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Purpose: This study aims to gain insights into how students perceive online examination practices and evaluation, as well as identify the key factors that impact their intentions toward online exams. Design/methodology/approach: This empirical study conducted in India utilized an online survey method between May 24 and June 14, 2022. The data were collected from 712 undergraduate and postgraduate students through a Google Docs questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), regression and reliability analysis were conducted to analyze the data. Findings: There are many studies related to the adoption of online learning. However, there are limited studies that explore the adoption and acceptance of online examinations and evaluations. This paper intends to fill this gap and tries to highlight important factors influencing online examination usage by the students. Five important factors emerged in the study include "pedagogy, validity, reliability," "practicality," "security," "facilitating condition" and "intention," The study concludes that taking tests online is preferred for several reasons, including the perceived increased dependability of grades and the decreased cost, time and effort associated with taking exams. Research limitations/implications: This research explores students' perceptions of learning management systems (LMS)-based online exams and provides insights for students to better prepare and adapt. It assists policymakers in developing fair assessment policies and improving LMS platforms. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of e-learning and calls for further research to enhance the effectiveness of online exams. It identifies gaps in existing literature and recommends larger sample sizes, broader representation, longitudinal data collection and conversational methods for future research. Originality/value: This study shows increasing research on e-learning and online examinations, mostly using quantitative methods. The important variables for understanding students' perceptions of online exams are "pedagogy, validity, reliability," "practicality," "security," "facilitating condition" and "intention." Concerns raised include validity, fairness and security. Electronic exams are more suitable for formative evaluation, and validity, reliability, security and adaptability are key pillars for successful online testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, universities in India have witnessed the joining of a record number of students from marginalized communities and oftentimes struggle. This expansion of access has brought about changes within classrooms and college campuses, sometimes giving rise to contention and causing numerous conflicts as well. Centered around my experiences of teaching in a working-class college in Bangalore, a metropolitan city in Southern India, this paper offers reflections on education in challenging circumstances. Further, the essay explores the possibilities of democratic pedagogic practices through the theoretical framework of Maitri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As primary drivers of global growth, China and India as Asian giants are on the path to reforming their higher education systems to drive innovation. This paper based on both primary and secondary data sources investigates how India's democratic political leadership has facilitated higher education reform for fostering innovation while underlining key differences in the policy approach of the Chinese leadership. Findings identify the areas of reform for India and also reveal that epistemic boundaries between India and China are beginning to blur so far as right-wing ideological regimentation is concerned, with possible implications for innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, Nuh, barely 75 km from India's parliament, was ranked by the Government as the country's most 'backward' district. It is a region fraught with many challenges including endemic poverty and simmering communal tensions, which among other factors have contributed to historically limiting women from pursuing higher education or building career aspirations. While the state has attempted to correct this by building new colleges, this paper explores how women experience and navigate these college spaces. Using a critical feminist lens, it seeks to understand the social and cultural possibilities that college life and higher education have in their lives. Findings suggest that while there are major restrictions on social agency within their everyday life, college emerges as a liminal space that provides an 'escape'. The college space for these women offers possible pathways of imagination, dialogue, solidarity and support, all forming the complex matrix of their future possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research are globally recognised as engines of growth and development and indicators of citizens' well-being. Studies have continuously highlighted the unequal access and participation in STEM higher education based on class, caste, gender, disability and other markers of identity. This research paper investigates the underrepresentation of women in STEM at the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) in India. IITs are India's top elite institutions that open window of opportunities to students across the world. The study uses the data available from the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE), the Council of Indian Institute of Technology and the websites of the IITs. The findings indicate a significant gap between males and females in faculty positions at IITs. Furthermore, the study finds that the underrepresentation of women faculty differs across the STEM disciplines at IITs in India. It needs more gender-just affirmative action policies such as intersectional reservation for women in STEM academic careers, funding, legal protection against harassment, and representation of women in various committees and leadership positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries play a crucial and multi-faceted role in the implementation of the New Education Policy (NEP) of 2020 in higher education in India. They function as hubs of knowledge and are instrumental in supporting the educational goals outlined in the NEP. This article examines the intricate and significant part that libraries play in the effective execution of the NEP, specifically within the context of NEP 2020. It discusses how libraries can promote access to diverse knowledge resources, encourage research, and foster critical thinking skills among students. By utilizing the potential of libraries as centers of learning, higher education institutions can establish a more inclusive and just learning environment according to the NEP's vision. The primary focus of this study is to comprehensively elaborate on the multi-faceted involvement of libraries, including the active promotion of digital literacy, cultivation of research efforts and innovative initiatives, and facilitation of an all-encompassing and impartial approach to acquiring information for all segments of society. The article notes that libraries can contribute to the promotion of digital literacy, which is a critical aspect of the NEP. As the use of digital technologies in education increases, libraries play a vital role in providing access to a wide range of digital resources, such as ebooks, online databases, and various digital learning materials. They can