[ieee 2013 international conference on advances in computing, communications and informatics...

The Use and Impact of ICT for HEP in India

Anmol Aggarwal1

Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering New Delhi, India

[email protected]

Nikhilesh Chhabra2


[email protected]

Manoj Sharma3


[email protected]

Abstract—Higher Education Program (HEP) is the back bone for progress of every country as it produces the required trained manpower for industry and academia. For industrial development the quality of the manpower is very critical being the direct proportional for the quality of the product. Similarly in academia the trained and well qualified people can only produces the quality manpower. This can be well judged by the progress studies of the countries like Japan, Korea, USA etc. Seeing the importance of the HEP for countries growth and development, it is very critical to have a well tested procedure as a system which guaranties the production of well qualified quantum of human resource with well defined levels of threshold in terms of knowledge level required for the specialized professional requirements in the different industrial setup. In this paper authors have tried to study the HEP process in context of its appropriateness in India. The role of ICT in the HEP program has been analyzed in terms of its effectiveness in imparting the desired goal and training the human resource to the level, where they become industry acceptable/ employable. From the study, areas hindering the quality product as output of the HEP system have been stipulated and highlighted. The area where the ICT has penetrated the HEP system in favoring the HEP goal has been pointed out. Some novel methods and steps have been proposed at the end to get to the bottom of the areas where ICT usage is still required to assist in ever developing/ evolving HEP system working under different constraints in Indian scenario.

Index Terms— HEP (Higher Education Program), ICT (Information and Communication Technology)

I. INTRODUCTION India’s Higher Education System has been growing ever

since and particularly in the decade 2000 to 2010. During the last decade nearly 20,000 colleges have been added and more than 8 million students have been helped. India’s higher education system is ranked third behind only United States and China. In the 21st century, for the growth of a country, the most important building block is education. It is a powerful tool to build a knowledge-based society.

The Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1998, cited in Sharma, 2005) recognized the potential of information

technology to enable the Indian citizen to “overcome historical disabilities and once again become the master of [his or her] own destiny” and to “enable India to achieve the goal of becoming a strong, prosperous and self-confident nation”. India’s technology and distance learning institutions, have led the way in online degree courses and module. A government supported project called Vidyakash aimed to develop support and training for teachers and provide an infrastructure for Indian institutions to use Internet technologies for education. As a consequence, India now has 4 million technology workers, 700,000 software professionals, and 1,700 technical institutes (Sharma, 2005). These initiatives, however, have arguably been supported by courses demanding high fees and therefore remain the privilege of the elite, educated, and wealthy. Moreover, they fail to consider the need to provide basic literacy and computer skills and access to computers to poorer groups before they can begin to engage in higher online learning. Figure 1 shows the hierarchy of Indian education system. It also points out the tenure associated with each level. The Higher Education System in India can be classified into following categories [2]:

• University & University level Institutions: These institutions have authorized to award degree under some act of Parliament or State Legislature.

• Colleges/Institutions: These institutions do not have authorization to provide degree in its own name and therefore are affiliated/recognized with other Universities.

• Stand alone institutions: These institutions are also not authorized to provide degrees and therefore run Diploma level programs.

Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Department of Higher Education, at the center is in-charge of developing and forming new policies which will help boost the standards of higher education and technical research in India.

1257978-1-4673-6217-7/13/$31.00 c©2013 IEEE

To execute the proposed policies the centra

Fig. 1. Hierarchy of Indian Education S

set up certain statutory agencies, such as UCommission (UGC), All India CounciEducation (AICTE), and Distance EducatioThe government has been granting aids to hedevelopment of higher education sector.

II. HIGHER EDUCATION PROGR

A. Commencement of HEP in India: Human resource is the most important

country’s development. In increasing the phuman resource, technical education plays role. Skilled manpower enhances the industhus improving the quality of life of a pertechnology, applied arts & crafts, town plamanagement, architecture, hotel managemtechnology all fall under the category of Tech

The first school in India was establiMadras, in 1842. The first engineering collUttar Pradesh in 1847 with Civil Engineebranch. In implementation of the Governmnew Engineering Colleges were opened by

al government has

System

Universities Grants il for Technical n Council (DEC). elp the growth and

RAM

resource for any productivity of the

a very important strial productivity, rson. Engineering, anning, pharmacy,

ment and catering hnical Education. ished in Guindy, lege was set up in ering as the only ment policy, three about 1856 in the

three Presidencies. Calcutta Coopened at the Writers' Buildingwhose name was later changedin 1857. In 1945 an advisory bIndia Council for Technical Eany new technical institution orfor change in intake capacpermission is needed from the A

Under the guidance of AI

new institutions with approvalmaking changes in the intake ca

AICTE certifies technical iand development of technical and standards for these institutio

B. Higher Education ProCollege degrees can be cate

are as follows: • Associates • Bachelors • Masters • Doctorate (highest lev

The Associates and Ba

undergraduate coursework whiMasters as well as Doctorate.

