University Education In India

 About University in India 

University 

The universities offer students the skills and knowledge they will need to work in a large number of different environments. The Indian Universities offer various courses in the following disciplines. 

• Engineering and Technology 
• Computer Sciences, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Bio-informatics 
• Medical, Dental, Nursing, Pharmacy and Paramedical 
• Agriculture/Veterinary Sciences, Dairy Technology and Fisheries 
• Social Sciences, Commerce, Science and Management 
• Hotel Management & Catering Technology, Travel and Tourism 
• Fashion Design & Technology 

The universities in India are of various kinds such as single or multi faculty, teaching or affiliating, teaching cum affiliating, and single campus or multi campus. Normally, most of the universities are affiliating universities, which prescribe the instruction of the courses to the affiliated colleges while they hold the responsibility of conducting the examinations and awarding the degrees. The colleges in India are not empowered to award degrees and therefore have to seek affiliation with a university. The universities are set up both by the Central and the State Governments. 

University Grants Commission 

The University Grants Commission was established in 1952 in order to evaluate and maintain standards in universities. It was constituted as a statutory body under an Act of Parliament in 1956. The UGC is the only grant-giving agency in the country that has been vested with two responsibilities such as providing funds and coordination, and determining and maintaining of standards in institutions of higher education. The UGC's mandate includes: 

• Promoting and coordinating University educaation,
• Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities;
• Framing regulations on minimum standards of education; 
• Monitoring developments in the field of college and university education, and disbursing grants to the universities and colleges; 
• Serving as a vital link between the Union and State Governments and institutions of higher learning; 
• Advising the Central and the State Governments on the measures necessary for improvement of university education; 
• Conferring autonomous status on selected colleges; Providing detailed guidelines for affiliation of colleges with a university. 

Professional / Higher Education 

The higher or the professional education is the education provided by universities, vocational universities such as the community colleges, the liberal arts colleges, and the technical colleges apart from other collegial institutions that award academic degrees, such as career colleges. The higher education in India has evolved in distinct and divergent streams with each stream monitored by an apex body, indirectly controlled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Most of the professional education is included within higher education, and many postgraduate qualifications are vocational or professional oriented. The higher or the professional education in various disciplines is given below. 

Sciences 

• Mathematics 
• Physical Science 
• Biological Science 
• Music  
• Economics 
• Computer Science 

Arts and Social Sciences 

• Religious studies 
• The Humanities 
• The Social Sciences
• Law 
• Languages 

Applied Sciences 

• Agriculture 
• Architecture 
• Education 
• Engineering 
• Family and consumer science 
• Forestry 
• Forensics 
• Health sciences 
• Library and information science 
• Materials Science 
• Medicine 
• Military science 
• Pharmacology
• Pharmacy

Performing Arts

• Music
• Opera
• Theatre
• Film 
• Dance
• Circus arts

Plastic or Visual Arts

• Fine arts
• Architecture
• Ceramics
• Land art 
• Metalworking
• Paper art
• Textile art
• Woodworking
• Film
• 
  

Levels of Education in India

 About Education Levels 

Play School 

The concept of playschools in India was unheard of few decades ago and few children from rich families attended the playschool. Now, the importance of playschools is recognized as the preschool years are the foundation for lifelong learning. The knowledge base about teaching and learning content in preschool classrooms has also grown to a great extent. It has been found that the child develops significantly in physical, cognitive, social and emotional aspects in the early years, and its experiences deeply influence its disposition for learning. 

There are hundreds of independent playschools in each state and each play school offers the lower and the upper kindergarten classes for the children between the ages four and six.  The playschools develop basic skills and social behavior by games, exercises, music, and simple handicrafts. The Children at kindergarten learn to communicate, play, and interact with others appropriately. The seven foundation learning areas of playschool are thinking, communicating, sense of self and others, health and physical understanding, social living and learning, cultural understanding and understanding the environments.The research has shown light on the value of teachers' making intentional efforts to guide children's thinking and support their learning as they interact with children throughout the day, plan individual and small- and large-group activities ,and organize the classroom environment. The teacher provides various manipulative materials or tools and activities to motivate the children to learn the language and vocabulary of reading, mathematics, science, and computers, as well as that of music, art, and social behaviors. The children also learn to be apart from their parents without anxiety. After kindergarten, the children will advance to the grade . 

Some private playschools offer the Montessori Method of preschools. It is based on observing young children and learning from them about their characteristics and needs. The universal characteristics of children are recognized for each level of development in the children's house, where each child is nurtured and guided in individually-paced learning and development. This method emphasizes on the uniqueness of each child and recognizes that children are different from adults in the way , they develop and think. The Montessori curriculum focuses on five areas such as the practical life, the sensory awareness education, the language arts, the mathematics and the geometry, and the cultural subjects.

