Dear @Sudev, your diagnose on Higher Education is very good. My simple answer to your question, beside the fine comment of @Asmaa, is to have Accreditation Body for Higher Education made up of highly ethical and moral people who are experienced in Higher Education, and who are not susceptible to corruption!

Hello Mr Sudev Naduvath,

First, thank you for your interesting question. Indeed, the learning quality nowadays is decaying. In fact, it does not depend only on learners to raise their level, but also on teachers to be conscious enough about both the teaching and learning responsibility.

Therefore, in order to reach an effective learning and to improve the teaching quality, it is better to start raising teachers’ self-consciousness. Consciousness in teaching is much more than skills and competency possession and caring about students’ needs, it is also about “faire evaluation”.

Faire evaluation, in its turn, means not making differences between students, i.e. avoiding favoritism. ‘Marks’ can be one way to show students how much they are progressing. Then, students are proud when they get good ones. Yet, what happens nowadays, unfortunately, is that many students are getting good marks while they do not deserve them. The question is: where is teacher’s consciousness here?  Is it fair to consider all students successful, whilst most of them are not?

After all, to my mind, it a matter of teacher’s beliefs and principles besides to consciousness. If the teaching philosophy is based on HOEST TEACHING AND FAIR EVALUATION, no such things could happen, and the educational system would not diminish, but rather develop.

GOOD LUCK FOR ALL HONEST AND CONSCIOUS TEACHERS !

Dear @Sudev, your diagnose on Higher Education is very good. My simple answer to your question, beside the fine comment of @Asmaa, is to have Accreditation Body for Higher Education made up of highly ethical and moral people who are experienced in Higher Education, and who are not susceptible to corruption!

We should not generalize the things. There are educational institutions those are par excellence, those are:

1. IITs

2. IIMs

3. National level management and technology institutes

4. A-grade Universities

5. A-grade Colleges

6. A-grade schools

7. Etc. ..

However, there are again large numbers of educational institutions those are of poor quality.

Some standards may also be specified for such poor quality institutions.

I think ministry of education, government and parents have a vital role to Play in this regard in identifying and stoping the money making institutions who award marks and degree to students who do not merit  it. 

What was wrong with my answer? Any idea about downvote I have earned? If any, please do comment.

Dear Prof Jacic, there is nothing wrong with your comment but rather the wrong vote was selected 

@ Jacic, is there a way to identify those that are not corrupt amist the accreditation team? Because I want to believe there is way favouritism Play a role in there accreditation 

I agree with Asmaa's response 

Thanks for kind information dear @Oluwafemi. Regards.

Suggesting following:

1) Government / Ministry of Education to set desired standards & conduct adhoc audit to ensure universities are complying to requirements - if not suspension or recalling the license can be an option.

2) Government / Ministry of Education to monitor, investigate & close-down the irresponsible degree mill / bogus university.

3) University to objectively measure a student's performance through integrated learning at the end of study tenure through project works / papers / viva with tangible achievements - shifting from certificate chasing / head knowledge to tangible hands on deliverables.

4) University to monitor & track irresponsible academic / admin staff that act unethically / not following the rules & regulations set by the university

As far as education and quality is concerned very few universities throughout the world are doing excellent job. At the same time there are institution which merely give out degree and that has to stopped if we are looking for the implementation of the education towards the development of soceity. The application of knowledge for sustainability is the need of time...I would suggest the syallabus to be much more field and market oriented and hand on. Training and practical works should.be given more emphasis than on theoretical knowledge.

I take a heretical view, most institutions are too large for their budgets.  They should start by thinking small and restrain their attachment to long term and unsustainable growth.  By shrinking they can concentrate their resources on what they do very well.

I also think it is a disaster that the opinions of students getting "very good" and "excellent" only fluctuate within the range of, which is not far from the truth. It is true that this shift in the assessments thus held that the marks were used as a quality criterion of the universities. However, it is not possible that I evaluate one hand the students or pupils fairly and on the other hand I have my own quality criteria. The evaluations of the students / pupils must be again what they once were provided, ie The student recognizes the note his knowledge and can infer what he needs to do to be excellent. I think it is therefore wrong that evaluations are now given almost exclusively to the final examination. The student has to be shown at an early stage, where its deficiencies or qualities are.

