Higher Education Reforms in India

Higher education of India has the third largest higher education sector in the worldwide. In India expenditure per student as well as per teacher is very low .In the last ten years, higher education sector has improved as more IITs, IIMs and various central and state-level universities begin. Advancement of higher education various concerns raised. Various universities suffer from an insufficiency of good-quality of teaching staff and laboratories.

India's higher education system is one of the world's largest in terms of the student population. The Higher Education sector in India has witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of Universities/University level Institutions & College’s post-independence. However, there are issues that are hindering the system to be qualified as a top-notch globally. This paper examines the perception of Higher Education in India among college students with an aim to examine the extent of disparity in the system, to understand the required standard of higher education and to recommend changes that may arise in the process associated for improvement of higher education in India. The study was undertaken with an online survey by collecting data from different researcher scholars and postgraduate students with different specialisation, gender and age groups enrolled in the university. The findings from the study demonstrate the subjective interpretation of higher education from the narrative of the participants.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that determine the knowledge exchange intention and behavioural nature of academics by the help of social media tools in the Indian higher education. Design/methodology/approach This study has used valance–instrumentality–expectancy (VIE) theory to determine the knowledge exchange behaviour of academics. The study has considered the effects of knowledge contributor (KC) and knowledge seeker (KS) as moderators. The model has been validated by using a survey with 320 usable respondents. Findings The results highlight that if the stakeholders of higher education institutions feel the deficits of knowledge exchange, they realize importance of knowledge sharing and use social media to increase effect of knowledge exchange. Besides, perceived usefulness impacts on the use of social media for knowledge exchange by the concerned stakeholders. Moreover, it is observed that experience of the use of social media impacts the use of this tool for knowledge exchange. Research limitations/implications The use and application of VIE theory have successfully been able to interpret the factors affecting use of social media for knowledge exchange in higher educational institutes. The use of VIE theory has also been able to explain the proposed model better as the model could achieve a high explanative power (87%). Practical implications This study has provided meaningful insights to the practitioners and policymakers to realize how the stakeholders of the higher education institutions in India can be motivated to feel the need of sharing of knowledge and how they can use social media with ease for this purpose. Originality/value Not much research has been conducted with regard to the usage of social media as a tool for knowledge sharing in higher education sector in India. In that sense, this study is a novel attempt to undertake such research.

The paper elaborates the conceptual framework for resource allocation model based on performance of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). It provides logical workflow to develop input-oriented and output-oriented prediction model to assign academic, financial, and research enhancing resources to the institutions. The input- and output-oriented parameters such as faculty student ratio, number of publications, number of citations, number of patents, capital and operational expenditure, student admission ratio, number of PhD scholars enrolled, and number of PhD scholars graduated would be considered for the conceptual framework. All parameters would be identified by applying supervised machine learning algorithm like correlation and regression analysis. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) would be used to measure relative efficiency of each institution. The unsupervised machine learning algorithm would be implemented to find out clusters of institutions based on their relative efficiency. Finally, the input-oriented and output-oriented predication model would be developed to allocate resources to the institutions. The conceptual framework is being developed as a hybrid model with combination of optimization techniques of operation research and machine learning algorithms. The prediction model plays a vital role to allocate resources to the HEIs based on their performance. It would become benchmarking and decision-making model in perspective with higher education sector in India for administrators, funding agencies, and policymakers.

Leadership qualities are influenced by various perspectives and viewpoints, including the Great Man Theory and various academic disciplines. The desire for self-assertion and self-accomplishment is a common thread in the evolution of leadership qualities. India's feminist movement, initiated by men and later joined by women, fought against oppressive societal rules and discrimination. The women's movement began as a social reform movement in the 19th century, with women advocating for women's rights and education. However, efforts to improve women's status were thwarted by nationalist movements. The Women's India Association, National Council of Women in India, and All India Women's Conference were formed by women between 1917 and 1927 after World War I. Today, women's presence in the top-notch hierarchy and leadership is less, with women being considered “empowered women” if they can make financial decisions without consulting their husband. The research aims to understand lagging factors in the overall higher education sector in India.

