Q: You are retiring from the Chairmanship of UGC. This must be a moment of many reminiscences. In retrospect, how do you view your academic career?
A: My retirement as Chairman, UGC, is the culmination of my formal academic and professional career spanning almost 40 years and on this occasion my mind does go into an introspective mood. I was born in a farming family deeply wedded to rural culture. I did my primary schooling from my village school, which lacked basic infrastructure. Yet I was able to overcome these hurdles through sheer hard work and earned my Master’s degree in Chemistry and thereafter attained a Ph.D. in Education. This is how I completed my formal education and since then I have contributed to educational thought and practice in various sectors of education as best as I could.
Q: At the beginning of your career, what kind of institutions did you serve and what was the nature of your involvement?
A: I commenced my career with the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), and contributed to various examination reform areas like question banking, grading, scaling, moderation, item analysis, etc. This experience led to my selection in the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi as a Research Officer, only to be appointed by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection, Bombay, as Associate Professor and subsequently as Joint Director in the Staff Selection Commission, New Delhi.
All this was enriching experience that enabled me to join the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which I served in various capacities. In 1994, I was appointed Professor and Head, Department of Educational Measurement and Evaluation. Here I contributed to the flagship initiatives of the organisation, namely National Talent Search (NTS), All-India Achievement Surveys in School Education and the design and conduct of the massive entrance examination for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, a scheme of the Government of India for nurturing rural talent.
Q: Prior to your moving to the field of higher education, what experience would you like to share which facilitated this?
A: I was fortunate to get opportunities to widen my inroads to new domains of education. I was awarded the US Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 1990-91, where I worked on a comparative study of teachers’ assessment of students’ performance at Michigan University in the US. As a Consultant to the World Bank in 1994, I was instrumental in reforming the Nepalese Council of Higher Secondary Education, Kathmandu. I also taught at the University of Windsor, Canada, as a Visiting Faculty in Humanities Research Group in 1998-99. Besides, I was a part of the Guest Faculty at the Harvard Institute of International Development, Harvard University, in 2001, in a programme pertaining to the sharing of Indian experiences in Educational Policy Development and Implementation. My stint with the Planning Commission as Adviser, Education paved my way into the area of educational planning.
Q: Would you share your salient contributions in the area of educational planning and administration?
A: I was appointed Secretary, UGC, in November, 2002—a key position for administering higher education, which involved not only planning and prioritising resource allocations to universities and colleges, but also promotion of research and innovations. The experience led to my selection as Director of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi, a premier technical resource institution, not only in India, but in Asia as well. I say it with legitimate pride that during my tenure, this institute was elevated to the status of National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), which I served as its Founder Vice-Chancellor. NUEPA became a place of happenings and as a premier institution of international recognition.
Q: How do you look back at your association with the UGC, particularly the academic initiatives launched during your stint?
A: My major academic initiatives in higher education include finding solutions to faculty shortage in the universities through the Faculty Recharge Programme, which was a step towards preventing brain-drain by offering academic positions in the university system through global advertisement. Joint appointment of the faculty across institutions was also facilitated through appropriate mechanism, which made this possible. Revamping the academic standards, bringing out model curricula in 113 subjects facilitated the implementation of the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) across the university system, particularly the Central Universities.
Reforms in the National Eligibility Test (NET) for recruitment of faculty at the entry level, Mandatory Accreditation of Institutions of Higher Learning, establishing Departments of Yoga in Central Universities, conferment of autonomous status on Institutions of Higher Learning, and e-PG Pathshala programme, which is now dovetailed into Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) were some of the important measures. The establishment of a Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education (CPRHE) has helped to understand variety of issues and concerns which have policy implications for higher education.
Q: UGC is a premier institution regulating higher education in the country. What are some of salient regulatory provisions implemented by UGC in your tenure?
A: A host of issues engaged the attention of the UGC, particularly, gender issues, disability issues, linking higher education to society, enhanced inputs to Public State Universities and developing Central Universities as pace-setting institutions. Special efforts to promote research in basic sciences as well as humanities, social sciences and languages by providing enhanced fellowships under various categories.
A myriad of student-centric regulations, particularly for women and differently-abled for awarding MPhil and PhD degrees were initiated. Specifically, the relaxation of time for completion of research by 1 year for MPhil and 2 years for PhD; maternity and child care leave up to 240 days; extended duration of 8 years from the existing 6 years for completion of PhD and 6 years from the existing 3 years for MPhil; permission to relocate MPhil/PhD data from one university to another; exemption from NET for those candidates who registered before 11 July, 2009, for MPhil/PhD; strengthening 24×7 Anti-Ragging Helpline with a dedicated web portal.
Q: Research is a significant area for quality and excellence. What significant steps were launched to strengthen this aspect by the UGC?
A: Several joint research cooperation programmes were started with countries like US, UK, Norway, New Zealand, Israel, Germany and Australia. These were major steps in the internationalisation of higher education. Special efforts to promote high-end research has been a significant initiative of the UGC in the establishment and support to the Inter-University Centres in several areas namely, Nuclear Science; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Basic Scientific Research; Educational Communication; Information and Library Network; Assessment and Accreditation, and Teacher Education. Enhancement of basic scientific research infrastructure in universities; upgrading of Science Laboratories; and upgrading Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Fellowships, promoting Universities and Colleges with Potential for Excellence to be recognised at par with international standards were among other steps. The concept of autonomy was promoted in designing curricula; evolving new pedagogies and assessment techniques. The institution of Autonomous Colleges was established with a vision to advance the quality of under-graduate colleges by partially delinking them from the affiliating structure of the universities.
Q: Are there any initiatives which enforced financial discipline in the grant disbursing function of the UGC?
A: Significant financial initiatives were undertaken by UGC in streamlining financial discipline, which included improved mechanism for on-the-spot settlement of accounts through interface meetings with universities and colleges; mandatory CAG audit for Centrally funded colleges of Delhi University; introduction of Public Finance Management System (PFMS) with a view to bringing in greater accountability; introduction of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under which the fellowship and scholarship amounts are transferred to the bank account of the beneficiaries and also a tie-up with the National e-Scholarship Portal—all initiatives to ensure that the amount reaches the beneficiaries in time and without any hardship.
Q: How has the UGC handled skilling initiatives in higher education?
A: Apart from the enhanced concentration on continuing professional development through establishing Human Resource Development Centres, establishment of Community Colleges and introduction of Vocational Degree Programmes laid the foundation of skilling youth for employment, as an integral part of higher education.
Q: And finally, what is your vision for the future roadmap of the UGC?
A: The charter of the UGC for the coordination and determination of standards of universities should continue to guide its affairs in the future as well. As a dynamic organisation, it has been increasingly noticed for its good work, but has also experienced criticism expecting the furtherance of its outreach to newer concerns in higher education. I feel there is scope for achieving more, even in its existing structural framework. Challenges in university system require innovations that go beyond changes in management, governance and finance and the UGC needs to take into account these dimensions for its future roadmap. It should ensure that the university system addresses issues of contextual relevance to society, including interdisciplinary orientation to research, while maintaining its competitiveness for offering solutions to emerging issues and concerns of the modern world. Nurtured by the newer technologies in the field of education, both teaching and research should receive equal attention in the field of education in the professional recognition of university teachers.