Chapter 2: Current System: Broken and Disconnected
Pune, January 2014: Mukund Kapase recently joined an automobile company as an assembly-line worker after his dreams of joining the IT industry were repeatedly crushed. He was deemed “unemployable” by the IT companies even after receiving several degrees. India’s higher-education system has let Mukund and his family down. His story is similar to millions of India’s youth graduating from colleges and universities across the country.
What is the state of India’s higher education system?
In Chapter 2, I focus on this question. There are five key dimensions that capture the essence of India’s higher education system – inadequate enrollments, limited excellence, misaligned structure and scope, and severe shortage of qualified faculty members and university leaders. I have weaved in interviews with leading industrialists, university leaders, faculty members, and students throughout the chapter as I peel the onion on India’s vast and complex higher education system.
Despite a few exceptions and some innovations in recent times, the higher education system is broken and disconnected. It is broken on all fronts that matter and is disconnected with the needs and aspirations of the students, parents, industry, society, and the nation. How bad is it? Does it affect you and me? Read it in my book.
(Shail Kumar is the author of Building Golden India: How to unleash India's vast potential and transform its higher education system. Now. To find out more about the author and the book, visit: www.shailkumar.com)