Public expenditure is a major component of education expenditure in India. Though the higher-education expenditure in India increased significantly after Independence, budgetary allocations to higher education were squeezed off in the post economic reforms period and this sector also suffered significantly. The proportionate spending on the higher-education sector in India is much below the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee recommendation of 1% of gross domestic product for general higher education. The present study aimed to analyze state-wise disparity in public higher education expenditure in India by different parameters like per capita and per student higher education expenditure in terms of plan and non expenditure as well as revenue and capital expenditure. The regression results revealed that many states had elasticity of higher-education expenditure to gross state domestic product (GSDP) less than unity. Central and state governments of India should implement policies for more funding in the higher-education sector.

The present study aims to understand the concept of Industry 5.0 in the higher education sector and its role in transforming distance education in India. An exploratory research design is used to understand and outline the concept of Education 5.0 and its associated benefits for higher education institutions (HEIs). An extensive literature review was carried out to collect the data from the available research papers, reports, and articles in the field of Industry 5.0 and HEIs. The data were then analyzed to explore the avenues of Industry 5.0 implementation in the distance education sector in India. The findings of this study suggest that the incorporation of advanced technology in the traditional distance learning model is urgently required which will enable the HEIs to develop a blended or hybrid learning model. The study also outlines the key features and concerns that every distance education institution may have about Industry 5.0. In addition, the benefits of Industry 5.0 in distance education in India are also discussed in this study.

The central and state governments of India have been pursuing several reforms in the higher education sector. In engineering education, the government has already embarked on several reforms within the current legislative framework. Given this dynamic momentum, the engineering education sector in India is expected to receive a significant boost over the next few years. It is therefore timely to take stock and review the position of the sector internationally. This study thus aims to provide the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and relevant stakeholders with key facts, reliable data, and the results of relevant international comparisons to establish a common ground and to help in measuring the performance of the current engineering education system in India. The government also recognizes the importance of lessons that may be learned from the other Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, and China (BRIC) countries, and these countries were therefore selected for the comparison. This report is organized as follows: section one gives introduction; section two briefly discusses the background of both general higher education and engineering education in India. Section three reviews earlier comparative studies on international engineering education. Section four describes the scope of the study. Section five explains the methodology of data collection and identifies the data sources. Section six outlines the analysis of the collected data and the findings. Section seven presents conclusions. The appendixes describe the engineering education systems of the various countries examined in the study, the related challenges and opportunities, and the future policy goals in each country.

This study examined the associations between childcare attendance among 550 children from 24 to 36 months of age and their enrollment in higher education in young adulthood. We conducted a propensity score matching analysis to control the selection bias for childcare attendance and estimated the average treatment effect for the treated on the odds of enrollment in higher education. Children who attended informal childcare (i.e., with a relative or nanny) were more likely to pursue higher education in young adulthood relative to children in formal childcare (i.e., center-based or licensed home-based childcare). However, heterogeneity in our sample revealed that attending formal childcare increased the probability of enrollment in higher education for children from low-income and non-employed families. This study suggests that attending informal childcare in Canada in 1994–1995 benefited all children over 20 years later, whereas attending formal childcare appears to be protective for children from more disadvantaged families.

Various countries experience challenges at different times. The challenges have historically been of demographic, economic, political, social, and technological nature but influenced by globalisation. In response to these challenges, governments design and implement different reforms involving resource allocation and delivery mechanisms. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a unique challenge. Some countries intervened with various stimulus packages to save economies and other sectors, but not much in the higher education sector. Teaching and learning had to transition from the traditional face-to-face between learners and teachers in one room at the same time to online. Although literature is still relatively scanty on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education and other sectors, there may be consensus that it affected almost all aspects of human life. Preventing the spread of COVID-19 was a challenge globally. This chapter analyses the reforms in higher education occasioned by COVID-19 in Eswatini.

