Finally, the winds of reform have started blowing in Orissa?s higher education sector. The state, a pioneer in power sector reform, had many such schemes for the finance and public enterprise sectors, leaving higher education way behind.
Now, after initiating some academic and administrative reforms, the state higher education department is upbeat about carrying out further reforms. State higher education minister, Samir Dey, recently circulated a paper among legislators and intelligentsia inviting suggestions to make education more realistic.
Lately, many reforms have taken place in the state higher education sector. Private tuition by government and aided college teachers has been banned. The system of availing a photocopy of the answer sheets by students was introduced to bring in more transparency in the valuation system.
Orissa also adopted a uniform calendar for colleges for admission, examination, publication of results, elections to students’ unions etc., while the Centre is contemplating a legislation to introduce a uniform calendar at the university level in the country.
“Our chief concern is to make higher education more relevant and purposeful and also ensure that educational institutions at the higher level impart skills and knowledge that enable the students to be more productive and creative members of the society”, says Dey.
The state higher education department is proposing introduction of a common curriculum at the college and university level. Changes in the examination pattern in autonomous colleges and university are on the anvil. A semester system will be introduced soon. Colleges and universities have been asked to replace the existing system of pass and fail with gradation. For improving quality, National Assessment and Accreditation Council certification would be made compulsory for all colleges and universities.
The course curriculum is being examined with a view to customising it with market demand. The department is contemplating bringing in more reforms so that students are free to choose the subjects they would like to study, be it any combination from science, humanities, commerce and other emerging streams.
Realising that many meritorious students are deprived of higher education due to non-cooperation of the banks in providing loans, the state government is proposing to set up a State Education Bank for mobilising financial assistance to needy students.
“We are customising the education system to increase the employability of students”, says state higher education secretary, Ashok Kumar Tripathy.
The higher education department has also tied up with IT organisations like Infosys and Genpact to impart training to students for BPO jobs. Infosys has already launched Genesis to train 300 college teachers from 76 colleges and universities.