Associates Degree The time duration allotted

years. The programs offered usually within the health related

.

Bachelors Degree The time duration allotted

cases is four years, given the the program chosen accordingcollege or university.

Masters Degree The Masters degree can las

depending on the program of srequired (30 to 70). The Massubjects and can be course amalgamation of both.

Doctorate Degree The Doctorate degree is th

attainment. After the compleusually takes around four Doctorate. A student needs to pit. The dissertation is the studeview point on a topic of the stube developed through extensivbe approved by the designated c

ollege of Civil Engineering was gs in November 1856 in Bengal d to Bengal Engineering College ody was set up, namely The All

Education (AICTE). For starting r introducing any new course or city in technical institutions, AICTE [3] [4].

ICTE, state governments grant l for starting of new courses or apacity. institutions ensuring the quality education by laying out norms ons.

ogram in India egorized under four levels. They

vel of educational attainment)

achelors degree come under ile the graduate degree includes

for an Associate’s degree is two under Associate’s degree are

d fields.

for a Bachelor’s degree in most student is full time and follows g to the guidelines set by the

st from two years to three years study and the number of credits sters degree includes almost all

based, research based, or an

he highest level of educational etion of bachelor’s degree, it more years to complete the

prepare a dissertation and defend ent’s advancement in an original udent’s own choice, which must ve supporting research and must committee.

1258 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI)

C. Present Scenario of HEP For India to become a superpower, we need to

effectively and efficiently utilize the most important and abundant resource i.e. the human resource. Currently we have abundant un-nurtured talent. People currently face scarcity of timely and easy availability of knowledge resources which leads to loss of opportunities. Infrastructure availability, technical resource scarcity, teaching practices, issues in evaluation system and other related factors has lead to low quality of skilled resource. Current system lacks an optimized framework that links the qualification and certification framework to the prescribed requirements for the job. Each one should be given job according to his skills, sidelining all other factors. There is no way of checking on the quality of work being done and lack of performance appraisal for those who perform up to the mark. Lack of access to institutions is a big problem towards removing illiteracy from the country. However digital devices which can bypass these shortcomings are not made available within time. Due to time mismatch between school hours and employment hours for those learners who have to simultaneously earn the livelihood to support their families, grounds an increase in dropout rate. The lack of a strong contingent of motivated teachers doesn't instigate enough encouragement to excel which leads to inefficient functioning of the knowledge delivery mechanism.

On the other hand, we have large human resources of high

intellectual caliber and expert faculties in almost every field. People are learning the importance of education. A number of world class institutions of learning & research have been setup by both private and public sector. Development in Technological and Communication has helped us in knowledge empowerment of the masses

III. NEED OF ICT WITH RESPECT TO HEP With an ever expanding field of knowledge, skill sets

required by an individual to successfully lead life has also expanded, creating challenges of learning more and more throughout one’s life. Add to those challenges of pedagogy being faced by the teachers to package more and more for the uptake by the students within the same amount of time available. Fortunately, the ICT as a tool in education is available for improvement at this juncture. MHRD wishes to fully utilize it to enhance the current enrolment rate in Higher Education to 15% by the end of the 11th Plan period. A budget allocation of Rs. 502 Crores has been made in 2008-09 for the National Mission on Education through ICT. Under this Mission, a proper balance between content generations, research in critical areas relating to imparting of education and connectivity for integrating our knowledge with the advancements in other countries is to be attempted.

Many policies and promises have been made by the

government regarding the betterment of Education system in India. ICT helps the government in fulfilling these promises.

The objectives of the National Mission on Education through ICT include the following:

• The teaching modules developed must have the right content to address the aspirations and the personalized needs of the students.

