Dear Mr. CKS,

I am assuming that you mean to ask members what is their individual opinion (take) on the topic of Foreign Universities being established in India, am I right ?

Well, it’s a very good topic to discuss considering the furore it is creating in our education system of late.
This topic needs to be studied under some heads which would make it clear what we want to discuss/debate.
1. What short term and long term impact this would this have on our existing Education system ?
2. What factors would work for and against the stake holders (students/teaching professionals/non-teaching professionals) ?
3. Would this create new avenues of Employability ?
4. How would it contribute to our economy ?

These are some of the heads I could think of. I am sure others might want to add more.
Here is my two bit:
We all know and acknowledge that our education system needs a major revamp. What we are taught in our schools and colleges hardly translates to skills needed at the work place. So to excel in our chosen fields of study, we are forced to undergo many training programs like communications skills, spoken English, etc. The worst problem is that we are marks driven, rank driven. Let me explain this with an example. Some years back there were limited Engineering colleges and obviously it translated to limited seats. Hence there was a lot of competition. But look at the scenario today. A lot of colleges are not able to fill their complete share of seats. The Demand-Supply gap is not there anymore. In fact its surplus. So we do not need the marks based competition anymore. Also, there are lakhs of students who have passed out their engineering and are jobless. What we need is not a competitive Education system but a qualitative system which is skill based. Here is where foreign universities would be beneficial to us.
When there are two universities which impart dimensionally opposing syllabi, it would help the students a lot. They would have better choices than what they have today. For the students it would be a boon. Education system would become more professional and would be run on the lines of corporates. Students would get more benefit as they would be part of a professional culture and learn the basics of management, behaviour, etc at the college itself instead of going thru a training program for a week.
It would be a boon for the teachers/professors as it would mean more job opportunities for them and more competitive pay. Today if we take any engineering college as an example, the lecturers are typically those who want to get into corporate to ride the IT boom at sometime or the other. I have seen and interviewed a lot of lecturers who wanted to get into the IT field. I would not say all of them, but a lot of them are not in the teaching profession because they have a passion for teaching, but because they simply do not have any other option. But if the education system becomes more competitive and the pay scales go up, am sure a lot of them would want to continue to be in their profession. It would also encourage new grads to look up-to teaching as a career choice.
When LPG was being introduced, there were a lot of conservationists who voiced their opposition to it saying it would ruin the Indian industries. But look at what happened to us in the last two decades ? It has not ruined any of our industries, but only made them more competitive and enabled them to be world class. Our country is a great place because it’s a consumer driven country. That is why the entire world looks up-to us for their products. Look at any industry and we would notice the impact of LPG on our lives.
Opening our doors to Foreign Universities is the right step, but I must add, it’s a delayed one. Still it’s a welcome step as it would greatly benefit all the stake holders.
As far as the impact it would have on our existing Universities, it would serve as a show cause notice to them to revamp, be competitive or perish. Which is fair. After all, a country with more than a Billion people only deserves the best, doesn’t it ?

Regards, Harish

Hi Mr C K S,

Good topic to discuss because it will definitely bring change to our existing education system. First and foremost advantage is that students will get some global exposure when foreign university come in place and it will definitely take the education level to a different standard.

I agree with Harish Sir on his valuable response and I also agree that we need to have much more clarity on other points like its impact on economy, labour market, stakeholders etc.

But I think primarily there must be some credibility check should be in place before establishment of such institutions because now a day the education is no more a service business (exceptions are there). Institutes have much more driven by the monitory benefits rather than social objectives. This is not only with the foriegn players but even our local institutes have to think socially.

Lets hope for the best!

Regards,
Vinay Nair

It's very important & Hot Topic.

We must have to go a long discussion now.

I would like to request with my all friends at hrlink.in to participate at Hot discussion.

Thanks

Dear Friends,

I would like to well come for your's valuable & positive views.

It's a really very important & Hot Topic for our Nation.

We & our all friends at this hrlink.in forum, We must have to go for a fruitful discussion right now.

I would like to request again with my all friends at hrlink.in, Please join us to take & participate in Hot discussion on What Takes on Allowing Foreign Universities to Establish their Campus in India?

Regards

Mr Dixit