Accessibility of higher education

 The government is committed to make higher education accessible to all sections of the society including the poor. The department is implementing the following schemesto assist meritorious students from poor financial background and to ensure that no one from the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)is denied access to higher education, only for the reason that he or she is poor:

  1. Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students (CSSS)
  2. Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu & Kashmir (SSS for J&K).
  3. Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (CSIS)

Besides the above, tuition fee is Waived by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of technology (NITs) whereby the students whose family income is less than a specified level get full/partial remission of the fee.

Developing world-class higher education institutes and Universities

 The Government of India has launched the World Class Institutions Scheme in the year 2017 to enable ten institutions each from the public and private category to have world class academic & research facilities and grant them the status of Institution of Eminence (IoE). So far, notifications have been issued for eleven institutions (08 public & 03 private). Significant amount of autonomy in academic, administrative & financial matters has been provided under the regulatory framework to these institutions so that they can emerge as global educational institutions. Financialassistance of uptoRs. 1000 Crore (over a period of five years) is provided by the Government to each of public Institutions of Eminence.

Technology as an integral part of education

What is technology?
Well according to the basic definition,Technology is the set of knowledge, skills, experience and techniques through which humans change, transform and use our environment in order to create tools, machines, products and services that meet our needs and desires.
That all put into simple words is using our smartphones,computers,laptops and basically anything that come in the category of machine is technology.

Today in this modern era technology has bought about a huge change in our lives and our day to day habits be it from recharging our phones to sending satellites in earth’s atmosphere anything and everything is somehow related to technology.But a huge amount of population is currently using technology at it’s best in order to learn and educate which has changed our present a lot from our past when education was not only just limited but that too not very easily accessible.

Let’s see how technology has changed the way of learning:
Education can be basically divided into three categories mainly primary,secondary and higher education.

PRIMARY EDUCATION:

Preschools and nursery education is considered to be the foundation of our education as it’s the first time we start to learn about new things and our environment.This is the time our brain is processed to think and analyze certain things and this process could be made creative using technology.At the preschool level, technology can be introduced in several ways at the most basic is the use of computers, tablets, and audio and video resources in classrooms.


SECONDARY EDUCATION:

There’s a transition of a student as he goes from primary to secondary school as his way of thinking changes,this is great time to get the student really into E -LEARNING ,as brain really process information really quickly and faster when information is in the form of visuals combined with audio.E-learning also has been rising as a supplement to the traditional classroom. Students with special talents or interests outside of the available curricula use e-learning to advance their skills or exceed grade restrictions.

HIGHER EDUCATION:

Online college course enrolment has seen a 29% increase in enrolment with nearly one third of all college students, or an estimated 6.7 million students are currently enrolled in online classes.Technology has helped a lot in spreading knowledge across the globe.Colleges like Harvard,MIT,Standford and many more put there online courses with best faculties on online learning platform like udemy,Coursera etc for a minimal price or free of cost.The gist is higher education is now easily and quickly accessible to a larger crowd and the credit goes to Technology.

Some other Ways in which technology is being used as a medium to educate:-

Flipped classroom:

This is an instructional strategy in which computer-assisted teaching is integrated with classroom instruction. Students are given basic essential instruction, such as lectures, before class instead of during class. Instructional content is delivered outside of the classroom, often online. The out-of-class delivery includes streaming video, reading materials, online chats, and other resources. This frees up classroom time for teachers to more actively engage with learners.

Virtual classrooms:

A virtual classroom provides the opportunity for students to receive direct instruction from a qualified teacher in an interactive environment. Learners can have direct and immediate access to their instructor for instant feedback and direction.For example: In India the biggest online learning platform is unacademy.

Augmented Reality:

Augmented reality (AR) provides students and teachers the opportunity to create layers of digital information, including both virtual world and real world elements, to interact with in real time.Augmented reality plays an important role in the future of classrooms.


Disadvantages :


A coin always has two sides”

Here is a list of disadvantages from learning through technology:
1)It could be distracting
2)It disconnects students from a face to face relationship with teacher
3)It may not be all the time the source they are studying from is reliable
4)It can cause major heath issues if a student is exposed to blue light for a prolonged period of time.

Higher Education Leadership Development programme

UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) is a bilateral partnership between UK and India which aims to promote institutional excellence through academic/research linkages and leadership development programme.

University Grants Commission (UGC) and British Council under the auspices of UKIERI is going to deliver a Higher Education Leadership Development programme focusing on training of mid and senior level educational administrators in Universities in India.

In addition to leadership training being provided to top level leaders like Vice-chancellors and academic faculty, higher education sector also needs leadership development for mid and senior levels functionaries so as to bring about a professional transformation of our Universities.

British Council has identified Advanced HE, a UK based not-for-profit institution, specializing in governance and leadership development of higher education for delivering the programme. The programme will be jointly funded under UKIERI.

ugc - University Grants Commission
ugc – University Grants Commission

OBJECTIVES

  • Ø  Train the academic administrators so as to enable them to bring about systemic changes with renewed approaches, capacity, tools and skills in the higher education institutions
  • Ø  Identify and train potential future leadership development programme trainers in order to provide a framework for dissemination and cascading of leadership training to other HEIsØCreate and Strengthen sustainable relationship between UK and Indian Higher Education Institutions and utilize UK’s expertise in the field of Higher Education Administration and leadership

WHO CAN APPLY

  • Central Universities funded by University Grants Commission
  • State Public Universities included under section 2(f) & 12B of the UGC ActTARGET GROUP• Administrative functionaries at the level of Registrar and Joint/Deputy/Assistant Registrar of the eligible Universities

    HOW TO APPLY

    • Eligible Universities shall apply in the prescribed format (Annexure I)
    • Universities shall nominate 3-5 functionaries in order of preference at the level ofRegistrar and Joint/Deputy/Assistant Registrar of the eligible Universities
    • To ensure gender diversity on the programme, at least one of the top three nomineesshould be a female.
    • The application may be duly forwarded and signed by the Vice Chancellor/authorisedsignatory of the university.
    • The filled in application in the form of .pdf file should be sent to heldpa.ugc@gmail.com
    • The last date for receipt of application is 16th March 2020.GUIDELINES FOR FILLING IN THE APPLICATION
  • Section A: Provide basic information like Name, Address, Contact Person, Contact details of your institutions
  • Section B: Provide details of 3-5 programme nominees at the level of Registrar and Joint/Deputy/Assistant Registrar. Please provide information about their designation, department, role, strength etc.
  • Section C: Statement of support from Vice Chancellor duly signed and stamped and the preference of the nominees must be mentioned. Out of the first three nominees, one nominee should preferably be a female.
  • Section D: A brief proposal identifying a real time change project which are strategically improtant to your university. Some of the project theme are mentioned, but are not in any way limited to the same. In case a change project is Not Yet Known please insert “NYK”
  • Section E: Please indicate who according to you, among your nominees can be the potential leadership developer. If this is not yet known, please insert “NYK”

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PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION

  • The application shall be assessed on the basis of criteria such as Participating Institution’s commitment to the programme; Experience, achievements and potential of the participants; Clarity of programme goals; Potential impact of the programme; and Sustainability and transferability beyond the programme.
  • The names of the selected universities and participants along with the schedule of training shall be announced by the end of March 2020.PROGRAMME DELIVERY
    • Participants will attend two 5-day blocks of development workshops to be held between April and December 2020 in various locations in India. The dates and venues of workshops shall be communicated later on.
    • 30 potential future leadership development programme trainers will be selected amongst the participants.
    • The expenditure related to the travel, boarding and lodging of the Indian participants shall be borne by UGC.