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3. Implement
administrative reforms in universities – It is equally important that reforms in the administration of
universities accompany academic reforms. This will ensure professional
administration of universities, and help in attracting students and good
faculty. These reforms should include the following:-
- Ensuring
a capable administration headed by an able Vice Chancellor and Registrar; these
appointments should be based on academic and administrative credentials
- Increasing
efficiency and transparency in university administration at all levels
- De-politicisation
of appointments and more administrative autonomy
- Better
systems for monitoring and maintaining the physical infrastructure, especially
buildings
- Sensitizing
the administration towards academic freedom and the academic needs for a good
research environment
4. Enable research
environments in universities - Academic
reforms and better infrastructure should go hand in hand with nurturing and
sustaining a research environment. Some key enablers for this are:-
- Mechanisms
for greater academic cooperation between universities and research
institutions; in particular embedding research institutes (granting sufficient
autonomy) within university campuses
- Providing
access to digital media in universities, in parallel with funds for better
libraries and laboratories
- Focused
engagement towards making universities a natural home for research as well as
teaching
5. Set up more quality
undergraduate teaching institutions across disciplines – Dedicated researchers involved in direct training of
the students at the undergraduate level create a greater impact. Most of the
universities or elite institutions in the country are currently involved in
training for the Masters or Ph.D degrees. However, it is now widely recognised
that the students emerging from the undergraduate programmes are ill-prepared
for a research career. The following steps are proposed to address this:-
- Introduction
of well-planned four-year courses to enable direct entry into Ph.D programmes
- Encouragement of various measures to ensure multiple
sources of input of talented people into the academic profession
- Credit
portability across a network of institutions
6. Increase funding for
education at all levels and for R&D –
Even in the developed countries, it is fully accepted that long-term
investment in education and increased spending on R&D is necessary to
maintain the lead in cutting-edge research. This is even more relevant in India
today. We propose the following measures:-
- Strengthening
of education at the school level, with particular focus on teacher training
- Creation
of effective monitoring and assessment mechanisms, nimble enough to measure
outcomes and adopt new strategies
- Consulting
stakeholders in making policy decisions
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