Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gearing a colonial system of education to take independent India towards development

  • Published:
Higher Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper offers an overview of higher education in India today. It examines the successes and failures of the post-independence efforts to gear education to the needs of development while assessing the gains from the massive expansion and diversification of the system, and identifies such amenities as the overproduction of graduates, the neglect of standards, the displacement of the ideal of equality and the inability of the system to withstand the pressures of populist politics. It traces these amenities to factors such as the lack of an academic will and of a clear academic purpose, and the inability of the system to touch base with current needs and realities. It examines some of the structural features of the system in this connection and makes a few suggestions towards a way out of the impasse.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashby, E. (1966).Universities-British, Indian, African. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, p. 54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandra, S. (1976).Examination Reform: A Plan for Action. New Delhi: University Grants Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Indiresan, J., and Tulsi, M. (1990). ‘Teachers' Perception of the Autonomous Scheme-A Brief Case Study’,New Frontiers in Education 2, pp. 204–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Indiresan, J. (In press). ‘Development of Women's College and Women's Development-Some Issues’ in Chitnis, S., and Altbach, P.G. (eds.)Higher Education Reform in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

  • Indiresan, P.V. (1983).Director's Report. Madras: Indian Institute of Technology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khanna, S.K. (1992).Dr. Ramalinga Memorial Lecture (1989–90). Madras: University of Madras Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raza, M. (1991).Higher Education in India-Retrospect and Prospect. New Delhi: Association of Indian Universities, Chapter V, p. 55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, A. (In press). ‘Co-ordinating Agencies in Higher Education’ in Chitnis, S., and Altbach, P.G. (eds.)Higher Education and Reform in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

  • Tilak, J. (In press). ‘Financing Higher Education in India’, in Chitnis, S., and Altbach, P.G. (eds.)Higher Education and Reform in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

  • Zachariah, M. (In press). ‘The Reform of the Public Examination System in Indian Higher Education’, in Chitnis, S., and Altbach, P.G. (eds.)Higher Education Reform in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. S.N.D.T. University, 400 020, Bombay, India

    Suma Chitnis (Vice Chancellor)

Authors
  1. Suma Chitnis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

First published inHigher Education Reform in India, eds. Philip G. Altbach and Suma Chitnis (New Delhi: Sage Publications).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chitnis, S. Gearing a colonial system of education to take independent India towards development. High Educ 26, 21–41 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01575105

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01575105

Keywords

Search

Navigation