Digital University is the Future

Dr. M. Jagdish Kumar, Chairman of the University Grants Commission. He is also an administrator and author. Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. He was the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University from January 2016 to February 2022. Born in Telangana’s Nalgonda district, Kumar holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering and a PhD from IIT Madras. At present, also takes over as the President of All India Council for Technical Education.
The new education policy will create an educational environment where university campuses will not be dependent on the government. If you come out of the grant and reach the system of debt, then you will also be able to create your own resources. With a system like CUET, students from all over the country will take school education up to class XII seriously. He described ‘One Nation, One Examination’ as the great need of today’s youth. Executive editor Mukesh Bhardwaj conducted the conversation of Jansatta Baradari on the new education policy of our higher education system. There are currently four crore students in this structure. This structure is like a pyramid, whose students can be placed in two squares.
The first category is of those students who can go to any university in the country and abroad according to their choice for higher education. But, the percentage of such students is very less. At the bottom of this pyramid are the abundance of such students, who have no dearth of talent, but are denied admission in universities due to various reasons of digital university. The aim is to provide high quality education at affordable cost to all the students. Digital University will prepare the students for the challenges of the future. For this the education system needs to be flexible. Right now there is a lot of inertia, like if you left a course in the second year, then you cannot pursue a degree in it. If you want to do multidisciplinary courses in different subjects, the university will not allow it. There is a course of three years and your ability is that you can complete it in two and a half years. But university rules won’t let you do that. We will make education flexible by removing such restrictions.
Digital university will play an important role in this. We can become Vishwa Guru by digitizing education. Students who cannot reach the city and university will have an increased access to skills and knowledge. We are hoping that these students will be able to become a strong wheel of our economic development vehicle in the future. We are talking about digital education. Even before this, distance education centers and many other. There is a system of e-courses. But, their role was seen only to confer degrees. Somewhere the digital university should not become a platform only for awarding degrees and through this we could not fulfill the objective of skill development. This is an important question. We will give priority to skill based courses in Digital University.
If someone is currently pursuing his graduation in economics and wants to take admission in any science subject then Digital University will give him a chance. The main goal of Digital University is to develop the skills of the youth. You are saying that the degree of distance education centers is not effective then what will happen to digital. There is a lot of difference between these two. Send instructional materials to the Open University by post or via PDF. Digital University will provide complete course material online so that students will be able to connect directly. Artificial intelligence will play an important role in this. Its examination system will also be different, which will be able to assess the students properly.
In some cities, we will open computer centers where students can go for exams. Will be able I hope that when we open a digital university, you will also be its student as a media person. Media will always be equipped with new technology, so you will also have to be updated accordingly. It will not only involve young students but also working professionals. With the rapid progress of technology, people have to keep on learning. Only a digital university can give us a chance to remain a lifelong student. You talked about higher education at low fees.
Despite being a welfare state, India has a high Education is not cheap. Higher education is expensive in many states. There is a flood of private universities in many states whose fee structure is not controlled by anyone. Will there be a regulatory mechanism for this? Regulatory machinery like AICTE has clearly stated what the fee structure should be. There is also a Fee Monitoring Committee in all the states. Now a third are private universities, but the fees of most of them are controlled. But, those who have money, who can go to study by paying fees, why stop them from going to private university go? It is also part of democracy that we can go to the institution of our choice. We keep talking to vice-chancellors of private universities.
There are many universities which help the students of weaker section as a social responsibility. We conducted CUET so students accepted it happily. He was happy that there were questions in the exam which were easy to attempt. We wish that the entrance exam should not become a burden for the students. I have always thought about board exam marks in terms of admission. He has supported a system like CUET. There are many types of boards in our country and everyone has different level. The combined examination will protect the interests of seventy percent students of the country. Out of four crore students, BA, BSc, BCom do more. Five percent do engineering. We got the idea that we should conduct a test and let go of whoever wants to go to the field. There will be an advantage that we can bring it twice a year. Those who did not do well once can take the exam a second time our education. There is a lot of diversity in the system.
In consultation with universities and other institutions, we will prepare the structure of one nation, one examination. There is a slowdown in the recruitment of vacancies in central universities. How will it be fixed? M Jagadesh Kumar: Last week I held a meeting with the Vice Chancellors of Central Universities and gave instructions regarding the recruitment of all kinds of vacancies. One problem with the recruitment of non-academic posts is that every university has a different system. Will work on this very fast in the next few months, It is a policy work to fill the posts of the Faculties of Education. It is not that we are hiring computer operators that if we want four hundred, it is done immediately. When recruiting intellectuals the selection committee has to evaluate very carefully.
How capable an applicant is of the faculty, how far the university can take it, it all remains to be seen. If three hundred posts are advertised then hardly 150 are filled. After that the posts are advertised again. With recruitment, ten to fifteen percent also retire. University. The main function of the Grants Commission is to manage the grant and educational system. Now there is a provision of ‘Higher Education Funding Agency’ in the new education policy which will work towards making the institutions autonomous. Then what will be the role of UGC? Have you been appointed at a time when you will be its last president? M Jagadesh Kumar: Let me elaborate on this point in your question. Under the NEP, it will have four components by bringing together all the regulators. One would have a regulatory mechanism and the other would have recognition. in the third only funding will work.
In the fourth, we will work on the quality improvement of the educational system. As of now, usually an agricultural university does not collude with other universities. Or IIT does not interact with the common university. Today, to solve the problems of the country, one has to come out of these bounded walls. If someone wants to introduce a new course, then he has to go to different universities and get permission. Along with the delay, one also has to deal with the hassles of bureaucracy. We come to the level of a holistic thinking working for ‘Higher Education Commission of India’. Its draft bill is being prepared. After the debate in the Parliament, Standing Committee, I am hopeful that it will come into shape.
Questions are being raised regarding grants in government universities. Four hundred percent fee has been increased in Allahabad University. There are also students from weaker section. Now it is being said that loan should not be given by giving grant. How long will government universities survive like this? How will university campuses become a part of the country’s development? UGC’s work is only grant do not give. Its main objective is to maintain the quality standard of higher education in the university. I agree with your concern. Now we have HEFA. To build infrastructure in the university, you can take a loan at low interest. You can easily repay this loan further. This allows you to fine-tune the structure of your research. After doing this in JNU, the project funding increased by four times.
The university should think of generating internal resources. Give you degree online. Resources there are many different programs you can do to raise money. Indian Institutes of Management are doing this. One should not always depend on the government. If you increase your scope, you will also be able to raise resources yourself. Talking about JNU itself, the Vice Chancellor is a political choice. Your tenure in JNU was also full of commotion. What do you have to say on Politics Vs University Campus?
Selected purely academic from a purely academic point of view. JNU is the pride of the country. If there is a question on JNU and politics, we are always there to ask questions to the students. Encourage you to always ask questions to your authority. Argue until you are satisfied with an argument. Our aim should be to develop reasoning power. Ideological clashes abound among the diversity of ideas. Now if this ideological activity is given the name of politics, then it is a different matter.