This paper analyzes the Sri Lankan higher education sector and discusses policy options for future higher education development. The analysis covers the following areas: access and participation, higher education quality, economic relevance, and research and innovation. The paper shows that higher education access and participation has expanded substantially in the country over the last twenty years. However, this expansion has been less than the rapid increase in higher education enrollment seen worldwide during this period. Higher education quality has been an important area for policy makers. Over the past decade or so, two landmark policies have been implemented to promote higher education quality. A quality assurance system has been developed and implemented. Also, an education qualification framework, containing several levels of higher education, has been developed and is being rolled out. The paper discusses several aspects of the relationship between higher education and economic development. The rates of return to higher education are consistently high, across a variety of studies. Higher education also has a strong positive association with economic welfare. Another benefit of higher education, which is assuming prominence in current policy circles, is the positive relationship with female labor force participation. Finally, the paper shows that research and innovation in Sri Lanka are at an early stage of development, but will be extremely important for the future development of the higher education sector.

Qatar has gone through an educational reform in year 2000; its educational and particularly schooling system went through a major overhaul from K-12 reaching higher education providers. The major reasons for the educational reform were to increase the level of student academic achievement. Concomitantly, the rapid growth of Qatar's economy over recent decades has created a situation in which the demand for skilled labor far exceeded the supply of qualified Qatari nationals. The Qatar National Development Plan identified acute needs for highly educated and skilled Qatari nationals in the areas of health and biomedical sciences, engineering, energy and environment, and computer and information technology (Qatar National Development Strategy, 2011). Two significant higher education providers' serve post-secondary students, being Qatar University (QU) and American Branch Universities at the Qatar Foundation have grown tremendously over the years. Understanding the factors that affect Qatari students' post-secondary persistence and achievement is crucial for achieving the country's human capital growth. Tinto (1975) deposited his theory about student integration into the academic and social system of the higher education providers, Tinto suggested a multidimensional component which underlined the higher education community engaging students in all aspects of higher education including academic and non-academic. Tinto's theory basically hypothesizes that persistence is determined by the match between an individual's motivation and academic ability and the institution's academic and social characteristics. A second and major model is Bean's (1986) student's intention to stay or leave into the attrition model, derived from psychological theories and based on attitudinal research of Ajzen and Fishbein (1972) which later developed by Bentler and Speckart (1981). Key ideas from the model suggest that a strong association was related to intentions and behaviors and that an undergraduate student decision to persist or dropout was strongly related to affect. One conclusion about student engagement was students need to be satisfied and academically prepared especially those in the first years to achieve success and maintain continuous enrollment in higher education (Astin, 1985; Tinto, 2005; Kuh, 2001, 2007). Tinto's integration theory has received considerable validation of non-academic factors and impacting student continuation (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1977; Terenzini & Pascarella, 1977; Chapman & Pscarella, 1983; Pascarella & Chapman, 1983). The latter model has received empirical validation and support based on a large number of studies that looked at background information as the socioeconomic levels of students' families and its effect on postsecondary continuation in higher education (Astin & Oseguera, 2004; Sewell & Shah, 1968). With the large number of studies coming from the United States (US) and other western countries (Kenny & Stryker, 1994; Dekker & Fischer, 2008) have underlined the differences on how students develop and internalize beliefs, needs, and wants that in turn impact academic motivation to persist and succeed in higher education. While few studies have emerged from the Middle East, the recent establishment of the Middle East and North Africa Association of Institutional Research has prompted many researchers in this area to seek the understanding and experiences of students in higher education. In Qatar for instance, the first year experience study and National Association of Colleges and Employers Survey have just recently been implemented at Qatar's national public university. Faced with the danger of students dropping out from the university, and a large number of students who are likely to remain in the first years for longer years reflects the dangers of higher education being a bottleneck to economic development and human resource