment in universities and colleges13.6 Million Intake in Technical Education (for Degree)1.4 Million Intake in Technical Education (for Diploma)0.5 Million Number of PhDs produced in a year14,000 (5000 in Sciences, 1000 in Engineering, 1000 in Agriculture, 7000 rest) Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)12.4% GER (World Average)26.7% GER (Developed Countries)57.7%

Regulation of Higher Education Universities and University-level institutions set up by Act of Parliament are self-regulating. These include IITs, and NITs for engineering and technical education; IIMs for Management; and Central Universities, and IISERs for Sciences. IITs conduct Science education as well at post graduate level. Others are regulated by University Grants Commission (UGC) for non-technical education, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for technical education and Medical Council of India (MCI) for Medical education.

Plans for Reforming Higher Education Higher Education needs Expansion Improvement in Quality

Initiatives for Expansion and Quality Improvement Existing by March 2007 Additional Proposed to be set up by March 2012 Central Universities Innovation Universities IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology)78 NITs (National Institutes of Technology)2010 IISERs (Indian Institutes for Science Education and Research) 23 IIMs (Indian Institutes for Management)67 IIITs (Indian Institutes of Information Technology) 420

Initiatives for Expansion and Quality Improvement Establishment of new Central Universities and Polytechnics (178). Establishment of 14 innovation universities: Education embedded in research environment. Implementation of e-learning: EDUSAT scheme for virtual classrooms that connect premier institutions with others. On-line access to journals to all universities being provided by UGC through National Knowledge Network.

Regulatory Reforms A National Commission/ Council for Higher Education and Research is proposed to be established as an Apex body in place of UGC and AICTE for determination, coordination and maintenance of standards and promotion of higher education and research.

Problems in the Way of Reforms Major problem is non-availability of faculty. The faculty is not adequate even in existing universities/ institutions. Attracting good students for career in sciences. Number of engineering students opting for PhD is small.

Nuclear Science and Engineering Education-1 The Nuclear Education has so far been conducted only in the Department of Atomic Energy. The BARC Training School is its flagship nuclear education and training programme since last almost 53 years. IIT- Kanpur has only been another place where Master’s degree programme in Nuclear Engineering is conducted.

Nuclear Science and Engineering Education-2 With the envisaged expansion of nuclear energy programme, several universities have started education in nuclear science and engineering. These include - Delhi University, Delhi - Jadavpur University, Kolkata - Deendyal Upadhyaya University, Gandhinagar. Several other universities are taking initiatives to start Nuclear Engineering education.

DAE’s Initiative in Education Setting up of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) with following units of DAE as its Constituent Institutions (like SOKENDAI in Japan): 1. BARC, Mumbai, 2. IGCAR, Kalpakkam 3. VECC, Kolkata 4. RRCAT, Indore 5. Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai 6. Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar 7. Saha Institute for Nuclear Research, Kolkata 8. Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar 9. Institute for Mathematical Sciences, IMSc 10. Harish Chandra Institute, Allahabad

Programmes in HBNI Ph.D. in all engineering and Science disciplines. Integrated MSc-PhD M.Tech. Diplomas in Radiation medicine and radiation protection. Specialty degree courses in medicine.

Highlights of PhD Programme in HBNI Course work for one year. Doctoral Committee for each candidate. For some of the PhD fellowships, two supervisors for each candidate; one having strength in basic sciences/ engineering and the other in technology development.

Enrolments in HBNI Number of PhD students enrolled in Sciences890 Number of PhD students enrolled in Engineering230 Total numbers enrolled in all Programmes2830

Issues Needing Attention-1 Study needed to find the number of degree holders required at various levels in industry and academia. Correcting imbalance between Engineering and Polytechnic education: Number of engineering degree holders produced is almost same as the diploma holders whereas number of diplomas should be about three to four times the degree holders. Hence more emphasis needed to establish polytechnics.

Issues Needing Attention-2 A large number of engineering degree holders are employed for the tasks meant for diploma qualification. Establishing more universities and institutions means spreading resources too thin which may have adverse effect on improving quality.

Issues Needing Attention-3 More financial support needs to given to Universities and academic institutes. Presently they suffer from lack of adequate funding for infrastructural development including setting up of laboratories. The concept of managing educational institutes on “no profit no loss” basis needs to be re-examined carefully to enable serious private investment in education including reputed foreign universities. This would also help to curb currently observed malpractices in education sector. Where are the jobs?

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