Challenges in Higher Education in India

It is our year of independence still our education system has not been developed fully. We are not able to list a single university m top 100 universities of the world. Various governments changed during these six decades They tried to boost the education system and implemented various education policies but they were not sufficient to put an example for the universe. UGC is continuously working and focusing on quality education in higher education sector. Still we are facing lot of problems and challenges in our education system. Some of the basic challenges in higher education system in India are discussed below:

Enrolment: The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of India in higher education is only 15% Milich IS quite low as compared to the developed as well as, other developing countries. With the increase of enrolments at school the supply of higher education institutes is insufficient to meet the grow-mg demand in the country.

Equity: There is no equity m GER among different sects of the society. According to previous studies the GER in higher education in India among male and female varies to a greater extent. There are regional variations too some states have high GER while as some is quite behind the national GER which reflect a significant imbalances within the higher education system.

Quality: Quality in higher education is a multi-dimensional, multikel, and a dynamic concept. Ensurmg quality in higher education is amongst the foremost challenges being faced in India today. However, Government is continuously focusing on the quality education. Still Large number of colleges and universities in India are unable to meet the minimum requirements laid clou.n by the UGC and our universities are not m a position to mark its place among the top utmersities of the world.

Infrastructure: Poor infrastructure is another challenge to the higher education system of India particularly the Institutes run by the public sector suffer from poor physical facilities and infrastructure There are large number of colleges which are functionmg on second or third floor of the building on ground or first floor there exists readymade hosieries or photocopy shops.

Political interference: Most of the educational Institutions are ouned by the political leaders: who are playing key role in governing bodies of the They are using the innocent students for their selfish means. Students organise campaigns, forget their own objectives arid begin to develop their careers m politics.

Faculty: Faculty shortages and the inability of the state educational system to attract and retain well- qualified teachers have been posing challenges to quality education for many years. Large numbers of NET PhD candidates are unemployed even there are lot of vacancies in higher education: these deserving candidates are then applying in other departrnents which is a biggest blow to the higher education system.

Accreditation: As per the data provided by the NAAC as of June 2010, "not even 25% of the total higher education institutions in the country were accredited. And among those accredited, only 30% of the universities and 45% of the colleges were found to be of quality to be ranked at 'A' level"

Research and Innovation: there are very nominal scholars in our country whose writing is cited by