Management and Governance in Higher Technical Institution: Reflections and Experiences

By Tarkeshwar Kumar

From the pages of this book:

Demands, expectations and responsibilities of youth in the present day scenario

Education has become an open secret. The learner expresses the right to acquire knowledge as she or he feels that the facility has been created by the Government for her or him to graduate with necessary knowledge and skill. In this process there are confrontations in the campus, arguments with endless people in the society, without understanding the consequences of the actions. Although the students expectations are correct and there should be proper arrangement for education as per the need, the situation is slightly different today. The youth in the process of demand, also extends the legitimate limit of expectation. While their right is justifiable, they sometimes forget their duty to respect law, respect the society, other people, teachers, staff, failing which they cannot be moulded as responsible citizens. Most important thing in life is not the achievement of worldly possessions but being a good person with good value system. High moral value, integrity, respect for elders and fellow feelings to colleagues and friends are the cardinal principles of life in eternity.

Infrastructural facilities for efficient functioning of the institute

Clean and beautiful campus is the desire of every one. I used to hear about shining campus. The Institute with academic infrastructure like Department building, auditorium, play grounds, playing courts for Tennis, Volleyball, Basket Ball, cricket pitch, open air theatre, hospital, canteen, food courts, corner shops for stationery, tea / coffee, internet caf, etc., make campus life vibrant. Hence beautiful and attractive ambience of all these facilities put high level of confidence into the residents particularly students who are the main stake holders. Their residential areas with hostels, coffee / tea stalls, messes, parks, walk ways, gymnasium, indoor games, viz. table tennis, volley ball, badminton courts are the star attractions. Other residents of the campus who are equally important stake holders are faculty and staff members who deserve even better facilities because of their long term stay in the campus where their family members grow from one s tage of life to another. Their children spend best part of their life in the streets of the campus. Therefore, their housing facilities, their recreational centres like clubs, play field, banking, post office, shopping complexes make their life exciting and even interesting which in turn give them necessary energy to given their best for the overall progress and functioning of the institute.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Dec 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482887532

Tarkeshwar Kumar

The author Tarkeshwar Kumar has been an academic researcher and administrator for over a decade. He is experienced in facing the challenges of governance and managing the National Institutes like ISM (now IIT), NIFFT Ranchi, and NIT Durgapur, besides acting as a mentor director of NIT Arunachal Pradesh and GKCIET Malda.

Book preview

CONTENTS

Quotes on Education

About the Author

Preface

Acknowledgement

Chapter 1    Introduction: Education Scenario

Chapter 2    Challenges in Educational Institution

Chapter 3    Academic Management    and Development

Chapter 4    Research and Innovation

Chapter 5    Energy and Environment

Chapter 6    Campus Life and Beyond

Chapter 7    Personality Development

Chapter 8    Interaction with Industry and Alumni

Chapter 9    Career Opportunities and Societal Impact

QUOTES ON EDUCATION

Education is the manifestation of perfection present already in man. – Swami Vivekananda

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. – Aristotle

Education which does not mould character is absolutely worthless. Cleanliness of mind and body is the first step in education. – Mahatma Gandhi

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. – Rabindranath Tagore

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. – Nelson Mandela

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligent plus character – that is the goal of true education. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Education without values is like a flower without fragrance. Knowledge is a true enabler of human empowerment. The contribution of education to the development of a nation is second to none. – Pranab Mukherjee

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Prof. Tarkeshwar Kumar, a distinguished academician and eminent scholar, is the Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad. He served as faculty member at this institute for 24 years before taking over as its Director in August 2005, the post he held for about six years. He also assumed additional charge of Director, NIFFT Ranchi in April 2008, which he held for more than three years. He served as Director, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur from July 2011 to December 2015.

Kumar earned his PhD at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh (UK) under Commonwealth Scholarship scheme. He was awarded with the prestigious National Mineral Award – 2008 by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India for his outstanding contribution to oil and gas. His contributions to the advancement of engineering education and research are commended by various other magazines and media such as New Global Indian magazine under the heading Fuelling Education, Igniting Inspiration, Chemical Business magazine, ISTE Newsletter, ETV etc.