• For dissimilar students, research in the field of education for efficient development of teaching modules is required.

• The teaching modules must be world class and the quality of content must be ensured.

• Among the different institutions of higher learning, a network of knowledge and connectivity must be built.

• E-knowledge i.e. learning through internet must be available and free of cost for all Indians.

• Optimization of low cost access/devices for use of ICT in education.

• Funds and grants for development of virtual technical universities should be given.

• Talent in every student should be recognized and nurtured.

• Every student should be given certification for any skill acquired either through formal or non-formal means. Legal framework should be setup for same.

• A database must be created and regularly updated with the profiles of the human resources of India [6].

The Mission through ICT also attempts to merge the soft

skills with teaching modules and try and instill a sense of discipline in the learner so as to make them innovative and a job creator than being a job seeker.

IV. PROPOSED USAGE OF ICT WITH RESPECT TO HEP The steps taken by government towards ICT have helped educating the masses. However if certain points are taken into deliberation then mission creating quality manpower can be achieved. The main motive of ICT is to share resources of education and educate people with the help of technology along with the rational classroom teaching. To supplement the learning process ICT can focus on providing education by Radio using the national radio stations. Radios are a cheap and are an easy source through which knowledge can be spread even in the remote areas of the country. They have better availability in every household. Many arts and skills can be learnt through listening on the radio and applying them in real world. A person can get basic skills by applying the methods taught to him/her through the radio. This is a type of long distance learning and the neither the student nor the trainer has to travel for communicating. Helpline numbers can also be provided to solve queries of the students. This way the basic problems can be solved and a person can acquire skills just by sitting at home. Certification should be provided to every person who has acquired a skill set in any field. We can even provide infrastructure to group of self learning, motivated people.

2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI) 1259

Infrastructure can vary from a basic television to a proper school. This would boost their morale and they would become role model in front of other people and would encourage other to study further. Providing certificates may not be enough for boosting of confidence of an individual. Government can also provide incentives in the form of internships and jobs in the government projects. The mission of ICT should try to also focus on recognizing the already acquired skill set and enhancing those skills during the course of Higher Education. Proper recognition of strong areas of the student would help in boosting them in the field in which they are already strong, which in turn will increase the enthusiasm towards acquiring higher studies. Many talented youth is currently unemployed even if they have appropriate skill set. It is because of the failure in mapping the correct skill set to the correct job opportunity. To cope up with the problem we can have a database consisting of skill set of all the educated people passing out of HEP. The task of collecting database is huge and cumbersome, to cut the expenses, we can add this data into the ongoing task of AADHAR card. Having a national database of the available skill set will help each company in choosing appropriate employee. Such steps will ensure proper path formulation, customized for each individual. Bringing more transparency in terms of knowledge delivery, into the current higher education system will keep a check on dubious institutes who are negligent towards the quality of education that they provide. A proper check is required towards such institutes, to stop adding unemployed educated workforce in the country. A national database of all the registered Colleges and institutions should be made available to public with other information. This would help students in choosing the right kind of institutes. It is certainly possible that after completion of course the student might not be trained with the skill set he was taught in and is given a degree, this would create un-talented workforce. Thus to full fill the mission of ICT and HEP we can conduct an All India screening test after completion of the curriculum and before handing of the degree. A students needs to pass this exam within a certain number of tries. If he fails to do so, he needs to redo a certain part of the curriculum again. This test will not only curb fake institutes but will also motivate students to study further [10]. The current curriculum is missing continuous evaluation system. We can have an evaluation system which keeps a check on progress and doesn't allow student to pass on further in the course until he has acquired the required skill set. The dropout ratio for Higher Education is massive thus leaving skills of students in inchoate form. The main reason for this dropout rate comes out to be the financial instability, most of the youth needs to support their families thus they start looking for jobs when their skill set are not well formed. This leads to Semi Educated Workforce for the country. Thus ICT can come and play a role in elevating the current situation of such people. ICT can combine the need of education while fulfilling the need for employment. ICT can educate students

