- Indeed, the subject matter will appear to be one topic that has been done to death over the years. However, despite propagating vociferously about the need and necessity for introducing reforms in the higher education sector, precious little is visible on this front vis-à-vis pathbreaking measures. Every involved stakeholder like the government authorities, academicians, educationists, parents, and students is on the same page fervently wanting to up the ante to position the Indian higher education sector at par with the global standards. Nonetheless, initiatives are proving to be insufficient thereby forcing a large number of students to seek foreign universities to further their studies. Smart and pragmatic moves might help stem the exodus.
PC: EDITORIALS NEWS
- Given the above, the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) move to allow four-year undergraduate degree holders to enrol for Ph.D. programs must be welcomed as one such student-friendly move. The UGC is diluting the requirement of mandatory publication of a research paper before the award of a Ph.D. The idea is to produce more PhDs and quantitatively this particular move will produce more. For the uninitiated, several foreign universities indeed allow undergraduates to skip the postgraduate stage and enrol directly for a Ph.D. Of course, for some students, it is a question of saving time, for others money. Both are important. But most students bypassing PG have a clear focus on their area of research though.
- Needless to mention, a PG course helps students do a deeper study of the discipline and also in research because a dissertation has to be written. For example, Delhi University’s four-year undergraduate program offers an honors degree with the last year dedicated to research. UGC’s direct Ph.D. reform will likely be open for those who perform excellently in this option but DU faculty members have complained that the core discipline focus here is restricted to just three semesters. As such, UGC then must ensure that Ph.D. coursework also integrates parts of the PG curriculum. What do overseas universities do? In 2019, the US had 55,000 doctoral recipients. In the same year, India had 2 lakh scholars enrolled for Ph.D. and 39,000 doctoral recipients.
PC:
- It is obvious quality wasn’t following quantity. Further, in response to complaints that the doctoral thesis screening isn’t rigorous enough, UGC had moved regulations like the mandatory publication of research papers. But doing away with this can cut both ways. A doctoral student can focus on the thesis rather than a research paper but mandatory publication in a quality Scopus-indexed journal could prod the scholar to aim higher. Agreed, a PG degree may be important in some disciplines before a Ph.D. and not so much in others. Thus, it is incumbent the UGC treads carefully. Similar measures in other education streams should be thought about and introduced after taking into confidence all the related stakeholders.