Kumar has edited a book on Indian Mineral Conclave in 2009 and co-authored a book in 2014 titled Applications of Micro emulsions in Enhanced Oil Recovery published by Lambert Academic Publishing with Achinta Bera and Ajay Mandal available online. His reflections and experiences of managing the technical educational institution are documented in the present book.

PREFACE

There are numerous books available on the education technology, education scenario, methodology, tools and techniques including many inspired pieces of writings by the great leaders and scholars. However I felt that the issue of challenges faced by students, teachers, and staff in a campus has not been the focus of writing by many scholars and authors. Therefore, I felt that the contemporary issues faced by planners and Government of MHRD and state education departments supported by effective inputs at the management and administration level of the campus can jointly achieve the mammoth target of educating our youth at the desired level of quality and knowledge. My reflection and experience of heading the three technical educational institutions namely IIT (ISM) Dhanbad for six years, National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology (NIFFT) Ranchi for more than three years and NIT Durgapur for about four and half years have been the guiding force for me to put before you the essence captured on management and governance of the institutions.

First of all I would like to record my words of appreciation for the Hon’ble Human Resource Development Minister, the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Hon’ble President (who is also the visitor of NITs) under whose leadership the education has taken the front seat in the development strategy of the country. I would also appreciate the cooperation and help of all the officers and staff members of MHRD, Government of India with whom I worked closely for the last ten years as Director. We have observed the efforts of successive Governments for capacity building in various centrally funded institutions. The present Government’s task of supporting all CFIs created earlier and new CFIs being created is very challenging.

Management of the institutions at the Board of Governors level with inspiration and motivation by the former Chairman of Executive Body and Governing Council ISM, Mr. P. K. Lahiri, former Chairpersons, BOG NIFFT, Dr. T. B. Singh and Shri Sanjiv Gupta, former Chairman, BOG, NIT Durgapur, Dr. Bikash Sinha, present Chairman, BOG, NIT Durgapur, Prof. A. B. Bhattacharyya and all the Hon’ble members of the respective Boards has provided me with necessary courage and strength to my team at the respective institutes to carry on the work with active support of our academic leaders like Deans, HODs, faculty members along with staff members.

Students have been my dearest ones with whom, I remain connected not only at the top level but also in the class rooms. I always enjoyed personal interaction with students and research scholars and continue to be connected with them through social media. Alumni are like watch towers and mentors. I remember the years when a large number of them would gather at the annual function to show solidarity with the present students and connect with their former teachers. That gives the great feeling of union and patronage.

I have learnt a lot with interaction almost on daily basis with a large number of leaders from industries and organisations in connection with placement, training, seminars, conferences, workshops, special lectures, examination, faculty selection, viva - voce, practical examinations and their evaluation including those who come to the institute just to say hello to us as parents and guests of the students. It is difficult to list them all. I am really indebted to one and all including faculty members, students, office colleagues, assistants, clerks, supporting staff giving us words of selfless advice for the betterment of the institute.

Prof. Tarkeshwar Kumar

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am personally thankful to the students and research scholars of NIT Durgapur, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and NIFFT Ranchi for whom the entire faculty and staff fraternity are putting all-out efforts so that they shape themselves into good and responsive citizens. They become my inspiration to compile my reflections and experiences of the campus. In my effort to bring about positive changes in the academic environment, the role of faculty members and the staff cannot be overestimated. Needless to say the contributions of stakeholders like alumni, parents/guardians, industry leaders, and society at large besides students, teachers, staff and Government functionaries are gratefully acknowledged

I would like to express my sincere thanks to all my friends and office colleagues from whom I have demanded time and help without any hesitation for all my endeavours. I would like to put on record my appreciations to Mr. Arun Charles Minz who typed the entire manuscript and Mr. Pijush Kanti Debroy who instilled confidence in me for creativity. Dr. Arindam Modak and Prof. Vijay Kumar Dwivedi have taken pains to go through the manuscript, corrected and helped in organizing it into the book form. The last but not the least I would like to thank my wife Usha and children, Vineeta and Niraj who have been my continuous inspiration for all these years.

