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Purpose: In India, national accreditation agencies stipulate that internal quality control in higher education institutions (HEIs) is to be institutionalized through internal quality assurance cells that are responsible for implementing and controlling quality systems. As the concept of goal congruence is central to a control process, this study aims to examine whether goal congruence is observed in such institutions. The impact of the absence of goal congruence on the quality of performance in higher education was also examined. Design/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional study measured the impact of goal congruence or the lack thereof on the performance quality of HEIs as defined in the evaluation criteria of the apex accreditation agency, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Two hypotheses were tested using t-tests and regression analysis. Focus group discussions were conducted to elicit participants' suggestions. Findings: The results showed a lack of goal congruence between HEIs' quality goals and their faculty's personal goals, which adversely impacts the quality of their performance, as indicated by an average disagreement of 81% on a ten-statement scale. Goal congruence as an independent variable explained 63% of the variability in HEIs' performance quality, and the results were statistically significant, indicating that lack of goal congruence is an important contributor to poor performance among HEIs. Originality/value: Accreditation of HEIs is a global practice; hence, the findings of this study and the importance of goal congruence apply not only to India but also to HEIs globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newly adopted performance-based evaluation and funding model is one of the recent quality initiatives taken by the University Grants Commission in India, which aims to improve quality in management and administration of federally funded universities in India. The article critically analyses the 2020 released ranking based on this model and raises some critical observations about the methodology and results of the ranking, discussing the key features of the ranking framework. The findings suggest that universities ranked higher in the National Institutional Ranking Framework and National Assessment and Accreditation Council ratings have performed not at par with their ranks in this target-based methodology. Only one university of 40 could find a place in the 'outstanding' category and one university was categorised as 'poor'. The article goes on to discuss the current state and future directions of central universities in India aspiring to join the 'world-class' league. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the provision of center-based preschool education for children ranging in age from 3 to 6 years in India. It estimates access rates to various services and highlights issues related to equitable access to preschool services and the quality of preschool education. While India has made great strides in improving access to preschool education, numerous challenges have to be addressed to enhance its quality. The National Educational Policy 2020 and the country's commitment to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2 by 2030 and ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality pre-primary education provide opportunities to ensure equitable access to quality preschool education. Central to meeting national targets is the enforcement of the National Quality Standards for Early Childhood Care and Education. Further, increased budget allocations to preschool education, prioritizing professional preparation of the early childhood work force and harnessing technology to monitor government programs have considerable potential to enhance the early childhood system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of higher education in India over a little more than half a century has been even more staggering. Indian higher education is in need of radical reform with a focus on enforcing quality education. Improvement in quality of education places a major responsibility on teachers and their professional competencies. Competencies are the skills and knowledge that enable a teacher to be successful. Teachers' competencies can be commonly categorized into four groups viz. Teaching / Academic competencies, Behavioural competencies, Managerial competencies and Research competencies. As the saying goes 'Destiny of a nation is determined in the classroom', it is time to realize that the destiny of the classroom is determined by the teacher. Thus, imperative is the teacher competency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss students' assessment of quality related issues in engineering education in India. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses primary survey data of 1,178 undergraduate engineering students in Delhi, India, in 2009-2010. Students' experience and views of four important aspects such as teaching methods used in the classroom, evaluation pattern, skills acquired by students during the course and the involvement of students in different activities other than classroom teaching are discussed using descriptive statistics and correlation to examine the quality issues. Findings: The study finds that the lecture method is still dominant in the teaching and learning of engineering institutions compared to technical demonstration and laboratory work. Around half of the engineering students reported that they had never gone through any field work or industrial visits during their entire program of study. Involvement of students in the activities other than classroom teaching (e.g. working on research projects, attending engineering internships, studying a foreign language and opting for interdisciplinary courses) is more prevalent in government institutions compared to private institutions. The findings suggest that engineering institutions (particularly private colleges) should change their focus from traditional methods of teaching and evaluation of students to interactive methods of learning to improve the quality of technical education in India. Originality/value: The literature reveals that the quality assessment of engineering and technical education in India is largely based on the information collected from stakeholders other than students. Therefore, this study contributes a new dimension to the existing literature by considering students' assessment of the quality of engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the key enablers to improve the quality of higher education in all university-affiliated degree colleges in the North-East of India. The seven North-East Indian states, popularly known as ‘Seven Sisters’ are distinctly