provide instructional guidance and assistance to both students and faculty members on the effective use of digital tools and platforms, leading to a significant improvement in their digital literacy skills. Libraries also offer access to a vast array of scholarly resources, including academic journals, research papers, and books. This accessibility empowers students and faculty members to engage in significant research endeavors. They also provide guidance and direction for conducting literature reviews, accessing relevant research databases, and keeping up with the latest developments in various disciplines. Therefore, libraries serve as collaborative spaces for interdisciplinary research and innovation, facilitating knowledge sharing and networking among students and faculty members, which is essential for NEP 2020. This research emphasizes the expected academic roles of libraries in enhancing all educational programs and proposes specific strategies to improve their functions. Previous literature is combined with qualitative research data from semi-structured interviews with 125 faculties, including Professors, Associate Professors, and working librarians from four universities associated with higher education institutions. Questionnaires and interview tools were used to explore the relevant data collection instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationalization of social work education in terms of student mobility, staff mobility, curriculum transaction and research collaboration are getting on priority agendas of universities across the globe. This could be attributed to the demands of the profession to be cultural sensitive and being adaptive to the educational standards which could empower the practice. Indian social work education and its internationalization is discussed in this paper in the context of 'International student exchanges' from author's experience. This paper is descriptive and based on a single case study of one school of social work in South India. Social work interns who participated in international exchanges appreciate the need for knowledge of global priorities and strategies to advance social work education, research and skill development for practice. Though the literature focus more on different models of international student mobility programs, there need to have deliberations, rules of partnership and clear exchange goals specifically on 'international student exchanges', which will contribute towards the internationalization of Indian social work education. This paper identify the importance of International student exchanges in internationalizing Indian social work education as well as opening new avenues of collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to academia's lack of involvement in research, development, and innovation activities, there is a tremendous amount of talent underutilised in Indian engineering educational institutions. Indian engineering educational institutions confront numerous obstacles that limit their participation in research. Lack of funding, a tight budget, poor fund allocation, a weak research ecosystem, fewer opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, a decline in PhD enrolment, over-centralization, a lack of accountability, transparency, and bureaucratic structures have all contributed to an increase in the administrative workload at universities, which has diluted their primary emphasis on research. The K J Somaiya Institute of Engineering and Information Technology (KJSIEIT), an engineering educational institute in India, is the subject of a research case study in this paper that addresses the challenges of Indian engineering institutes' limited involvement in research development and innovation. KJSIEIT's efforts to establish a research culture have demonstrated this by launching practises for research, development, and innovation such as strong hand holding for idea implementation, building incubator and start-up support systems, constant encouragement for increased research involvement, hands-on training for start-ups, applying for and competing for government funding, working on industry collaborative, societal, need-based, educational, agricultural and healthcare. These tested procedures at KJSIEIT can serve as a model for other engineering schools in India in addressing the issues of low participation and contribution in research and supporting ecological development of developing nations in order to survive in the cutthroat environment of contemporary economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India, as a developing nation, is consistently progressing in the education field. While Indian higher education has expanded tremendously in terms of enrolment, the country has failed to produce an adequate number of world-class universities. Researchers have analysed challenges like demand-supply gap, lack of quality research and innovation, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of quality faculty, etc. Worldwide higher education policies have been transformed by various internationalisation processes that operate in a constant flux of globalisation. Given the projected demand for massification and quality improvements needed, internationalisation of higher education has become an important national goal in India. This paper conceptualises the importance of foreign partnerships in the Indian higher education sector. It delineates major challenges for the foreign enterprises to enter the Indian higher education market and highlights some recent developments on policy initiatives and schemes initiated by the Indian government to bring higher education at par with international standards. Specific hindrances of foreign partnerships in the higher education sector have also been discussed. In conclusion, this paper critically argues for formulating useful regulatory guidelines for foreign partnerships by fostering research on understanding the policy and management of the Indian higher education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments across the board require an educational backup which requires a robust educational system. The last 50 years have witnessed big leap transformation of applications supported by advancements in science and technology. Even today due to the fast advancement it is difficult to evaluate how usage shapes up in the near future. This requires an upgraded educational structure to cope with the challenges. India has over 1/sixth of the human force representation on the global map and it should contribute strongly to the global development in sync with the human force representation on earth. India responded slowly to the upgradation gap in the education policy and came up with a new one after a gap of 34 years. The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India provides a comprehensive framework from primary education to higher education, vocational & technical education and a new paradigm of internet‐based e‐leanings. Five founding pillars of this policy (i.e., Access, equity, affordability, accountability, and quality) have been considered to build the new education system of India to create a perfect harmony with the principles of United Nations (UN) 2030 agenda for sustainable development. However, the successful implementation of this policy requires a significant structural overhaul in the Indian education system. This paper provides insights into various contours of NEP 2020 and how it aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 targets. This paper