Primary School

The primary or the elementary education has the initial years of formal and structured education during childhood. In primary education, the child stays in steadily advancing classes and move on to the secondary schooling. The children are usually kept in classes with one teacher who will be primarily responsible for their education and welfare for that particular year. Additionally, this teacher may get assistance to varying degrees by specialist teachers in certain subject areas, mainly music, dance or physical education. The most notable feature of the primary education is the continuity of a single teacher in the class to build up a close relationship with the class.In India, primary education has its own challenges and achievements. There are millions of young children in lower income groups, especially rural and girl children, comprising nearly 40% of first grade entrants never complete the primary school. There are factors such as poorly qualified teachers, very high student-teacher ratios, inadequate teaching materials, and out-dated teaching methods which result in a low quality of education.As a result, there are many students who even after completing six years of primary schooling in village public schools lack even rudimentary reading and writing skills. At the same time, the children attending urban schools are subjected to extreme competitive pressures since very early age to acquire basic language skills and memorize vast volumes of information. Even the parents and teachers exert pressures on these children to acquire academic skills.For rural India to have strong educational base, the present system of education which is too centralized and urban oriented must be modified. The curriculum must concentrate on the life-view and the day-to-day living styles of the communities to which the children belong.

Secondary / Higher Secondary

The Secondary level education is like a bridge between elementary and higher education. It prepares young students between the age group of 14 and 18 for entry into higher education. According to the National Sample Survey Organization, the population of children in the 14-18 age groups was estimated at 96.6 million in 1996/97. But the enrollment  figures show that only 27 million children were attending secondary schools. This implies that two thirds of the eligible population remains out of the out of the secondary school system.  Each major Indian city has a large number of government funded high schools catering predominantly to the working classes, who form the majority of the population. There are also private schools offering high school education. There are also a number of schools run by the Municipal Corporation offering free education to the poor section of the society. The private schools usually follow the national curriculum but only few offer international qualifications. The various types of schools offering secondary/higher secondary education are as follows.

•  Central Government Funded and Managed Schools 
• Central and State Funded Schools 
• Private Schools

Central Government Funded and Managed Schools 

The Central Government funded and managed central schools are called as the Kendriya Vidyalayas which were set up to cater to the educational needs of children of transferable Central Government employees including Defence and Para-Military personnel by providing a common programme of education. All these schools are affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education and are co-educational, composite schools. The quality of teaching is kept reasonably high by an appropriate teacher-pupil ratio and there is no tuition fee for boys up to Class VIII and girls up to Class XII. There is also no tuition fee for Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes students and the children of KVS employees. 

Central and State Funded Schools 

There are a large number of central and state government funded senior secondary schools which are managed by the local Municipal Corporations. These schools offer free education, food, uniform, etc to students. The medium of instruction in these schools is usually the local language. These schools are affiliated either to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the State Boards. They cater to the very poor section of the society. 

Private Schools 

The private schools are completely funded by private individuals, bodies, or trusts and these schools cater to the middle and upper class population of India. Most private schools are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Indian School Certificate Examination (ISCE) and offer their standard exams. Some private schools also offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) and A-Levels.

Brief History of Education in India

 The education in India has a rich and interesting history. It is believed that in the ancient days, the education was imparted orally by the sages and the scholars and the information was passed on from one generation to the other.

After the development of letters, it took the form of writing using the palm leaves and the barks of trees. This also helped in spreading the written literature. The temples and the community centers formed the role of schools. Later, the Gurukul system of education came into existence.

The Gurukuls were the traditional Hindu residential schools of learning which were typically in the teacher's house or a monastery. Even though the education was free, the students from well-to-do families paid the Gurudakshina which was a voluntary contribution after the completion of their studies. At the Gurukuls, the teacher imparted knowledge on various aspects of the religion, the scriptures, the philosophy, the literature, the warfare, the statecraft, the medicine astrology and the histor. This system is referred as the oldest and the most effective system of education.

In the first millennium and the few centuries preceding, there was a flourishing of higher education at Nalanda, Takshashila University, Ujjain, and Vikramshila Universities. The important subjects were mainly the art, the architecture, the painting,the logic, the grammar, the philosophy, the astronomy, the literature, the Buddhism, the Hinduism, the arthashastra, the law, and the medicine. Each university specialized in a particular field of study. For instance, the Takshila specialized in the study of medicine, while the Ujjain laid emphasis on astronomy. 

The Nalanda, being the biggest centre, had all the branches of knowledge, and housed up to 10,000 students at its peak. The British records reveal that the education was widespread in the 18th century, with a school for every temple, mosque or village in most regions of the country. The main subjects were the arithmetic, the theology, the law, the astronomy, the metaphysics, the ethics, the medical science and the religion. The school had the student representives from all classes of the society.

