Indian Students: A Reflection Of Theoretical Education

Dr. Raghuram Rao Akkinnepally, Director NIPER, speaks to Amita Jain about the need to lower the rate of employment research gaps in technical education…

 

Q. Do you find a difference between technical higher education system of India and that of abroad?

A. Surely, I do feel that there is a huge difference between the technical higher education system of India and that of other countries.

The technical education system abroad is more practice-oriented, whereas in India we pay more emphasis on theory and less on practice. As a result, it reflects in our students as well, who are theoretically sound but have comparatively less practical skills.

Q. Where do you think Indian higher education system can improve to come at par with the world-class education system?

A. Our prime minister has given a lot of emphasis on the Skill India program. If these skilling efforts are successfully introduced into our curriculum, things can change for the better.

Q. Do you think the rise in the number of higher education institutions in India has gone hand-in-hand with the improvement in the quality of education?

A. Taking a macro view, then no. There are some institutions which are doing remarkably well wherein emphasis on the quality of training is absolute. While there are others who over-emphasise on raising beautiful buildings but are way behind when it comes to hiring good faculty and providing quality instruments for training to students. The scenario of education in the later type of institutions is not very encouraging.

Q. What according to you are some must-have features of a good technical higher education institution?