The ranking of universities here have no influence.

I think the phenomenal is a stubborn disaster produced by the social disease of “changing of value system”. Such social disease can not be cured by suggestions.

I agree with Subhash C. Kundu in his view

Dear colleagues,

Yes, education is more than a letter grade, title or piece of paper delivered.

We must exploite the defects and / or the qualities of the students at an early stage.

In this case, the ranking of universities has no influence.

Best regards

The education system, in many academic institutions, has been hit hard by the conversion of these institutions into businesses. This commercialization has meant that the true pursuit is for profits & for increasing these profits. Neither "real" academic achievements nor "good" quality of graduates play an important role in the educational policies.

The institutions have turned into distribution centers of certificates & these decorated colorful cartoons have become meaningless in many cases (i.e. fake degrees). The real tests of graduates come when they go to work in teaching or in industry or in a venture. Ask the employers & they will tell you about the declining levels of  many of the newly appointed graduates.

In a certain 3rd world university, an old senior lecturer used to interview those who wanted to join the MSc program in the late 1980s and to subject them to oral & written exams. Most of them used to fail. He was later removed from these duties because admitting more postgraduate students adds good amount of money to the university's budget. The students are nearly assured of getting the MSc degree & when the old man protested against the 100% rate of success, no one (at the top) listened to him & some of them ignored him.  

Sudev, thanks for your observation. But I can comment and say that it is because Higher Education Institutions have not involved all the stakeholders in the education system. Universities have become the soul decision makers on the students' grades.

I would request that all the stakeholders are included in the teaching and learning process of the students to control quality. The include the lecturers, students, parents, employers, community, government among others.

Hola. Existen varias teorías al respecto, efectivamente hay una que es la Teoría de la certificación que considera que el papel de la escuela es develar mediante un certificado las habilidades que son innatas. Otras teorías no lo consideran así; entre ellas están la  de eficacia escolar y mejoramiento escolar que consideran que la escuela aporta e importa en la calidad de la educación.

Buen día,

Absolutely, @ Nizar  This is due to conversion of these institutions into businesses.

Regards

In our country, universities are clustered into different groups. The  universities are being accredited by our very own Commission on Higher Education of CHED. CHED issues CMO's or CHED Memorandum Orders, giving us guidelines on the minimum required curriculum and syllabi.  They regularly monitor the universities if they comply to the CMO's. Failure to comply means the school is prevented to continue with the program that failed in their compliance. Part of the requirements are existence of facilities such as laboratories and libraries. The faculty members are also checked of their credentials and interviewed. The number of board passers for programs with licensure exams are also checked. Aside from CHED, private accrediting organizations are utilized to ensure the quality of education offered by universities and colleges in our country.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"We must ensure our system of higher education offers world-class quality for a world-class economy."

                                               ----------- Bob Taft

Focus on developing the "whole" student and not just intellect. Students should be engaged in community service by partnering with NGOs and share their skills and knowledge whenever possible in gaining real-world experiences. Character building should also be developed at the professional level.

Best regards,

Debra

It is not only the students but the teachers, parents, education planners and policy makers all are responsible for the deteriorating quality of higher education. Every one of these want an easy way out! A good grade at the drop of the hat without enough of hard work - a project not made by the student but bought by him from the market with parent's consent. Where is the learning. Notes required at the higher education level like schools. The easy availability of material on the world wide web - take it down print it and viola the assignment is done with learning taking a backseat.

Now the teachers - go online and get the material, shoddy presentation of the material, lack of personal and professional development, lack of passion for teaching, teaching not the first option. 

Accreditation and assessment needs to be done by ethical and morally upright agencies and people.