The present system of education was introduced and founded by the British in the 20th century, by the recommendations of Macaulay. It has western style and content. The British government did not recognize the traditional structures and so they have declined. It is said that even Gandhi described the traditional educational system as a beautiful tree which was destroyed during the British rule. 

The first medical college of Kerala was started at Calicut, in 1942-43, during World War II. As there was a shortage of doctors to serve the military, the British Government opened a branch of Madras Medical College in Malabar, which was under Madras Presidency then. After independence, the education became the responsibility of the states and the Central Government coordinated the technical and higher education by specifying the standards. 

In 1964, the Education Commission started functioning with 16 members of which 11 were Indian experts and 5 were foreign experts. The Commission also discussed with many international agencies, experts and consultants in the educational as well as scientific field. Later in 1976, the education became a joint responsibility of both the state and the Centre through a constitutional amendment. 

The central government through the Ministry of Human Resource Development's Department of Education and the governments at the states formulated the education policy and planning. NPE 1986 and revised PoA 1992 envisioned that free and compulsory education should be provided for all children up to 14 years of age before the commencement of 21st century. Also, the Government of India made a commitment that by 2000, 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be spent on education, out of which half would be spent on the Primary education. 

In November 1998, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced setting up of Vidya Vahini Network to link up universities, UGC and CSIR. The general marks-based education system is now being replaced by the grades-based system.

History

 Education began in prehistory, as adults trained the young in the knowledge and skills deemed necessary in their society. In pre-literate societies, this was achieved orally and through imitation. Story-telling passed knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to the next. As cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond skills that could be readily learned through imitation, formal education developed. Schools existed in Egypt at the time of the Middle Kingdom.

Historical Madrasah in Baku, Azerbaijan

Matteo Ricci (left) and Xu Guangqi (right) in the Chinese edition of Euclid's Elements published in 1607

Plato founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in Europe. The city of Alexandria in Egypt, established in 330 BCE, became the successor to Athens as the intellectual cradle of Ancient Greece. There, the great Library of Alexandria was built in the 3rd century BCE. European civilizations suffered a collapse of literacy and organization following the fall of Rome in CE 476.

Plato's Academy, mosaic from pompeii

In China, Confucius (551–479 BCE), of the State of Lu, was the country's most influential ancient philosopher, whose educational outlook continues to influence the societies of China and neighbours like Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Confucius gathered disciples and searched in vain for a ruler who would adopt his ideals for good governance, but his Analects were written down by followers and have continued to influence education in East Asia into the modern era.

Nalanda, ancient centre for higher learning

The Aztecs had schools for the noble youths called Calmecac where they would receive rigorous religious and military training. The Aztecs also had a well-developed theory about education, which has an equivalent word in Nahuatl called tlacahuapahualiztli. It means "the art of raising or educating a person", or "the art of strengthening or bringing up men". This was a broad conceptualization of education, which prescribed that it begins at home, supported by formal schooling, and reinforced by community living. Historians cite that formal education was mandatory for everyone regardless of social class and gender. There was also the word neixtlamachiliztli, which is "the act of giving wisdom to the face." These concepts underscore a complex set of educational practices, which was oriented towards communicating to the next generation the experience and intellectual heritage of the past for the purpose of individual development and his integration into the community.

After the Fall of Rome, the Catholic Church became the sole preserver of literate scholarship in Western Europe. The church established cathedral schools in the Early Middle Ages as centres of advanced education. Some of these establishments ultimately evolved into medieval universities and forebears of many of Europe's modern universities. During the High Middle Ages, Chartres Cathedral operated the famous and influential Chartres Cathedral School. The medieval universities of Western Christendom were well-integrated across all of Western Europe, encouraged freedom of inquiry, and produced a great variety of fine scholars and natural philosophers, including Thomas Aquinas of the University of Naples, Robert Grosseteste of the University of Oxford, an early expositor of a systematic method of scientific experimentation, and Saint Albert the Great, a pioneer of biological field research. Founded in 1088, the University of Bologne is considered the first, and the oldest continually operating university.

Matteo Ricci (left) and Xu Guangqi(right) in the Chinese edition of Euclid's Elements published in 1607

Elsewhere during the Middle Ages, Islamic science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic caliphate which was established across the Middle East, extending from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Indus in the east and to the Almoravid Dynasty and Mali Empire in the south.