looks at how India should step up with caution to achieve the objectives. The paper presents some major loopholes and execution challenges that need to be addressed to truly foster "quality education for all" with the objective of providing value to the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focused on the research publications of women faculty in the field of physics, Astrophysics, Astronomy and Atmospheric Science in India. To collect the data we have covered the women faculty of Central Universities, State Universities, IITs, NITs, IISER's, NISER's, research institutes, laboratories and some selected deemed universities. The first fact we found was that the number of women were very less as compare to male staff. To see the publication productivity of women authors we tried to analyze the year-wise productivity, authorship pattern, preferred journals, place and designation and the research papers received highest citations for the period of five years from 2011- 2015. Year 2014 found to be the most productive year and in authorship pattern, women authors preferred to publish their research in collaboration. Highest number of research papers was published in Journal of Applied Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents data from a qualitative study on the community engagement experience at the Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, to prepare students for social work practice. It focuses on how students and academics understand engagement, the values derived from the engagement experience and the particular activities that formed part of the engagement process. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with six academics and eleven students. Using a process of thematic analysis, the study found that service learning within the context of rural villages presented a rich opportunity to prepare students for social work practice and, more importantly, to facilitate the social justice mandate of the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender diversity and equality in the workplace has been much researched and spoken about in the corporate sector but the higher education sector in India remains largely untouched by it, probably because women seemingly far outnumber men in the teaching fraternity. However, data also suggests that most women in the higher education sector remain restricted to middle-ranking posts, rising as high as heads of department, deans, controller of examination and even registrars but hardly ever becoming vice-chancellors. In a sector which has traditionally attracted many women as their preferred career choice, lack of an adequate talent pool cannot be the answer. This paper is a study exploring the barriers and enablers for women academicians' ascent to leadership roles. It also presents strategies to close this gap and facilitate pathways for women to hold leadership roles in Indian universities. This paper is one of the first few on women's leadership in Indian universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The voice of disabled students in higher education (HE) has been widely explored in the global North but relatively little is known about the experiences of their counterparts in the global South. The paper attempts to address this lacuna by focusing on disabled students in HE in India. A part of the author's doctoral study in 2013–14 explored the lived experiences and aspirations of 29 students with a visual impairment using phenomenological methodology. Their access to courses and subsequently, career opportunities were found to be restricted by an interplay of systemic exclusion, lack of information, internalised oppression, pedagogy, and employment opportunities. While disability legislation in India focuses on widening participation in HE, the issue of access to courses for students with a visual impairment has received little attention. This paper emphasises the importance of facilitating their access to their desired courses in HE and to this end, provision of support in school. This article highlights the experiences of students with a visual impairment regarding enrolling in different courses in higher education (HE) in India. The research found that four main factors prevented many students with a visual impairment from pursuing science-and mathematics-based courses in HE. These were i) exclusion from science and mathematics in early education, ii) inadequate support systems, iii) inaccessible teaching practices, and iv) limited work opportunities. Little or no support and motivation was available for them to study these subjects. The research recommended that HE authorities must recognise the ability of students with a visual impairment to learn visual-based subjects. It also highlighted the need to provide support for learning mathematics and science to these students in school so that they can study mathematics- and science-based courses in HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to expand our knowledge on the importance of public academic support programmes (ASPs) in higher education (HE) in India, which extend supplementary instruction with the aim to improve academic performance and support academic efforts of students from the socially and economically disadvantaged groups (SEDGs). This paper shows that students from the most disadvantaged amongst the SEDGs, that is, those residing in rural areas and women who experience multiple barriers that compound the effects of their disadvantages, have taken advantage of supplementary instruction classes. These classes have allowed HEIs to account for students' academic needs and challenges related to their socioeconomic disadvantages, that remain unmet in regular classrooms. By targeting educational resources to students who are most disadvantaged, these programmes compensate for the absence of parental support and recognises the underlying socio-economic obstacles of students from achieving academic success at college. Given the acknowledged role of higher education in providing economic and social benefits to individuals, the paper argues that oncampus state enabled ASPs targeting students from the SEDGs make HE in India more equitable and contribute in reducing social inequalities in the wider society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education sector significantly affects the economic, political and social development of any nation and is a key to enhance country's competitiveness in the global economy. Higher education is critical to India's aspirations of emerging as a major player in the global knowledge economy. This paper takes a comprehensive look at the various stages of growth of higher education in India. It also examines the degree to which a labour market for academic staffs has developed in Indian education sector and explores its implications for academic professionals, their careers and work. It analyses the key elements and characteristics of this market. The paper draws and builds on findings from official national data and also evidence-based reports subject to secondary analysis. In conclusion the paper argues that there is a degree of insularity in the Indian academic market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore perspectives of academicians in leadership positions in Indian business schools on the sustainability of management education institutions in India. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 respondents including directors, deans and vice-chancellors of private and public sector institutions offering management programmes across India. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Findings: All the respondents strongly supported the need for building sustainable management education institutions. Different factors affecting sustainability of institutions that emerged from the interviews included focus on local context and inter-disciplinarity, visionary leadership and culture, country specific curriculum and pedagogy, sustained industry-academia collaboration, faculty orientation, training, retention and growth. On the basis of the factors identified, a directional proposition with the perspective of blue ocean strategy is proposed. Originality/value: There is a vast scope for exploring issues, challenges and strategies for building sustainable management education institutions. Literature in this field in the Indian context is very limited. This paper is one of the few attempts to study perspectives and experiences of leaders in Indian business schools on the sustainability of their institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of knowledge economy, the competitive level of higher education has become an important indicator to measure a country' s comprehensive national strength. How to evaluate the competitiveness level of a country' s higher education becomes a hot topic. This paper uses entropy method to construct an evaluation model of the competitiveness of higher education, by selecting indicators related to the competitiveness of higher education in the global Global competitiveness Competitiveness reportReport, and using the method of entropy. the entropy and the weight of each index are calculated, and the competitive level of higher education of comprehensive strength is evaluated. This paper selects India which is similar to China in national conditions as the research object, uses the model to evaluate India' s competitiveness of higher education in recent years, in order to provide the reference to enhance the competitiveness of China' s higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an engagement with James Mittelman's Implausible Dream: The World Class University and Repurposing Higher Education, this paper tracks the journey of the idea of World Class Universities in India, and its most recent iteration in the form of Institutions of Eminence. The structural crisis of governance in the public university system is related to the overweening role of the state in every aspect of its functioning, with the University Grants Commission failing to perform its role as a buffer between government and university. The paper examines two recent initiatives of the government: the proposed replacement of the University Grants Commission by a Higher Education Commission of India and the initiative to support select Institutions of Eminence to achieve world class status. The core attraction of this initiative is its promise of autonomy, and this idea of autonomy is critically interrogated here, including in its ambivalent relationship to academic freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel extension of a very recently developed multicriteria decision making (MCDM) algorithm known as the preference ranking on the basis of ideal-average distance (PROBID) method in a picture fuzzy (PF) environment. We use the full consistency method (FUCOM) with picture fuzzy numbers (PFNs) for deriving the criteria weights. We attempt to apply our proposed model for addressing a real-life complex decision making problem in social science research that gets influenced by the dynamics of discrete human behaviors. We compare eight popular video conferencing (VC) tools used for teaching-learning and meeting purposes in India using our novel integrated multicriteria decision making (MCDM) framework of FUCOM-PROBID with PF information. The criteria have been derived using the theoretical foundation of usability and user experience (UX). Based on the opinion of the decision makers (DM) or users who took part in the study, we find that ease of operations, compatibility with multiple systems and devices, quality of the voice, and video transmission and features are given more emphasis while Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet are found to be preferable options to the users. The result of the proposed model shows stability and robustness as evident from the validation test and sensitivity analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contemporary definition of diaspora points to communities that are transnationally dispersed but remain connected to their place of origin. Accordingly, diaspora do not have an objective existence but are forged through a variety of means, involving multiple agencies and sites of formation. One of these sites is higher education. Based on interviews conducted with Indian and Chinese students in Australia, this paper suggests that recent policies and practices of internationalisation of higher education, shaped by market rationality, have steered international students in Business Studies towards particular forms of diaspora, aligned to a range of beliefs about the importance of their participation within the global economy and in particular their role in facilitating transnational regimes of business activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service industries are contributing potentially in building a strong economy for the nation. Thus, it is utmost important to measure service quality in different industries. Various studies have been conducted on service quality in different service industries; however, studies on service quality issues in the management education sector are relatively new as compared to other service industries particularly in the Indian context. Management education plays a very crucial role in developing an individual and society as a whole. It has been considered as one of the most popular and important professional education in India. Therefore, it is indispensable to discuss management education specifically in the Indian context. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and provide a conceptual framework regarding measuring the service quality in management education. Based on the earlier studies, the study attempts to develop a conceptual model of service quality in Management education. The paper also briefly describes the issues and challenges of service quality in management education and presents important implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India and China have made sizeable growth in publishing science and engineering research papers in co-authorship with international institutions and patents granted in collaboration with foreign inventors during the period 1997-2012. However, the growth in case of China is much higher in comparison to India. The pace of growth in publishing research papers in co-authorship with international and domestic institutions is more or less the same in case of China, whereas India has shown higher growth in publishing research papers in co-authorship with international institutions in comparison to those with domestic institutions. The share of India and China to research papers published in co-authorship with international institutions increased from 1.8% and 4.1% respectively, in 1997 to 3.5% and 14.7% respectively in 2012. China's share to patents granted in collaboration with foreign inventors increased from 0.94% in 1997 to 13.68% in 2012, compared to an increase of 0.56% to 7.39% in case of India. The analysis shows that China has