What is ailing our educational institutions or the education delivery process? Definitely there are some diseases that ail our way of imparting knowledge. Let me begin with some fundamental questions considering the present scenario of unemployment or joblessness faced by our graduates, post graduates and research degree holders. Some of these questions can be, aren’t we teaching redundant courses? Are the colleges and universities awarding relevant degrees? Isn’t the present generation studying or enrolling for jobs that won’t exist in future? Is the delivery style of a teacher changing in lieu of the changing pedagogy? Or is the teacher willing to change?
Or similar questions may emerge when we talk of mapping of curriculum to student and societal needs. Is the course content in alignment with the learning objectives, course outcome and institutional vision? Is our classroom environment boring and irrelevant? Is the ongoing course curriculum able to engage, motivate and fulfil the passion of a learner? Is the society and the industry part of curriculum development and revision?
What should be an immediate answer to all of these questions, of course a big No. Because, the degree curriculum being taught in our HEI’s is outdated and more or less irrelevant, because that doesn’t reflect the specific needs of local or regional market or of the global market needs. With the result majority of our graduates are either non-competitive or less competitive in the job market.
Because the information being given through a particular course is outdated (that is true for most of the programs offered in our HEI’s), that is simply irrelevant in awarding a degree or enriching a workforce in the context of present market and societal demands. That simply reflects our inability to revise our college curriculum in tune with the emerging technology and the changing needs of the job market. Thus, the suitability of present courses and programs for the current and emerging job market need to be revisited. In fact, NEP 2020 has tried to find the viable solutions by talking of institutional, faculty and student autonomy so that the curriculum as well as the pedagogy is accordingly adjusted and adopted as per the region, type of the institution, industrial needs, company aspirations, etc.
Undoubtedly, the job market demands vary by area or region and the local industrial demands in a particular country. What can be in demand in one country or region, the same may not be in need in another region or country. Thus, the curriculum and design of the degrees must not be embraced from somewhere else but devised as per the local, regional and national needs and demands. Unfortunately, we are more used to adopt and less focussed on devising a design that suits us.
The skills vs degrees is a big debate at present because we have come to know that employers are not interested in big nomenclature of degrees but are attracted towards the specific skills or practical experience a candidate has gained during a degree. Thus, a degree program needs to be decorated with skills and training and shouldn’t merely reflect the number of credits and the number of years spent by a student in an institution.
Curriculum revision is a critical process and it needs commitment and willingness by the faculty to be a part of this revision process through a well operationalised mechanism so as to adjust to changing demands at local and global level. Education is absolutely redundant if not supplemented by a curriculum revision process. Learning a similar thing for decades is not justified at all. Overall quality, relevance and effectiveness of an educational program is reflection of a curriculum revision process.
Therefore, to address the issues of outdated or even obsolete course curriculum, it is important for every stakeholder in an educational institution including the alumni to be the part of the process to regularly review, revise and update the courses at least after the passing out of a particular batch having gone through the courses of a particular degree program and watching their market fitness. This will involve the setting of feedback loops to ensure mechanisms for gathering feedback from previous graduates so that the fresh ones are well-prepared for the market demands.
For this engaging with industry experts as well as the faculty training and motivation to stay well connected and informed about the current trends in their fields is very essential. At the same time, it is the duty of a student/learner to choose and research for programs and courses that suit to their needs, passion and career aspirations and not merely for the sake of a degree or even fond of obtaining a degree through a particular institution.
In fact, an ideal educational system will always aspire that the degree curriculum should enable a student to be a well-rounded educationist including the imparting of basic/foundational knowledge, the highly valued skills (technical/practical, hands-on-training skills, soft and employability skills, problem solving, team work, experiential learning) so that a learner is adaptable to the changing world. Let’s hope our educational institutions align to this vision and strive for restructuring of the curriculum of the existing degrees and look towards the development of innovative degree programs that are needed at present and will be in demand in the future.
(The AUthor is Associate Professor of Zoology, Deputy Controller of Examination, Nodal Officer UGC-NAD & ABC, Islamia College of Science & Commerce (Autonomous), Srinagar. Feedback: [email protected])
