Engineering institutes, medical colleges and agricultural universities will cease to exist as standalone campuses in the next ten years if the Narendra Modi Government has its way.
Professional education will no more be offered in isolation but will be integrated with the overall higher education system to make education of all types ethically driven, discipline-oriented that meets the needs and aspiration of the population at large.
The final draft of the National Education Policy (NEP) which is awaiting the Government’s nod, has proposed that the integration should happen by 2030.
The policy said all institutions offering either professional or general education must “organically evolve into institutions offering both seamlessly by 2030”.
“Professional education will thus become an integral part of the overall higher education system. The practice of setting up stand-alone technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities, or institutions in these or other fields, will be discontinued”, it said.
The recommendations can be seen as an extension of the suggestions made for undergraduate education. The final draft has laid special emphasis on the introduction of four-year liberal arts after plus-two that encompasses the three disciplines of Arts, Science and Commerce. The drafting committee is of the view that studying disciplines in silos will not help students prepare for the challenges of the 21st century.
Suggestions for different disciplines:
Agricultural education:
The draft policy said that both capacity and quality of agriculture and allied disciplines must be improved with a complete change of agriculture education to increase agricultural productivity, better-skilled graduates and thrust on innovative research. Capacity to prepare professionals in agriculture and veterinary sciences through programmes integrated with general education will be increased sharply.
While enrolment in agriculture education is only about one per cent of all enrolment in the country, the policy suggested that more and more bright minds should be attracted to the discipline with improved curricula.
Legal education:
It will be restructured, made globally competitive with the adoption of the best practices and embracing new technologies for wider access to justice and timely delivery of justice.
State institutions must consider offering bilingual education, both in English and the local language for the future of the lawyers and judges.
Healthcare education:
The policy has suggested that the education should be re-envisioned in a fashion where every MBBS graduate must possess medical, diagnostic, surgical and emergency skills. Students will be assessed at regular intervals for skills required for working in primary care and secondary hospitals.
Health care education must be integrated so that all students of allopathic medical education must have a basic understanding of ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy and homoeopathy.
The final draft is a refined version of the report presented by the K Kasturirangan Committee in May this year.
As per reports, the Union Cabinet is expected to take it up for consideration soon, even as some states have expressed concern over the financial implication in adopting the policy.