harnessed the fruit of its international cooperation in S&T to its advantage, as reflected by significant increase in research papers co-authored with international institutions and patents granted in collaboration with foreign inventors in comparison to India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role that knowledge management systems (KMS) play in facilitating better decision-making and providing sustainable competitive advantages for organizations has been recognized worldwide. Academic sector has significant opportunities to apply KMS practices to supplement their mission and achieve their vision. The study investigates the concept of KMS in a higher education institution by adopting a hierarchical approach. Components of knowledge management (KM) such as awareness, existence, future, and benefits have been identified. The analytical hierarchical process method has been applied to prioritize the relative importance of three components out of these, that is, awareness, existing status, and future implications of KM to higher education. The paper is based upon a quantitative and qualitative study. The outcomes of the paper describe that there is awareness and existence of KM in higher education management institutions in an Indian perspective. However, future implications are supposed to be relooked at for the better implementation of the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inflow of international students to Indian higher education has remained low and this should be a matter of great concern. As a piece of country-specific research, this paper aims to understand the factors that influence an international students' choice of India as a higher education destination. The results of an exploratory factor analysis indicate that international students enrolled in Indian universities considered conducive structural elements, the quality of education on offer, the cultural appeal of India, prospects of job in the destination country and the opportunity to learn English as the most important factors in host country selection. Further, a cluster analysis based on the identified factors specifies four international student segments that policymakers must pay attention to while formulating strategies to attract overseas students. This research provides an understanding into the destination choice motivations of an understudied market in an increasingly significant region of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates the distance students' use of public libraries for their academic purposes and converse the public library as a alternate for instructive or University libraries. The current research study is based on a comprehensive survey of distance education students from Bangalore University. The data collection was carried out by personally distributing the questionnaire to the randomly selected students and the sample consists of students from both undergraduate and post graduate. It is found from the study that 1309 (90.60 %) distance learners who used public libraries during contact classes and 786 (54.4 %) of the respondents spent 0-1 h in the library. Majority of the distance learners i.e. 941 (65.10 %) responded effective for book borrowing services from the public libraries in seeking information, 1220 (84.40 %) opined effective for reference services. It is observed from the study that distance students have a tendency to look at libraries as a complete and do not make apparent difference between different types of libraries, expecting the entire system to be flawless. The paper lifts the significant executive inquiry and apprehension in relation to both the operation of public libraries and the service level given to diverse section of learning students. It is strongly recommended that library instruction programme should be organized by the public libraries for distance learners that create the responsiveness and use of library and information services effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the size and complexity of higher education in India, there are a multitude of strategies for addressing financial partnerships and trends. India, as the world's largest democracy and a country with a recent colonial history struggles with the pressures of tradition on one hand and outside influence on the other. It is not possible to address all of the issues and strategies in one paper. Accordingly, this paper discusses three issues that relate to the funding of higher education in India: neoliberal economics, business/government relationships, and philanthrocapitalism and their impact on the formation of private universities in satisfying the need for increased participation in higher education in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reforms in undergraduate engineering curriculum to produce engineers with entrepreneurial skills should address real-world problems relevant to industry and society with active industry support. Technology-assisted, hands-on projects involving experimentation, design simulation and prototyping will transform graduates into professionals with necessary skills to create and advance knowledge that meets global standards. To achieve this goal, this paper proposes establishing a central facility, ‘Centre for Engineering Experimentation and Design Simulation’ (CEEDS) in autonomous engineering colleges in India. The centre will be equipped with the most recent technology resources and computational facilities where students execute novel interdisciplinary product-oriented projects benefiting both industry and society. Students undertake two projects: a short-term project aimed at an engineering solution to a problem in energy, health and environment and the other a major industry-supported project devoted to a product that enhances innovation and creativity. The paper presents the current status, the theoretical and pedagogical foundation for the centre's relevance, an activity plan and its implementation in the centre for product-based learning with illustrative examples. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rural camps are an integral part of practice learning for most schools of social work in India. The paper locates the relevance of rural camps in social work education and unveils its pedagogy and broad learning framework. Based on the experiential account of the author in a rural camp as a teacher educator, the paper situates the role of camps in professional development of social work students and how it enables to bridge the gaps between academic knowledge base and the complex realities of practice. The unique standpoint of the paper is the students’ account of their experiences, challenges faced and its impact on their personal and professional growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Quality of education can be enriched with better outcome in undergraduate (UG) computer science and engineering program with the introduction of High Performance Computing (HPC) courses into the UG curriculum. The paper gives the background of the author’s institution, processes of curricula enhancement, infrastructure development to enable students to carry out the work and records the students’ achievements academic year wise. The paper also discusses the evolution and continuous upgrading of the HPC courses along with the issues and challenges experienced. The paper gives the details about the courses along with the process of teaching and evaluation. It lists the students’ research achievements with a focus on HPC, for each