in the first half of the day and provide them with job opportunities in the other half of the day. This would not only help them to cope up with their financial distress but also give hands on experience in what they are taught, Thus ultimately improving the quality of workforce for the country. The employment can be given in ongoing government projects or by involving private sector for the betterment of the country. The mission of HEP-ICT would not be achieved by only educating students rather we also need equal efforts for motivating upgrading trainers. ICT can have its program for this at remotest areas. The teachers/ trainers could also be hired as part time social workers by the government. A periodical evaluation system may be used for the trainers/ teachers at different levels, based on these evaluation further steps should be taken to improve the quality. A three months training should be made mandatory after a complete cycle for the curriculum has happened, to discuss the changes that need to be made in the current evolving curriculum and also to recognize the new advancements in the field , that is being considered. Some of great efforts like virtual lab could have a greater impact with better infrastructure. Current virtual labs could have a design that could replicate the normal labs and give better hands on experience. Virtual labs should be made more accessible and people should be made aware of such facilities. These labs should be updated frequently thus matching the advancement in technology. There should be a common curriculum for all the universities under ICT, and the syllabus must be reviewed and updated on regular basis. To enhance the quality of the content under ICT and to share the knowledge among people, universities can collaborate. International collaboration among universities should also be given focus. Virtual classes could be setup where a student can even interact with the foreign faculty [11]. Patents and research papers should be shared with students so that they can learn more and get motivated to research in the field of their interest. A national repository should be made of all the literature available, and it's should be easily accessible by any student upon proper verification. Expensive and difficult access to software inhibits the learning curve and thus hindering their contribution towards the technology. Awareness for such repositories can be done by promoting them on various social networking sites. Also these websites can be used to update students about advancement in recent technology. To develop a prototype of mobile e-learning terminal, comprising a van, VSAT equipment and computer/network/multimedia equipment. The mobile e-learning terminals will deliver the e-contents developed under the Mission from the servers to be set-up under the Mission. Operators for mobile e-learning terminals, who will be the unemployed local youth with certain minimum qualifications and knowledge of computers/IT, will be selected and rigorously trained [12].


Fig. 2. Proposed framework of ICT

Figure 2 shows the affect of new steps and method that will support and boost the progress of ICT role in development of the country. ICT success is dependent on the type of resources that are provided under the ICT plan, which should aim at proper utilization of student's time by making an effective curriculum. Motivating and encouraging student by making them realize the need of education will be a driving force. Educated and well trained teachers will deliver more educated workforce for the country. These methods will indeed affect ICT facilities and Information system qualities which have role towards the increasing dropout rate of students from education. With proper implementation of such factors remuneration are for certain. There will be rise in employment ratio because of better skilled force.

V. CONCLUSION Authors have discussed the HEP structure in Indian

perspective; they have tried to formulate the issues mechanisms

that can be used for addressing them. Authors have also emphasized better usage of ICT for improving the effectiveness of HEP-ICT program. From the discussion it can be inferred that the penetration of ICT is very much required for narrowing the gap between industry requirement and skill set available.

REFERENCES [1] Sharma, P. (2005). The distance in education and online

technologies in India. In A. A. Carr-Chellman (Ed.), Global Perspectives on E-learning: Rhetoric and reality (pp. 52-66). London: Sage Publications.

[2] All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) since 2010-11 [3] http://mhrd.gov.in/technical_edu_hindi [4] http://mhrd.gov.in/aicte_hindi [5] http://mhrd.gov.in/nme_icthindi [6] http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/MissionDocume

nt.pdf [7] http://www.oecd.org/els/emp/42546020.pdf [8] http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/waoe/amins.pdf

ICT implementation Success in HEP

Drop Out Rate for HEP

ICT facilities and Information

System qualities

BENEFIT

Transparency

Infrastructure

Well trained Teachers

Transforming Education through

Community of Learners

• Reliability

• Flexibility

• Integration

• Availability

• Response Time

Better Skilled Force

User Certification

Rise in Employment Ratio

Affect

Resources to Share information under ICT

Motivated Students

Proper Time Utilization and proper Curriculum under ICT

2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI) 1261

[9] David Gichoya, Factors Affecting the Successful Implementation of ICT Projects in Government

[10] Belawati, T. (2005). The impact of online tutorials on course completion rates and student achievement. Learning, Media and Technology, 30(1), 15-25.

[11] dela Peña-Bandalaria, M. (2007). Impact of ICTs on open and distance learning in a developing country setting: the Philippine

experience. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(1).

[12] http://www.ignouonline.ac.in/sakshatproposal/Proposal/IIT%20RoorkeeProposal%20No.%2012.pdf accessed on 1st May, 2013


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