Prof. Tarkeshwar Kumar

Chapter 1

Introduction: Education Scenario

1.1  Education is one of the most potent tools at our disposal to deliver on promises of the vision of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar. says Tharoor¹. He further adds, As with all our endeavours for development it too must remain consciously true to those ideals. It is only in dedicating ourselves to these civilizational, constitutional and indeed universal values that we can provide meaningful development, which secures the rights and progress of all citizens towards the goal of ensuring their freedom, equality and empowerment. It is further quoted from Tharoor¹ The idea of India finds its moral voice in Gandhi, its potential expression in Nehru, its aesthetic sensibility in Tagore, its administrative cohesion in Patel, its nationalist pride in Bose, its composite culture in Azad, and its constitutional ethics in Ambedkar. That we have yet to attain proper fulfilment of the destiny they charted for us is no fault of their vision. About the employability the author adds, "The quality and employability of the vast majority of graduates are being seriously questioned. Employers’ associations like FICCI, CII and Assocham have conducted studies that have established widespread and high levels of dissatisfaction with the quality of graduates available for employment.

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1.2  Tharoor¹ writes, "We cannot only be a leader in global technologies but also in adapting these technologies to humanitarian applications and for the promotion of the welfare of our people. Indian students schooled in the Indian context, will promote innovations that not only better the lot of their compatriots here, but also across the developing world. India must not only be a thought leader in this field but also a leader with a heart that understands that the purpose of innovation is to improve the quality of life of human beings across the globe. Tharoor¹ quotes in the above book from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech at the midnight moment of our independent, when he spoke of ‘the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity’. The dreams of our leaders and aspirations of our youth can be achieved only with the strong determination and actions by all stake holders. Participation from public and private with involvement of academic leaders and industry professionals can lead to quantum jump in education delivery to one and all in our country.

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1.3  From the slow pace of growth of education in the early decades after independence, there is felt need to accelerate the process of delivery of quality education at all levels from primary to higher education. Swami² states The humanity is now entering an era of knowledge. Education has become the tool of development. When the western societies industrialized themselves, the threshold of education needed for one to participate in the process was very low. The level of literacy in terms of percentage is still low; even among the literate, many have an educational preparation that is inadequate or inappropriate for the performance of today’s jobs. There is a need to relook at the priorities of building educational infrastructure and support system. Primary level education system needs focus and objectivity. Question is whether the large number of student mass in the rural areas has only limited aspirations or they need to have same opportunities and education and training, which are available to their counter parts in the urban areas.

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1.4  Daptardar³ has presented a beautiful concept of education. According to her Education is an instrument of building nation through which we can reach our maximum potential. The nation building education implies the presence of far sightedness and creative young minds ready to make sacrifices to realize the goals of freedom struggle. Nation building education, is a sum total of software in the form of human capital, its wisdom, intellectual capacities, skills and the hardware in the form of superstructures of institutions, infrastructure and machinery facilitating and preserving culture deeply rooted in the soils of the nation. The author emphasizes on the importance of ethics, moral values and culture into the education system as early as possible. She adds, In a sense, education begins in the family which constitutes the first point in the conveyor belt of our belief systems and values. School makes a major contribution by providing appropriate education. It can do so, provided it is anchored in the philosophical and culture ethos of its society.

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1.5  Swami Vivekananda has very inspiring views about our youth and nation building. According to him, Each nation has destiny to fulfil, a message to deliver, a mission to accomplish. He also emphasized that our national message is spirituality and its mission is to guide the whole humanity. He believed that education was the primary tool to achieve the national message. Sri Aurobindo preaches us not to get trapped into the conflict between modernism and antiquity but he advocates that the education should lead and link us between the present and the past. Rabindranath Tagore has said, The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. Mahatma Gandhi put education in the forefront of everything and considered it as a vehicle for social development and transformation. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has set the role of universities in national life and said³, A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas, and for the search for the truth.