academic year. Although the paper has focused on UG HPC education for the past seven academic years, the author also provides additional information about HPC subjects introduced to postgraduate (PG) students of computer science and engineering at various levels in the academic year 2015–16. The paper aims to serve as reference for those faculty and students who wish to introduce similar HPC courses at their schools by making use of the best practices that helped us in providing better inputs to our students to attain laudable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The selection of career paths and making of academic choices is a difficult and often confusing task for young people. The impact on their lives, however, is enormous as it can determine entire future career possibilities. In India, a general remedy to this stress is that instead of choosing a field of study tailored to individual preferences and strengths, topics are chosen that align with the choices of the students' families or their friends. This can have the effect of entrenching patterns of intergenerational inequity. The aim of this research is to give students greater access to the knowledge capital which will help them make better choices. This is achieved by engaging students in the career planning process, in order to convey information in a likeable and credible way. The COMPCAT (Competency and Career Assessment Tool) game engine combines the use of learning analytics and real time, interactive computer simulations designed to gain insights into the students' engagement in the making of these complex decisions. This paper presents the conceptual architecture of the game and demonstrates its role in enhancing the learning effectiveness of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicine and engineering are two of the most sought after professions in India. However, despite the popularity of these two professions and structural issues in the tertiary education system, not much is known about the correlates of working as a doctor or an engineer. In this paper, we use unit-level data from a nationally representative sample to provide estimates of determinants of being employed as a doctor or an engineer. We use instrumental variable probit model to address endogeneity of own education of those working as doctors and engineers. Parental education is significantly associated with an individual being employed as a doctor or an engineer; the marginal effect for both being 25%. Females are significantly less likely to work as engineers vis-à-vis males, while it is not so in the case of doctors. There are significant caste- and religion-based variations as well as rural-urban differences. Our findings provide novel evidence on influence of parental education on career outcomes in the developing world and offer a contrast in the discourse of glaring gender gap in STEM (science, technology, engineering, medicine) fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian universities have been facing difficulty getting world-class status as a very few Indian higher educational institutions have made it through the global rankings. We need to understand the unique challenges of the Indian higher education sector and what academic leaders of globally ranked institutions do to respond to those challenges. The interview-based qualitative study was designed to identify the key roles and responsibilities of leaders. Nvivo Pro was used for the initial analysis of the interview scripts of twelve academic leaders of globally ranked higher educational institutions. Nine responsibilities – visioning, fundraising, safeguarding, managing intellectuals, attracting bright students, social inclusion, social responsibility, engaging into academics, and administration – were explored under four latent categories of academic leadership roles that included boundary spanning, nurturing human talent, social contribution, and operations using a 'six-step thematic analysis approach'. These roles are discussed in the 'Results and discussion' section with respect to the challenges that the Indian higher education sector faces. Our paper identified a unique emerging theme 'social inclusion' that plays a vital role in the worldwide status of Indian higher education. We provide a few guidelines for developing and strengthening Indian academic leadership as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy and academic circles in India put forth the argument that the country's demographic dividend puts it in an optimal position to win the race between education and technology across nations by expanding higher education opportunities. This article examines the recruitment practices of 13 leading corporations in highgrowth sectors in India. Based on detailed qualitative interviews, it explains why these corporations are unlikely to increase the demand for graduates in ways imagined by policy-makers or proponents of skills-biased technological change. Companies in India are locked into an intense 'war for talent', but only for graduates in India's top-tier universities. We argue that there is a close correspondence between India's highly elitist university system and corporate talent management strategies, creating a narrow pool of highly mobile Indian corporate elite, but resulting in limited prospects for the wider Indian workforce. In this talent market, the success of the top corporate elite rests on keeping the elitist character of higher education, rather than widening labour market opportunities. This paper also seeks to explain why top corporations in India engage in this 'war for talent' when they are not always certain their investments pay off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classification of higher education institutions (HEIs) of a country allows viewing higher education as a differentiated system which respects the diversity of purposes and aspirations of different HEIs. Classification is fundamentally different from ranking, which aims to rank universities in order with higher ranked HEIs being "better" than lower ranked ones. In classification, the universities in a class are grouped by their purpose and mission, and no attempt is made to rank them. Carnegie Classification of universities in the USA is the oldest classification system, which groups universities into a few categories like Research Universities, Masters Universities, Baccalaureate Universities, and Secondary. This classification has been found extremely useful over decades for various purposes including policy making and planning. This has thus motivated similar exercises in many other countries, particularly for research universities. In this paper, we evolve an approach to classify research universities in India, based on the Carnegie Classification approach. We propose a simple basic criterion for identifying research universities, and apply it to the top 100 universities and top 100 engineering institutions in India. Using this criteria, 40 universities and 32 engineering institutions were identified as research HEIs. Based on the data on the level of research activity in these HEIs, we apply a clustering approach similar to the one Carnegie uses to group research HEIs into two sub-categories, viz. "highest research activity" and "moderate research activity". The clustering approach identified six universities and eight engineering institutions in India to be in the highest research activity category. The level of research activity uses data on the number of full time PhD students, the