different from the other parts of the country in terms of the hostility of the geographic and socio-economic environment. As a pioneering attempt we have used the metrics of Measure phase under the Six Sigma Define Measure Analyze Improvement and Control (DMAIC) approach to identify the critically weak areas that need immediate attention in the higher education sector in a backward region. The study was conducted in two phases – Phase 1 determines the sampling plan. In the second phase of the study, using the Box plot technique, the study identifies the possible weak areas (sub-enablers) and weakest areas (critical domain) for improvement. In particular, while the entire North-East part of the country is characterised by adverse topography, a skewed rural-urban divide as well as erratic socio-political factors, tribal unrests, militant activities, our study focuses on providing a theoretical dimension to the abysmal quality and passing rates in such a hostile environment and suggested possible improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important task in present scenario is to impart better and Quality education. Children are the nation builder of future and to crave them as good citizen we need to provide them with proper education so that they can become the pillars of the nation's growth. Privatization in Education has increased the opportunities by increasing the scope of admissions, in all levels of education. Now-a-days, it is a major issue in our Education System. This paper has studied about Privatization of Primary Education and its effect on quality and quantity of education in Assam, Guwahati. Private Schools are profit making and chargestuition fees from families. In this study, the comparison of Government and Private Schools was observed through a survey. Data was collected from the Head-masters of some Government and Private Primary Schools of Guwahati, Assam. This study revealed that educational quality and physical conditions were better in Private Primary Schools. However, the Private Schools cannot be regarded to have greater success because they do not compete with equal conditions .Both for profit and non-profit, institutions are still under debate as to whether they could offer solutions to problems of education. As it is seen in the example of Guwahati, Assam, focusing on Government Schools would be more promising to achieve Quality and Quantity in Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically low average pass rate has been a perennial challenge for the universities and provincialised colleges in the North-Eastern states of India (Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh). Pass rate refers to the proportion of students promoted from one semester to the next and also the proportion of students who pass the final examination to be a graduate. The paper attempts to trace the key parameters for quality improvement for higher education in the region and subsequently augment the pass rate. An inductive content analysis was conducted based on focus group interviews at various levels at Assam University, Silchar and its affiliated provincialised colleges. The four broad categories thus identified (academic, administrative, socio-economic and placement issues) were subjected to Pareto 80-20 principle to identify the issues that are to be given priority for evolving the system. The study would help the administrators to measure the quality of higher education system in a hostile environment characterised by adverse topography, political disturbances, skewed distribution of income, widespread poverty and lack of literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A huge increase in engineering graduates from the BRIC countries in recent decades potentially threatens the competitiveness of developed countries in producing high value-added products and services, while also holding great promise for substantially increasing the level of global basic and applied innovation. The key question is whether the quality of these new BRIC engineers will be high enough to actualize this potential. The objective of our study is to assess the evolving capacity of BRIC higher education systems to produce qualified engineering graduates. To meet this objective, we compare developments in the quality of undergraduate engineering programs across elite and non-elite higher education tiers within and across each BRIC country. To assess and compare the quality of engineering education across the BRIC countries, we use multiple sources of primary and secondary data gathered from each BRIC country from 2008 to 2011. In combination with this, we utilize a production function approach that focuses on key input-, process- and outcome-based indicators associated with the quality of education programs. Our analysis suggests that in all four countries, a minority of engineering students receives high quality training in elite institutions while the majority of students receive low quality training in non-elite institutions. Our analysis also shows how the BRIC countries vary in their capacity to improve the quality of engineering education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first decade of this century, India became one of the world's fastest growing large economies, and began to face serious skill-related shortages of workers. Its TVET system has not responded adequately to the growth in demand for semi-skilled and skilled workers. This article describes six sets of reforms that India's educational planners and policy-makers must put into place if these shortages are not to constrain India's ability to benefit from the demographic dividend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' rating of teaching is one of the most widely accepted methods of measuring the quality in Higher Education worldwide. The overall experience gained by the students during their academic journey in their respective college is a key factor to determine the Institutional Quality. This study was conducted among the Physical Therapy students with an objective to capture the overall experience related to various aspects of their Academic environment including teaching and learning process adopted in their college. To facilitate that, a unique questionnaire called, "Academic Environment Evaluation Questionnaire (AEEQ) was developed covering all the important teaching elements of the Higher Education Institutions. The students' opinion was captured and analyzed through six sigma analytical tool using Poisson distribution model. From the non-conformance level captured through the responses from the students about the various categories of teaching and learning elements, the corresponding Sigma rating for each teaching element was measured. Accordingly, a six point Quality rating system was