Chandigarh, Nov 3 (IANS) Coming to his alma mater, the Panjab University, after many years made Prime Minister Manmohan Singh feel a “little emotional”. But that did not stop him from questioning the quality of higher education being imparted by institutions in the country.
Addressing faculty and students of the university where he once studied and later taught, Manmohan Singh, wearing his trademark white kurta-payjama and a black half-jacket with light-blue turban, said: “A major problem that we face is in the quality of higher education that our institutions impart. Unfortunately, most of them produce pass-outs who are nowhere near international standards.”

The prime minister was honoured by the PU with a Doctor of Law (honoris causa) at a special convocation here. Later, he laid the foundation stone of a multi-purpose auditorium and examination centre.

The prime minister said: “In fact, one dimension of the quality deficit is the difficulty being faced in recruiting top class faculty for the new IIMs, IITs, central universities and other such institutions that the government has decided to establish in the last five years.”

“Even if we meet our targets of higher access and enrolment, even if we spend huge amounts on higher education and even if we open a large number of new institutions, this issue of quality will not get addressed by itself.”

He said that to overcome this deficit of quality in higher education, the central government has come out with a “very progressive pay package for attracting and retaining talented faculty”. He added that the central government was fully committed to structural reforms in higher education.

“I do recognize that we have a mammoth task ahead in pursuing our goal of providing access to good education to every citizen in the country. This is true of higher education also.”

He noted that at present, in any year, only about 12 per cent of the students who complete secondary education enrol for higher education. “This does not compare well with the figure of about 70 per cent in some developed countries. It is also much lower than the figure of about 20 per cent in some southeast Asian countries. We must increase this proportion,” he said.

“We must also address the existing imbalances in our higher education system. Today, nearly half of the institutions of higher learning exist in only five states, nearly 70 per cent of the total intake capacity for professional courses exists in another five states. There is a large gender gap in enrolments for higher education, and there are large intra-state imbalances too. We must address these deficiencies.”

The prime minister told students in the audience that they were a “privileged lot” to be studying “in one of the best universities in the country”.

Saying that he was “greatly indebted” to the PU, the prime minister said that he had spent “some of the best years” of his life here.