Dear Editor,
The term ‘quality’ is a much used and least understood term. The present higher education system has produced degree holders, but failed to develop general employability skills needed in an employee. The research and teaching at Indian universities is far below than international standards. The various regulatory bodies have constituted autonomous bodies for monitoring quality standards under their purview e.g, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) by the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) etc. But, the quality norms of such councils are not comparable with international standards and the enforcement process is not stringent. The rising demand for higher education and the shortage of faculty lead to inevitable trade-off between quality and quantity. Unless quality and quantity of higher education institutions are enhanced, it seems to be a Herculean task for Indian academics/professionals to compete with rest of the world.
Rohini Sharma
Dinga Amb, Kathua