number of faculty, research grants, and publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reviews student's perspectives of an American Indian and Alaska Native Indian Studies center in a Master of Social Work degree (MSW) program from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. The article describes the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies many contributions over the years and how it continues to grow in innovative ways. This article begins by considering the social, economic, and historical circumstances that make Native-focused training in social work critical to the future of Indian Country. The article then discusses the founding of the center, the curriculum, program offerings and the effectiveness of the center's services. Additionally, results of the evidence indicates that financial assistance and support programs are strong factors in recruitment, student motivation to pursue a degree, and persistence to completion of a Master of Social Work credential. Lastly, the paper offers recommendations for recruiting, retaining and graduating American Indian and Alaska Native graduate students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Teachers at the tertiary level play an essential role in the expansion of quality in higher education. The issue of competence and its development has particular importance in creating the new landscape of the twenty-first century. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop validated inventory identifying future-oriented competences required for the teaching profession in the changing environment of higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach: In the study, teacher competences and related teacher's behavior were theoretically defined and underwent principal factor analysis. The survey was carried out among teachers, students and graduates of HEIs in India. Findings: The analysis revealed future-oriented teacher competences resulting from the globalization process of the teaching profession. Testing the inventory indicated that there was a high Cronbach's α reliability. Results show that the inventory enjoyed proper internal consistency for four dimensions as general teaching competences. The inventory with 66 items and four factors explained 47.279 percent of the total variance and indicated a strong factor model. Practical implications: Teacher competence inventory (TCI) can be used to modernize study programs of teacher education and shift focus toward future-oriented competences required for the teaching profession in HEIs in India. Therefore, TCI could be essential to prepare teachers for the changing environment of teaching. Originality/value: This study is an essential step in reorienting the process of teacher education toward professional development aimed at developing future-oriented competences in the teaching profession. It proposes to develop an instrument measuring teacher competences areas and related teacher behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on qualitative fieldwork conducted in 2004-5, 2010 and 2012 to examine the recent expansion of higher education markets in north India. It focuses on a group of young men who attended university in the city of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Faced with dismal job prospects, they began to improvise, making money ad hoc by acting as small-scale political brokers on campus. However, some of them subsequently utilised these improvisational skills to try and attain loftier economic ambitions. As India's education sector was liberalised, they honed in on an opportunity to establish their own profitable colleges. Our paper points to a paradox that resonates far beyond India; namely, that the continued expansion of private education is, in some cases, happening in spite of and even because of poor job growth. We also extend recent work on the theme of improvisation. By examining long-run changes, we show that improvisation is not indelibly linked to the activities of 'youth', but rather a set of practices that they may perform and abandon as they move through the life course. As such, improvisation can serve as a staging post in the efforts of young people to obtain a more secure foothold in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is an attempt to understand the research attitude, engagement and competencies of LIS professionals in higher educational institutions in India. It was found that out of 170 respondents, 145 (85.3%) respondents read research literature regularly and 75 (44.1) expressed that reading research based articles is their regular activity. But 95 (55.9) do not read journal articles. 155 (91.2) respondents revealed that they have conducted research after obtaining the formal degree. Majority of respondents 47 (27.6) revealed that their preferred mode of dissemination of research has been publishing paper in conference proceedings, followed by publishing a paper in refereed journals 35 (20.6). Maximum respondents 72 (40.0) followed a theoretical approach in conducting research, followed by survey method 55 (30.6). 'E-resources' (160) and 'Bibliometric Study' (120) has been the most preferred areas of research publishing. 'Lack of funding support' (160), 'time constraints' (155) and 'Problems in data collection' (150), have been identified as major constraints in carrying out research. The main purpose for conducting research is to find the academic performance indicators (APIs) 150, followed by personal growth (102). The study suggests that funding agencies and universities need to come forward to encourage LIS professionals to pursue research and publishing. This will add value in delivering the best library services to academic community and also improve research activities in academic institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this paper were to explore the existing status of agricultural higher education in India, application of marketing concepts in similar institutions and to find the most appropriate marketing concept to make agricultural higher education more competitive. Extensive searches of relevant agricultural education, business management and higher educational data bases were made. It was found that agricultural higher education in India is stagnant and is facing an identity crisis among its stakeholders. Marketing theories and concepts which are now being applied in higher education across the globe have not been thought of in the context of agriculture education. A review of the literature suggested that considering the objectives, the multiplicity of stakeholders and the nature of public-funded agricultural education, marketing orientation would be most appropriate. Based on the experiences of similar institutions, the paper suggests a three-level strategy for the implementation of marketing orientation in institutions of agricultural higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to unravel the institutional context of the educational experience of scheduled caste engineering students in Kerala, a federal state in India. Though much has been debated about equity of access in the domain of reservation policies in higher education while studying the caste question and educational equity, process and outcome dimensions continue to be understudied. By presenting ethnographic accounts of the educational experience of fourteen scheduled caste engineering students, we explain how different institutional cultures result in different experiences for students of similar educational and