Higher Education in India– New Insights for Innovations in Learning Process

Abstract

The Indian higher education system is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States. There has been an exceptional growth in number of universities, colleges as well as enrolment in higher education system particularly during last 15 years. The ratio of professional to non-professional enrolment has been almost 1:3. Key challenge before higher education system in India is to make it relevant and purposive, so that it responds to societal needs and enables students to get meaningful employment opportunities. The areas in which there is a need to come out with policy perspective at macro level and innovations at institutional levelare Quality and Excellence, Equity and Access & Inclusion. There is a dire need for the teaching community to keep coming out with innovations in teaching-learning process, in particular in the areas of curricula, pedagogy, and assessment which should make learning an enjoyable experience and more and more purposive to the societal needs. This paper attempts to identify specific areas of innovations in higher education system to improve the quality of higher education, so as to make it relevant and purposive to societal needs. The strategy to innovate has to take care of local and global dimensions of multiple sources of learning such as – networked learning, life-long learning, world class learning with local and international perspective. Above all, higher learning has to imbibe a framework of flexibility by introducing a modular structure which can be taken as per the desired pace of understanding of the student, implying a possibility of completing the degree programme in shorter or longer duration and a choice-based learning that allows the student to opt for interdisciplinary courses of his liking and interest as a part and parcel of curricula to complete his degree programme