Assessment of teachers by a system that not many understand. As a result teachers are attending conferences, publishing papers and books not for higher learning or education but for points if they want to go to the higher grade. A mad rush to achieve more points which also have an adverse effect on classroom teaching, sub-standard quality of books, papers published. Teachers attending conferences and writing papers in areas  that are far far away from their areas of expertise.

The need to collectively analyse the education system and find the best suited for the country or the people with linkages with the business / market. 

Very tough question and all the previous answers show that it is indeed a big general issue. Moreover, quite a complex one, still it is about universities perceived as businesses, teachers working for their own well-being in spite of a need for a better education, students trying to cheat the system and so on. However, since this question was asked (by a teacher!!! :) ) and there were quite many respondents, other teachers who saw this as a big issue, the situation is not so bad. There will always be teachers and students who want real education, the problem is that they should be in a higher number than they are now. Promoting good ways of educating(I am generally scared of the term "best practices", but I could call them "good") is for sure one of the things we should all do, if we really understand and love our job.

Dear Ljubomir, where do we find " Accreditation Body for Higher Education made up of highly ethical and moral people who are experienced in Higher Education, and who are not susceptible to corruption!"?

A large number of institutions of higher education are businesses that need regular flow of cash. If they become strict, students will go to other institutions and they will lose business. Hence they make it easier for students to 'earn' their degree. Same logic applies with accrediting agencies as well. These agencies are in the field for business and that is how they run it. Like the institutions, some are strict, however a large number choose to be in the business.

First we have to correct the human consumption pattern where ecosystem services are abused under the present consumerism. Then we must correct the production system (Mainly food production) form mass scale in to micro scale in a more sustainable way. This will help to re gain the lost natural balance. Then we have to correct the education system accordingly. Because present research, development and our education system supports the destructive way of exploiting eco system services. I think we have been discussing these issues in many occasions.  

I have to agree to this statement. But, that was true for the education system since I was at school. When students are graded, they work for grades. Some like their grades and work even harder to be the best. Others hate it, starting to be believe that they are useless and even stop caring about grades - to such an extend that they fail and even fall out of the education system. The question I need to ask, is if that happens in the working life they will enter after being educated. And the question is certainly - NO!

Who are the achievers in the working life? Those who:

• know how to phone a friend and ask for help (a skill regarded as cheating at school)
• are emotionally stable when times are rough (who were regarded as those who do not care at school)
• where to find answers in stead of knowing the answers for a few hours while writing an exam paper (and completing forgetting it afterwards).

Therefore, I am starting to think that e-portfolios might be a solution. Every person builds his or her own e-portfolio - with a long term goal in mind - to make yourself employable, while others can comment on it to help you to improve your portfolio - and not to help you to know a few facts that will not be important after leaving school. It will reduce teachers' workload, opening time for leading those who want to be the best, to get there, and those who are satisfied with what they are preparing, to realise that it was not enough, that they to improve - because they have access to the work of their peers - and they can see for themselves that they are not there yet. By doing this, and allowing students to grade one another, they will realise that they will to take the responsibility for their own learning, that there is not such as thing as 'teacher's pet', because they can assess and evaluate the work of the best students, realising the gaps in their own knowledge, skills, and techniques. 

I believe such as system will work in working situations as well. 

It is important to professionalize teaching like any other profession.

In the healthcare industry, it is imperative to acquire formal training, credentialing and licensure for the purpose of practicing a particular profession in health. Right from day one, you are trained to fit in to the profession.

It is not the same for education. Many teachers came into the fold because they have no alternative.  A first class engineer may not be a good teacher. Likewise, an outstanding medical doctor may find impacting knowledge on junior ones, an herculian task.

Teachers must be trained and licensed to be teachers.

Only when we have teachers who know what it takes to be one thank the face of education could be improved. What you don't have, you cannot give. A popular saying.

First we must answer the question what is the purpose of education system and related to that, what benchmark do we use when we talk about the quality of educational system. 

The answer to this question is twofold: first, the educational system is major source of skilled work force, and second, through educational system we impose values of the society.

I relation to second answer - educational system (more or less) fulfills its purpose and its quality can be related to stability of the society. of course, ICT makes fulfillment of this purpose more complex but that is another topic.