familial backgrounds. Our analysis suggests that the notion of institutional habitus better captures the impact of institutions on marginalised students. The paper concludes with a call for further research to explore the institutional habitus of different higher education institutions. The authors hope that such research would help in formulation of new policies and practices to facilitate institutional transformation and contribute to improved quality and equity of higher education in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the focus placed on English education by the colonial government, and the petition signed by 70,000 local inhabitants of the Madras Presidency, Lord John Elphinstone, the Governor, made efforts to disseminate English education during his governorship (1837-1842). Spurred on by the petition, Elphinstone wrote two fundamental educational minutes, in 1839 and 1841, and established Madras High School. Later, the School was transformed into Presidency College and became the first home of the University of Madras. Elphinstone’s planning led to the first systematic effort by the Madras government to impart English education. Subsequently, Elphinstone emphasised the dissemination of secular education and inclusion of native people in educational administration. Against this background, this paper discusses the contribution of Elphinstone to the educational development of Madras. It also questions the historiographical neglect of Elphinstone and challenges the established post-colonial discourse that the establishment of English institutions was a ‘colonialist’ imposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models focus only on initial inputs and final outputs for efficiency evaluation. Thus, these models treat the production process as a ‘black box’, i.e., they do not take into account how exactly inputs are related to outputs. Various models that came later take care of internal processes of DMU. The existing models of internal processes for parallel sub-units consist of three stages: the first stage calculates the relative weights of sub-units, the second stage calculates the efficiencies of sub-units, and in the third stage efficiencies of sub-units are aggregated as the efficiency of DMU. It is observed that when existing models of internal processes are applied to non-homogeneous parallel sub-units, in the first stage, the weight assigned to the maximum efficient sub-unit is one and to other sub-units is zero. This implies that the efficiency of a DMU is equal to the maximum of efficiencies of its sub-units indicating that the efficiency of a DMU is not sensitive to the efficiencies of sub-units other than the sub-unit with maximum efficiency. This paper proposes a single stage DEA approach where the efficiency of a DMU and its sub-units can be measured simultaneously. The advantage of the proposed approach is that the efficiency of a DMU is sensitive to the changes in the efficiency of its sub-units, and weights of sub-units can be assigned a priori by the decision maker. The development of the proposed approach is inspired from the growing interest in evaluating efficiency of higher education system in India. In the proposed application, states are considered as DMUs and universities, colleges and stand-alone institutions are taken as three non-homogeneous parallel sub-units of DMUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite having outlawed the caste system and the concept of untouchability in 1947, caste identity remains a cornerstone of social, political and economic life in India. Like other social institutions, educational institutions are the reflection of caste prejudices and discrimination. The recent inclusion of lower castes through the reservation system (affirmative action) has changed the nature of higher education. Based on an ethnographic account of a university campus and students’ perceptions about caste issues, the authors suggest that the structure of higher education in India is designed in a manner that exacerbates, instead of ameliorates, tensions of class and caste. Using Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital, the paper defines the existing campus culture as a ‘caste culture’. The text concludes that elite institutions do not yet guarantee the capability to overcome existing caste prejudices and stereotypes, regardless of structural attempts at reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of the study is to identify the practices of knowledge management process in Indian higher educational institutions. Design/methodology/approach -- The study involved 225 research scholars and 225 faculties' members from nine higher educational institutions. The respondents were required to respond to a five-point Likert scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The collected data were then analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0 software packages. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Descriptive and statistical data analyses were also performed on various dimensions of knowledge management process practices. Findings -- The research paper extracted that more than 0.5% of the respondents were strongly agreed and agreed towards each and every items of the knowledge management process dimensions. On the basis of the mean ranks for knowledge management process dimensions, respondents gave first preference to 'knowledge storing and sharing', followed by 'knowledge acquisition and creation'. 'Knowledge application' was found to be the least-preferred dimension on the basis of mean rank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the shifting relations between the family and the state in Indian education policy. It charts how family resources, responsibility, and participation have been variously called upon by the state across three historical conjunctures of education reform: the decades of post-independence planning for school expansion and nation-building after 1947; the global development era of economic liberalisation and decentralisation in the 1990s and early 2000s; and the present turn to a rights-based approach in the context of intensified educational marketisation, as marked by the 2009 Right to Education Act (RTE). Across these periods, we identify an enduring paternalism of welfare governance alongside strategies for devolving state responsibility in matters of school education. The analysis situates the conditions of family responsibility for education under the contemporary RTE, in which parents are expected to be ‘morally’ compelled to meet the state's education goals. Through this analysis, we bring to the fore the politics of family governance in education policy, a politics that is largely overlooked by, despite being central to, research on education and international development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the judiciary in strengthening regulatory regimes is well regarded. In developing countries where regulatory bodies are captive to powerful interest groups, the judiciary is regarded for its activist role in providing participatory access to groups excluded from the policy process. In contrast, this paper draws attention to the limits of the judiciary as a gatekeeper of regulatory governance. Using the case of regulation in India’s tertiary education sector, it shows how the judiciary’s track record of enabling elite actors to influence policy, often at the cost of legislative mandates, can undermine regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]