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1.6  Literacy rate in India is a major cause of concern. Different states have been putting efforts to improve the same by various schemes. Kerala and West Bengal, along with Meghalaya and few more states, have achieved much higher rates of literacy compared to the national average of about sixty per cent. Besides the poor literacy rate, the dropouts from the school before class five level is also the factor in the education for all. Besides dropout, enrolment ratio at the lowest level of class I-V is also low. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at class VI-VIII level is also not satisfactory. If we take the holistic view of education at the primary and secondary levels, the higher education in the country is not getting the benefit of the best of talent from the feeder level, i.e., the secondary level due to the poor GER at this level. According to Jeelani⁴, at present 14.6 million students are enrolled in higher education sector. According to FICCI-E&Y report, the country would need an additional capacity to cater to 25 million new seats to achieve 30% GER in 8-10 years requiring additional Rs.10 lakh crore.

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1.7  Even from the perspective of fund requirement, it is very difficult to achieve the target merely by Government funding. Therefore the role of private sector in higher education is inevitable. The number of people getting enrolled in the higher education universities and colleges grew from about 30 million in 2004-05 to over 80 million in 2013-14, which provides a great opportunity for private universities, technical institutions and colleges to provide quality education and services to the youth of the country. Their role in the country’s economic, social and cultural development to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth is well established and needs further encouragement to include even investment from the foreign countries particularly from the non-resident Indians. However, there is need to monitor the quality of education by a fool proof system of governance under UGC regulations.

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1.8  Open universities started in 1980s in India are providing an alternative opportunity to millions of learners who perhaps missed the formal education in the higher education institutions or cannot afford rising cost of education. There are about 15 Open Universities (OU) including Indira Gandhi National Open University. These institutions have developed a system of delivery of education to students through printed lessons, open source lecture materials, video conference method, tutorial through contacts, assignments, etc. In an article by Srivastava and Rao⁵ unlike conventional universities that are highly selective at entry, OUs are known for their openness or flexibility with regard to entry in terms of eligibility criteria and number of seats; with regard to the choice and combination of courses, assessment and course completion. Thus they are able to cater to large numbers and reduce social exclusion by widening participation. Despite making a significant contribution, to the extent of about 20 per cent of GER, OUs are being used for the last three decades as an alternative mode of higher education to provide education to the leftovers of the conventional system and to some extent the disadvantaged groups. However, a lot of reforms particularly on research activities are needed to further strengthen the OUs. After introduction of ICT, Open Education Resources (OERs) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) the improvement has been seen. National policy on Open and Distance Learning (ODL) envisages to addressing the concerns of all sections.

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1.9  Higher education in India is dependent on many factors. The institutional infrastructure dealing with academic and non-academic issues falls short of accepted level of bench marking in the top class institutions in the World. On the top of Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) being below twenty per cent, there are issues of inclusive growth and woman empowerment in the education sector, there are disparities in the qualities of education delivered across various types of universities viz. central, state and private universities. Open University system has its own problems of competing with the traditional universities. Specialized institutions like IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, NITs, IISERs, IIITs, SPAs, etc. which are directly funded and monitored by the MHRD, GOI, are much better than state Universities, where resources of the Government are managed through UGC including Rastriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).

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1.10  According to the analysis reported in an article by Rao⁶, 300 state universities and about 8500 college would benefit under RUSA funding to the tune of Rs.22000/- crore in the 12th plan to achieve equity, access and excellence. RUSA fund will be available for infrastructure and quality improvement, research, innovation, faculty improvement support and capacity building, etc. According to Dr. Radhakrishnan Commission (1948-49) the most and urgent reform needed in education was to transform it to endeavour to relate it to the life, need and aspirations of the people. The National Policy on Education (1986) considered the vision of Dr. Radhakrishnan Commission and the Kothari Commission and set six main goals for higher education which are Access, Equity, Quality and Excellence, Relevance, Value Education and Funding. Each of these attributes needs serious considerations in education management.

