E-Paper
Stress on need to update education
Opening of the branches of foreign universities in India should be welcomed but at the same time, traditional values and heritages should also be made a part of the marketisation of higher education, said Prof SB Bhattacharya, dean, faculty of Education in BHU.
Opening of the branches of foreign universities in India should be welcomed but at the same time, traditional values and heritages should also be made a part of the marketisation of higher education, said Prof SB Bhattacharya, dean, faculty of Education in BHU.
He added that since Indians were very much ahead in their cognitive development in comparison to others in the world, brain drain of Indians was a major issue. The presence of foreign universities would prevent brain drain from India. While initiating a discussion on the theme of ‘ Marketisation of Higher Education’ held under the auspices of the Academique in the faculty of law of BHU, Prof Bhattacharya said in the absence of any guidelines from the Government of India to regulate the policies of foreign universities, the marketisation of higher education may act as a slow poison resulting in to neocolonialism.
He observed that the purpose of education was total development of a personality. Therefore, knowledge could not be treated as a commodity. The marketisation of higher education would help Indian educational institutions open overseas branches and make money and also to invest in the infrastructure of education in their own country. In the presidential address, Prof Janardan Singh, dean, faculty of agriculture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, said that despite 360 universities in India, the nation was not able to cope with the demand of higher education of the people. After opening of the branches of foreign universities, competition in this field would be accelerated and the system would improve.
He added that in order to compete with these foreign universities, Indians would have to update their curriculum, classrooms, infrastructure and also the teachers, otherwise traditional teaching would generate a lot of frustration and unemployment.
Chairman of the Human Rights Cell, BHU, Professor DP Verma held that the foreign universities were not for the benefit of the general public. They would not only attract good students but also good teachers, leaving the mediocre students and teachers in the Indian universities.