development (Qatar University Fact Book, 2011). One clear indication and dangers of Higher education completion rates as anywhere in the world is disparaging. It has been reported that in the US for instance 55% of undergraduates who begin study at a 4-year institution complete a degree at that same institution within 6 years of their initial enrollment and another 7% completed baccalaureate degrees within six years after attending two or more institutions (Lotkowski, Robbins & Noeth, 2004; Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2007). Pascarella (1985) and Adelman (2006) came to the conclusion that continuous enrollment is the most powerful variable in explaining degree completion and time to degree. There are several factors academic and non-academic likely to affect students as they make the transition to post-secondary institutions. Many students may experience stress, anxiety, withdrawal, and even depression (Robbins, Lauver, Le, Davis, Langley & Carlstrom, 2004; DeStefano, Mellott & Peterson, 2001; Feldt, Graham, & Dew, 2011; Wie, l & Zakalik, 2005). There are also a variety of non-academic challenges that have bearing on the likelihood on academic persistence and success of students. A fairly large body of research undertaken in a number of countries have examined the experiences of international students, and compared their experiences to those students of native to the host country. Academic factors (i.e., secondary preparation) appear to influence postsecondary success (see Robbins, Lauver, Le, Davis, Langley & Carlstrom, 2004). But also a range of non-academic factors, influenced by culture and values, thus may contribute to challenges faced by students in higher education in their local context. This study attempts to address Qatari student challenges in their lives in the higher education in Qatar. The study draws on student, perceptions, beliefs, outlook and context; we approach the study through grounded means by leading interview questions through exploration and probing. The approach is grounded in ways that no specific theory drives the questions rather the responses from the interview often call upon theory to justify the findings. The sample will be made of 35 students who were interviewed through probing and questioning techniques. The questions will probe and guide students with converging responses leading to themes. The long-term goal of this line of research is to provide the Qatari society with mush needed scientific information regarding the challenges that its students face in completing their university education at the competence needed to build Qatar's human capital to support its rapidly expanding economy. Finally, we believe that is a broader regional need for specific and focued information on this topic as the study findings are directly applicable to students from several other countries in the region. Reference Adelman, C. (2006). The Toolbox Revisited: Path to Degree Completion From High School Through College: U.S. Department of Education. Ajzen, L., & Fishbein, M. (1972). Attitudes and normative beliefs as factors influencing behavioral intentions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21(2), 1–9. Astin, A. W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of college student personnel, 25(4), 297–308. Astin, A., & Oseguera, L. (2004). The declining” equity” of American higher education. The Review of Higher Education, 27, 321–341. Bentler, P., M. & Speckart, G. (1981). Attitudes “cause” behaviors: A structural equation analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(2), 226–238. Chapman, D., W., & Pscarella, E., T. (1983). Predictors of academic and social integration of college students. Research in Higher Education, 19, 295–322. Dekker, S. & Fischer, R. (2008). Cultural differences in academic motivation goals: A meta-analysis across 13 societies. Journal of Educational Research, 102(2), 99–110. DeStefano, T.J., Mellott, R.N., & Peterson, J.D., (2004). A preliminary assessment of the impact of counseling on student adjustment to college. Journal of College Counseling, 4, 113–121. Kenny, M. E. & Stryker, S. (1994). Social Network Characteristics of White, African-American, Asian and Latino/a College Students and College Adjustment: A Longitudinal Study. Kuh, G. (2001). Assessing what really matters to student learning: Inside the national survey of student engagement. Change, 33(3), 10–17. Kuh, G. (2007). What student engagement data tell us about college readiness. Association of American College and Universities (AAC&U).Peer Review, 9(1), 4–8. Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/what-student-engagement-data-tell-us-about-college-readiness . Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Buckley, J. A., Bridges, B. K., & Hayek, J. C. (2007). Piecing Together the Student Success Puzzle: Research, Propositions, and Recommendations. ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 32, Number 5. ASHE Higher Education Report, 32(5), 1–182. Lotkowski, V.A., Robbins, S. B. & Noeth, R. J. (2004). The role of academic and non-academic factors in improving college retention. ACT Policy Report. Qatar National Development Strategy (2011). Qatar General Secretariat for Development Planning: Doha. Pascarella, E. T. (1985). Racial Differences in Factors Associated with Bachelor's Degree Completion: A Nine-Year Follow-up. Research In Higher Education, 23(4), 351–373. Pascarella, E. & Chapman, D. (1983). A m

