Education system should be revamped

Eluru: The speakers at an orientation programme on Trends in International Higher Education – Professionalism and Personal Effectiveness at St Teresa Autonomous Women’s College here on Friday sought reforms in higher education.

Resource persons Prof Ann Mary Frenondous, Dean of Maths Technical Services and De Paul Sundaram, General Manager of Maths Technical Services said There is no greater challenge to the future of India than the urgent need to revamp our institutions of higher education.

The reform that has to take place will have to address the fundamental problem of institutionalised mediocrity, deeply embedded in these institutions.

It is not enough to talk about pursuing excellence to establish and build world-class universities of excellence, the ecosystem of higher education has to change dramatically.

They said increasing concerns were being expressed about the employability of our graduates, which was linked closely to the quality of education and relevance of courses being offered to meet the current needs of the economy and the country.

They said building world-class research-oriented universities involves a serious commitment to knowledge creation in the sciences, arts, social sciences and humanities.

The vision for transforming Indian universities needs to focus on a set of specific goals to nurture research they added.

They opined that biggest challenge was to create an enabling environment to promote innovation. No reform of higher education institutions was possible without a careful and calibrated effort to examine the current framework of the powers of the government and of regulatory bodies, they added.

College Principal Sister Mercy Sister Marietta D mello Sister Graciana and others participated in the programme. College IQAC coordinators Prof C Satya Devi and Dr Rani acted as coordinators.