developed customizing to each sigma values. This study brings a new, innovative student driven Quality rating system for the Higher Education Institutions in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' rating of teaching is one of the most widely accepted methods of measuring the quality in Higher Education worldwide. The overall experience gained by the students during their academic journey in their respective college is a key factor to determine the Institutional Quality. This study was conducted among the Physical Therapy students with an objective to capture the overall experience related to various aspects of their Academic environment including teaching and learning process adopted in their college. To facilitate that, a unique questionnaire called, "Academic Environment Evaluation Questionnaire (AEEQ) was developed covering all the important teaching elements of the Higher Education Institutions. The students' opinion was captured and analyzed through six sigma analytical tool using Poisson distribution model. From the non-conformance level captured through the responses from the students about the various categories of teaching and learning elements, the corresponding Sigma rating for each teaching element was measured. Accordingly, a six point Quality rating system was developed customizing to each sigma values. This study brings a new, innovative student driven Quality rating system for the Higher Education Institutions in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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To achieve the outcome of enhanced quality at all levels of education, Govt. of India has been focusing its attention on quality and excellence in higher education and teacher education. Teacher quality has produced voluminous studies that line many a research library. Discussion on what it is, how it is developed, and its connection to student achievement have become the feature of educational slang in the 21 st century. This article provides an overview of teacher education problems and evaluation in India and lastly we discuss about issues and challenges in teacher education. Several studies related to classroom environment and teacher behavior in selected subjects are referenced. In addition, the potential use of teacher profiles to drive staff development and academic improvement is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is the driving force of economic and social development in any country. India, like any other knowledge economy, depends on the development of its educational sector Higher education drives the competitiveness and employment generation in India. However~ research findings have shown that the overall state of higher education is dismal in the country. There is a severe constraint on the availability of skilled labor There exist socio- economic, cultural, time and geographical barriers for people who wish to pursue higher education, innovative use of Information and communication Technology can potentially solve these problems. In this paper the potential of mobile learning in enhancing the quality of higher education is studied. The students are surveyed on which areas in higher education they feel improvement is required and if mobile learning can be useful in those areas. The perspective and experience of students towards an actual implementation of m-learning is also taken in the study. Recommendations are being made towards where all m-learning could be useful in bringing about a change in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of a distance learning course is a very critical phase of course improvement and is an indicator of the strengths and weaknesses of the course. In classical mode of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system, the most important components of evaluation are the print materials and the student support which contribute to the success or failure of a course. The results of a feedback study on the evaluation of Biochemistry course, an elective course in the B.Sc. Programme offered by the School of Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), are presented. The analysis of the feedback (from the experts in the field, peers, counsellors transacting the course at study centres and the learners in terms of the counselling, assignment and the content of the course) Calls for revision of the course and inclusion of a laboratory component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the existing quality divide amongst the Indian Business schools, few leading schools have attained a threshold quality level and are on the path of global excellence. It is imperative to narrow down the existing quality divide in the country as well as for leading business schools to strategically level up with the standards and quality of leading business schools globally. This paper analyzes the quality aspects of management education in India and what is so lacking in Indian Business schools which create the divide or keep few best Indian schools, one step behind the leaders globally. The paper tries to understand the accreditation process, both national and international and how it can contribute in attaining excellence in business schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has seen a proliferation and mushrooming of a large number of educational institutions offering professional courses. With demands for greater responsiveness and accountability on the one hand and growing competition for students and resources on the other, the educational system in India has begun to realize the significance of a qualitative orientation, and commensurate to this there have been attempts to provide for better services, with ‘delighting the customer’ being the focus of all efforts. This has resulted in the need for identifying and applying the relevant concepts of Quality Management to Education. Starting with a theoretical background, the paper outlines the results of a study conducted on the students as primary customers to obtain a perspective on the Quality of select educational institutions. The paper is aimed at identifying the design characteristics of a system that would meet the customer requirements of the student as an external customer. Based on the literature review followed by a pilot study, the various customer requirements and design characteristics were identified and thereby, the variables conceptualized. The SERVQUAL was applied to identify the gap and determine the level of service quality. Following this, Quality Function Deployment, Interpretive Structural Modelling and Path Analysis were used to identify the set of minimum design characteristics/quality components that meet the requirements of the students as an important customer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]