PurposeTrade-offs are unavoidable in a competitive and difficult economic environment, causing a challenge for those wanting to provide consistently high-quality service across all touchpoints in the service delivery ecosystem, included in which is the higher education (HE) sector. This study aims to explore the key factors influencing service trade-offs related to the efforts of academics in Malaysia’s HE sector.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 400 full-time academics from several higher learning institutions in Malaysia. Data were analysed using the partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach.FindingsThe results reveal that service trade-offs in the HE sector were heavily influenced by service priorities. Customisation of services, meeting individual student needs, working under immense pressure within tight timeframes and focusing on teaching and research jointly contribute to academics’ service trade-offs in the HE sector. Indeed, the nature of the job necessitates such trade-offs by default, as academics are unable to cancel or postpone classes due to scheduling constraints and the requirement to be physically present during class sessions.Practical implicationsHE administrators and managers should provide academics with adequate resources, effective work allocation and optimal timeframes for task completion, as service priorities are the key factors influencing service trade-offs in Malaysia’s HE sector. The satisfaction of these needs would enable academics’ service priorities and trade-offs to be better balanced, thereby contributing to better operational efficiency, boosting organisational performance and maintaining business sustainability.Originality/valueThe empirical results serve to clarify the key factors influencing service trade-offs in the HE sector, thus expanding the extant literature, which has mostly concentrated on describing the same phenomena in the manufacturing sector. The proposed service trade-offs model would serve as a guideline for operational efficiencies in the HE sector to prevent future recurrence and reduce the potential risk of service disruption, thus mitigating the risk of dissatisfaction.

University is paramount in producing graduates who can think critically and who can solve problems. The study investigates the impact of student’s financial aid to higher education enrolment. The focus is on the national financial aid scheme, which is directed towards the disadvantaged students enrolling in higher education. The main aim of the student financial aid is to increase the enrolment in higher education and to bring about equity in higher education. The study uses data from National student financial aid scheme (NSFAS) to determine its impact on higher education enrolment. The study employs the bounds testing cointegration approach. The motivation to adopt this methodology was based on the fact that the data used in this study is finite. These results reveal a long run relationship between student enrolment at higher education and student financial aid. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n3p555

This article focuses on the gradual development and reform of Higher Education (HE) system throughout the last 40 years or so in Bangladesh. To properly show the scenario of the educational development a discussion on various education commissions is done and some recommendations are given to conclude. The Qudrat-E-Khoda Commission (1974) basically highlights the colonial deprivation of two hundred years and some other problems in the HE system like traditional memorizing system and lack of research and empirical studies. Secondly, Jatiya Shikhah Upadeshta Parishad (1979) finds out some problems like HE having no relation with the country and the state and lack of sufficient facilities in the newly established colleges. The other commissions focus on quota problem, the teachers’ fascination to private coaching, lack of professional knowledge of teachers etc. Besides, the recommendations of these commissions are: HE should be related to the demand of the nation, expansion of practical education, introduction of new academic disciplines, introduction of four years’ Bachelor of Honours and one year Masters, involvement of private sector in HE, more funds and facilities for research, the syllabus and curriculums to be modern and international standard etc. Our HE system actually came from the British and from time to time it is used politically. Not only in the colonial days but also after independence HE system was influenced by the ruling party. Finally, HE should function properly for sustainable development in the country and so reform is inevitable. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p423