1 / 8

Higher Education in SAARC Region: Some Innovative Practices

Higher Education in SAARC Region: Some Innovative Practices. Dr. C. P. S. Chauhan Professor of Education & Former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh – 202002, India. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

elma
Download Presentation

Higher Education in SAARC Region: Some Innovative Practices

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Higher Education in SAARC Region: Some Innovative Practices Dr. C. P. S. Chauhan Professor of Education & Former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh – 202002, India

  2. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) • Asia the largest landmass with 30% land and 60% population; South Asia is sub-Himalayan region including Sri Lanka, Maldives & Afghanistan; • 1660 million people (24% of the world & 36% of Asia); share geographic boundaries, climatic conditions, high population, poverty, illiteracy; • Literacy rate 62%: 73 for men & 51 for women; 6 out of 10 least literate countries are in South Asia; has over 50% of world’s illiterates; wide (30-97) inter-state variation; for India it is 74 with 65 for females; • Underdeveloped-HDI ranks low (92 – 175), mostly between 140 & 160; for India HDI is 136; • SAARC formed on Dec 8, 1985 with seven members; Afghanistan joined in April 2007;

  3. Education System in SAARC Region • All have similar systems with minor variation; 11-12 years of schooling, 3-4 years of 1st degree, 2-3 years of master’s degree & 3-5 years of doctorate; • Entry to higher education is after completing 11-12 years of schooling; Sri Lanka (11 years+2 years); only brightest can enter public universities; • Large number of affiliated colleges; Bangladesh & Nepal affiliate all colleges to a single university; it is an innovative model; we may adopt it state-wise; • President in the Chancellor of public universities & all are centrally funded; there are universities for general and specialized education; • In Bangladesh & Sri Lanka, education is free in public universities; Bangladesh students pay USD 2.5 a year;

  4. Quantity and Quality • Fast development requires: literacy rate at 75 & GER in higher education at 25; 1st condition is met by 3 members, but none meets the 2nd; • GERs for women and weaker sections are lower, more expansion along with requisite quality is desirable; ODL may be helpful as in China; • India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Pakistan have taken some advantage; others must follow; some quality control mechanism needs to be installed; • Increased access and improved quality (which is poor) is needed to stop outflow of students & wealth; over 4.5 million study outside their home countries worldwide; • China, India & Korea are the largest senders; India sends more than 300,000 students of which more than 100,000 to US alone; • World ranking of Universities in SAARC is poor;

  5. Financial & Material Resources • Most SAARC members have highly subsidized education at all levels (90-95%); but most of the funds go to salaries; overall 4.1% of GDP is spent; • In Bangladesh in Sri Lanka, there is free higher education in public universities; other countries also charge low fees; about 6-7% GDP is needed; • BNU, affiliating 16oo colleges, is self-supporting; this is an innovative idea; members countries must augment & pool human/material resources; • Areas of collaboration may be: development of curriculum & instructional material, exchange of faculty & students, sharing ICT, joint research projects, regional conference, etc. • Utilization of resources economically & ensuring transparency;

  6. Privatization • Private higher education grew out of inability of governments to fund the growing system; it is a worldwide phenomenon; SAARC no exception; • Two decades since 1990 witnessed faster growth of private universities in the SAARC region; in Afghanistan, Bangladesh & Pakistan over 75 % universities are private; India also has 100; • Private providers focus on professional & job- oriented courses; charge high fees; most of them compromise on quality; beyond the reach of poor; • Profiteering needs to be accepted, but regulated; exorbitant profit with poor quality be controlled; Bangladesh model of 5% free-ships is acceptable; • Privatization has promoted internationalization; Bhutan invites FDI to create ‘education city’ and to setup affiliated institutions;

  7. Areas of Cooperation • Institution of SAARC Chairs in universities for study of regional issues; • Promotion of student and faculty exchange with scholarships and fellowships; Bhutan Model; • Promotion of high quality basic research with pooled academic and material resources; • Creation of the SAARC Consortium of Open and Distance Learning (SACODL); • Establishment of a SAARC teachers’ forum, • Establishment of a South Asian University (SAU) at New Delhi. • Beware of possible development of market-oriented value system;

  8. THANK YOU

More Related