World-class faculty key to quality education in India: JGU VC

The future of learning is going to be multi-disciplinary where involvement of world-class faculty will ensure better focus and greater intensity of the learning experience, O.P. Jindal Global University Vice-Chancellor C. Raj Kumar said on Tuesday.

"Retaining high-quality faculty in higher education has been a challenge in India at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Now that universities and policymakers in India are paying closer attention to international rankings, it is time the issue of quality of faculty receive scrutiny by various stakeholders," Raj Kumar said as he outlined a 10-point growth and reform plan for Indian universities at an event here.

"We need to make our universities the catalyst for innovation, economic growth, social development and entrepreneurship," he said.

Having a world-class faculty is key to enabling Indian universities to achieve excellence and also achieve global recognition, according to the VC.

A World Bank study showed that the knowledge economy today demands a new set of competencies.

Students need international exposure in their learning process to understand global and local challenges and to be able to ask questions that matter.

"Private universities in India with their new and unique model are poised to be the harbinger of change in higher education in India," Raj Kumar said.

Much of the energy surrounding the student experience and student learning can be placed on teaching and research - two major responsibilities of faculty.

This is also why regulating the allocation of time to these two roles is one of the most salient issues in universities today. Overall, effective teachers are the most important factor contributing towards student achievement.

Though traditional quality measures such as faculty with doctorate degree and papers published continue to remain important, it is time to look at other parameters to assess the quality of faculty and their pedagogical rigour and techniques, the VC said.

These new measures include international exposure of faculty (either academic credentials or work experience), quality of journals where research is published, the extent of collaborative work with scholars in other countries, research grants and presentation of research work in leading academic forums internationally.IANS