The Renaissance in Europe ushered in a new age of scientific and intellectual inquiry and appreciation of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press, which allowed works of literature to spread more quickly. The European Age of Empires saw European ideas of education in philosophy, religion, arts and sciences spread out across the globe. Missionaries and scholars also brought back new ideas from other civilizations – as with the Jesuit China missions who played a significant role in the transmission of knowledge, science, and culture between China and Europe, translating works from Europe like Euclid's Elements for Chinese scholars and the thoughts of Confucius for European audiences. The Enlightenment saw the emergence of a more secular educational outlook in Europe. Much of modern traditional Western and Eastern education is based on the Prussian education system.

In most countries today, full-time education, whether at school or otherwise, is compulsory for all children up to a certain age. Due to this the proliferation of compulsory education, combined with population growth, UNESCO has calculated that in the next 30 years more people will receive formal education than in all of human history thus far.

Public Schooling

The education sector or education system is a group of institutions (ministries of education, local educational authorities, teacher training institutions, schools, universities, etc.) whose primary purpose is to provide education to children and young people in educational settings. It involves a wide range of people (curriculum developers, inspectors, school principals, teachers, school nurses, students, etc.). These institutions can vary according to different contexts.

Schools deliver education, with support from the rest of the education system through various elements such as education policies and guidelines – to which school policies can refer – curricula and learning materials, as well as pre- and in-service teacher training programmes. The school environment – both physical (infrastructures) and psychological (school climate) – is also guided by school policies that should ensure the well-being of students when they are in school. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has found that schools tend to perform best when principals have full authority and responsibility for ensuring that students are proficient in core subjects upon graduation. They must also seek feedback from students for quality-assurance and improvement. Governments should limit themselves to monitoring student proficiency.

The education sector is fully integrated into society, through interactions with numerous stakeholders and other sectors. These include parents, local communities, religious leaders, NGOs, stakeholders involved in health, child protection, justice and law enforcement (police), media and political leadership.

The shape, methodologies, taught material – the curriculum – of formal education is decided by political decision makers along with federal agencies such as the state education agency in the United States.

Education Types

There are various ways how forms of education are commonly subdivided into different types. The most common subdivision is between formal, non-formal, and informal education. However, some theorists only distinguish between formal and informal education. A process of teaching constitutes formal education if it happens in a complex institutionalized framework. Such frameworks are usually chronologically and hierarchically organized as in modern schooling systems, which have different classes based on the student's age and progress, all the way from primary school to university. Because of its scale, formal education is usually controlled and guided by a governmental entity and is normally compulsory up to a certain age. Non-formal and informal education differ from formal education due to their lack of such a governmental institutionalized framework. Non-formal education constitutes a middle ground in the sense that it is also organized, systematic, and carried out with a clear purpose in mind, such as tutoring, fitness classes, or the scouting movement. Informal education, on the other hand, happens in an unsystematic way through daily experiences and exposure to the environment. Unlike formal and non-formal education, there is usually no designated authority figure responsible for teaching. Informal education is present in many different settings and happens throughout one's life, mostly in a spontaneous manner. This is how children usually learn their mother tongue from their parents or when learning how to prepare a certain dish by cooking together. Some accounts tie the difference between the three types mainly to the location where the learning takes place: in school for formal education, in places of the individual's day-to-day routine for informal education, and in other places occasionally visited for non-formal education. It has been argued that the motivation responsible for formal education is predominantly extrinsic, whereas it tends to be mainly intrinsic for non-formal and informal education. The distinction between the three types is normally clear for the paradigmatic cases but there are various intermediate forms of education that do not easily fall into one category. 

Education

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, however learners may also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Formal education is commonly divided formally into such stages as preschool or kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and then college, university, or apprenticeship.

A right to education has been recognized by some governments and the United Nations.In most regions, education is compulsory up to a certain age.Education began in prehistory, as adults trained the young in the knowledge and skills deemed necessary in their society. In pre-literate societies, this was achieved orally and through imitation. Story-telling passed knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to the next. As cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond skills that could be readily learned through imitation, formal education developed. Schools existed in Egypt at the time of the Middle Kingdom.

Matteo Ricci (left) and Xu Guangqi (right) in the Chinese edition of Euclid's Elements published in 1607

Plato founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in Europe. The city of Alexandria in Egypt, established in 330 BCE, became the successor to Athens as the intellectual cradle of Ancient Greece. There, the great Library of Alexandria was built in the 3rd century BCE. European civilizations suffered a collapse of literacy and organization following the fall of Rome in CE 476.

In China, Confucius (551–479 BCE), of the State of Lu, was the country's most influential ancient philosopher, whose educational outlook continues to influence the societies of China and neighbours like Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Confucius gathered disciples and searched in vain for a ruler who would adopt his ideals for good governance, but his Analects were written down by followers and have continued to influence education in East Asia into the modern era.