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1.11  Hon’ble Vice President of India, Mr. M. Hamid Ansari⁷ in his convocation address of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University at New Delhi on March 26, 2015 stated that Our investment in research and related activities since independence has led creation of substantial capacity and capabilities in science and technology, evident in our Nuclear and Space programmes in the Information Technology, Bio-technology and Nano-technology sectors, etc. High quality basic research in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, computer science and science education is being undertaken in universities, and in islands of excellence like the TIER, IISc Bangalore, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and some others, R&D today has become the main focus in the higher education institutions particularly in technical institutes like IITs and NITs. But the main issue is the volume of research work per capita faculty is still not adequate. On the top of this, the output of research has failed to create the kind of impact on the society and the industry in the manner which happens in Europe and America. Something seriously has to be done to achieve higher levels of attainment and impact of R&D in India.

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1.12  In order to tackle the problem of low GER both from urban and rural areas the Government has allowed setting up of Universities and Colleges under Private Sector on self-financing scheme. These are created by state legislature and governed by UGC regulation 2003 in terms of maintenance of standards, quality other requirements. Today a large number of Deemed Universities has also come up in Private sector. State Private Universities as well as Deemed Universities are contributing greatly in meeting the country’s ever increasing requirement of higher education institution and help in increasing GER considerably.

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1.13  Today is the time of knowledge society which is very sensitive to the aspirations of its members. Learning and education can lead to purposeful knowledge, which can change lives of people. Individual help in consolidating the knowledge economy. There is steady progress in the technology for the knowledge delivery resulting into almost the knowledge explosion. Therefore, as a nation the challenge is to contain and direct the acquired knowledge for the benefit of society. For this there is a need to have consistent and effective mechanism for knowledge management. Higher education institutions particularly technical education institutions can effectively contribute in developing appropriate technologies suitable for sustainable growth. Cutting edge technologies such as Nano Technology, Smart Systems, Food and Nutrition, Energy Management can lead to food security and energy security for the country. According to Maheshwari⁸, there is an urgent need for a time bound project focussing on exploiting knowledge for our development as a knowledge society. Our approach should be futuristic with distinct vision and plan of action to achieve the desirables in building the true knowledge society.

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1.14  Woman empowerment has been the subject of our country’s planners, right from the independence. According to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘If you educate a man, you educate an individual; However, if you educate a woman, you educate a whole family. Woman empowered means mother India empowered." This principle has been considered as the guiding principle in the National Policy on Education 1986 which emphasized the promotion of women’s education in all areas of learning to eliminate any sex based stereotyping with the guarantee of equality before the law and the emphasis on girls education. Women empowerment has been effective in many western and eastern world countries. But in India we are struggling to put in place a system under which equal and fair opportunity is made available to all aspiring girls and women in any field of accomplishment including education. But so far we have not been able to achieve equal GER for men and women in higher and technical education. Legal framework, however, has been achieved through the constitution reforms. However, there is need to change the mind set of people to give fair chance in recruitment and representations in various policy making bodies to ensure equality and inclusive growth. According to Prasad and Gautam⁹, education is an important instrument for all round development of women. Through education women can be independent, self-reliant and powerful in the society to live life better and respectable. Education is an effective instrument to bring about social change and empowerment of women in true sense.

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1.15  Value education has taken the lead role in understanding the human behaviour towards needs of the society. Sensitivities to various elements of the society come from values in human beings such as honesty and integrity, freedom, responsibility, tolerance, patience, respects, sympathy, compassion, understanding, care, etc., according to experts in the education technology, it is no longer believed that value system cannot be imbibed in a formal education. Sound efforts are required in educational institutions at all levels including higher education to introduce as a part of curriculum. Today’s fragmented and devoid of values education system need more than before a systematic input of value education. Shokeen¹⁰ has remarked that Teachers have to understand tolerance and also have to practice it. They should be courageous and committed to do voluntary services. The institutional curriculum should take care of these aspects. Swamy Vivekanand has all along emphasized on value based education to youth so that they could help build the nation which can rely on honest, sincere and dedicated citizens of future. He also stressed on character