India needs a radical revolution in higher education says C Rangarajan

Updated on: Friday, April 12, 2013

India needs a radical revolution in higher education, believes C Rangarajan, chairman, economic advisory council to the prime minister. "We need to move away from the system of examinations. I was amazed to see a question paper ten years ago. It was the same as the one I took some forty years ago," he said on Friday.

Rangarajan was speaking at the national conference titled 'Quality of higher education and economic development ( HEED)'.

"Answer any five questions from the following ten questions: I still see this kind of questions. We need to spend more time in setting the question paper. It is extremely important to completely revamp the examination system," he said.

There has been a phenomenal expansion in the number of students enrolled in colleges. In 1951, there were 0.2 million students studying in 20 universities and 500 colleges. As of March 2012, there are 20 million students studying in 627 universities and 35,000 colleges. "Sadly, we have lost out on quality. While our best students do well even abroad, it is the average student who is the cause of concern," said Rangarajan.

Exams should test the critical ability of the student not their not their memory. "At the end of three years, students go through 7-8 exams. Exams should be a continuous process," said Rangarajan.

Between the ages of 18 and 23, India has a gross enrolment rate of 18%. While the world average is 26%, it is 40% in developed countries.

India needs a radical revolution in higher education says C Rangarajan

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