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in the successes of Hindi films such as
Three Idiots
and
Taare Zameen Par
), robbing students of valuable choices.
By reducing all quests for education into that of admis-
sion into a profession, the very possibility of another
experience is pre-empted. At the core, all the debates on
regulation and delivery of quality stem from two basic
problems. Firstly, the segregation of knowledge through
streamlining that occurs for most Indians at the age of 15,
when they have to choose between professional courses
or arts, science and commerce. Secondly, under the guise
of managing scale through affiliation, universities govern
the curricula and admissions procedures of colleges with
whose needs they are barely familiar.
While these concerns might seem like operational
flaws, their impact on the real-life choices of students
cannot be emphasized enough. A common enough
practice implemented in liberal arts colleges around the
US serves as a fundamental threat to the Indian style
of college education, modelled on economies of scale.
The idea that undergraduate education should foster
a wide view of disciplines – encouraging sampling
across several disciplines before the eventual selection
of major and minor specializations – is severely alien
to Indian colleges. That the current system emphasizes
specialization and watertight choices at an early age
neatly fits with parental aspirations to early profession-
alization and guaranteed jobs. Such a system disburses
a colonial legacy of fostering narrow expertise for prac-
tical application, over the substantive experience of a
well-rounded college education that teaches breadth
and reflexivity. Sadly, college education has neatly
dovetailed with the needs of an information society,
further imperilling the sustainable development of the
minority of youth, who amidst disparities manage to
arrive in college.
the forecast for increasing inclusiveness falls short. In a recent
convocation address, the Union Minister for Human Resource and
Development, Kapil Sibal, admitted: “While we aim at scaling up
the number of students enrolling in colleges to 42 million in 2020
from the present 14 million, still 160 million students will be left
out. To give them alternative education, we need investments that
may also come through foreign institutes.”
Foreign options
This recourse to foreign investment signals the harsh reality that
there is a definite market in India for foreign degrees. At the school
level even, new possibilities have emerged for many students who
can afford an international baccalaureate (IB) education. Opting for
IB schools can, in cities like Mumbai, easily cost around USD2,500
a month and many are comfortable with paying the fees for ‘inter-
national’ quality. IB students frequently go on to an undergraduate
education abroad and liberalization seeks to further this option for
both the state and the universities seeking new markets.
There is no doubt that the mere scale of India’s youth and current
infrastructural limitations warrant global alternatives. Already, many
reputable universities are poised to set up local campuses within India.
A typical accusation from the quality/quantity school of debate would
decry those who possess such options. However, the true scandal is not
in the reality of those who exercise their choices, but in India’s inability to
provide more choices for the many who seek a quality college education.
Unequal choices
A true liberalization of Indian college education would success-
fully redress issues of demographic needs along with that of quality.
Previously, democracy’s logic dictated that college education had to
cater to scale, even at the expense of quality. Today we are dealing
with an increasing inequality where democratic reforms allow rich
consumer access to a personalized curriculum, while the rest merely
fight it out for seats. The anxiety of the middle classes translates into
pressures of professional competitiveness (as recently memorialized
At FLAME, students spend their first two years acquiring a solid foundation in the fundamentals of several disciplines before choosing a major
Image: FLAME