When we are talking about educational system as a major source of skilled workforce I am afraid that formal educational institutions (high schools and universities) are loosing their battle; they are not flexible enough to adapt to turbulent environment and the current rate of knowledge production. They are still based on the old paradigm of factory based education where certificates are only a proof of time spent in the system but not the proof of actual skills acquired. Many companies in the world have noticed that issue and started their own universities (so called corporate universities) that better suite their needs for skilled work force. Todays economy is not based on mass production, but it is rather making the shift toward mass customization where each individual can tailor the product to his/her own need. The same goes for education, so there are many advocates of competence based education (me being one of them) where learning is adapted to the needs and abilities of each individual. In that manner, institutionalized learning is of secondary importance. Good example of this approach are Microsoft and CISCO certificates in ICT, and CFA exams in finance. In other words, learning becomes exclusive responsibility of student and not teacher. 

To conclude my comments, educational institutions themselves are becoming the major obstacle for the quality improvement efforts in education. Therefore, we need to rethink the educational system in general because the current system reached it's maximum (quality) potential.

If you are interested in my view of future of education please refer to

http://indecs.eu/2014/indecs2014-pp161-175.pdf

Several issues come to play when the quality of education is assessed. We must bear in mind that education must target the needs of its society for example, the need for adequate power supply. This sector requires specific technical, social and management skills to be truly successful.

My focus is the curriculum.

The first step is to design a curriculum that will produce people with the required theoretical and practical skills. When implementing the curriculum, learners need exposure to practical problems associated with power generation, distribution, maintenance, sales, PR, training and general management.

Curriculum implementation should be done at many levels for example post secondary/ pre university for vocational and academic training but qualifications acquired from 'A' Levels and apprenticeship should be acceptable for admission into degree programmes. This will also provide work experience for those wanting to work immediately after.

Assessment should give equal weight to practicals and theory. Theory assessment should emphasize application in terms of solving real world problems and this will set the stage for research in tertiary institutions.

Curriculum research should focus on spreading these skills throughout the levels of education. This will ensure that learners coming into tertiary institutions with adequate study skills that emphasize all round education instead of theory.

 However, in bringing about change we must be conscious of peculiarities of each society. While change must not be done for change sake

Hope you find this useful

I consider that to be certified by relevant worldwide well known boards of discipline is very significant particularly if the board certification is assessed by the necessary education, worldwide examinations by the board and assessment of the training & professional experience. 

Dear Sudev

Whatever we say and do, the current system will continue as long as a certificate is needed for jobs, and the aim of education is to improve chance of landing a good job. There is another aspect: To get a job, certificate is not a guaranty. Whether it be private or government, you have to pass other tests including written, oral etc., and there true merit counts (if you exclude reservations, political and apolitical recommendations, etc., etc.).

So, certificate system is likely to continue, until there is some valid, robust alternative. Human nature being what it is, I can't think of any other.

Of course by present system we are not assessing fully; but those having merit, considered as not having it now a days has better opportunity to succeed by their own initiatives than in older days. The world is before them.

Narayanan

Dear @Noman, there are many people of high integrity among educators! We just have to be careful when choosing the members of the accreditation body! There are still "corruption free" teachers!

Dear @Vatroslav, I was not aware of term "singularity as a concept" until now! Thanks for fine paper! I do like The Chronology of the Future Until Singularity - to the rise of super-intelligence!

Increasing quality education is important and it is a continuous and long term process.

In India,  National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was established in 1994 in response to recommendations of National Policy in Education (1986). This policy was to "address the issues of deterioration in quality of education", and the Plan of Action (POA-1992) laid out strategic plans for the policies including the establishment of an independent national accreditation body.

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an organization that assesses and accredits institutions of higher education in India. It is an autonomous body funded by University Grants Commission of Government of India headquartered in Bangalore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assessment_and_Accreditation_Council

http://www.naac.gov.in/

Dear all

as the old Chinese proverb goes” If the upper Beam is not straight, the lower ones will go aslant.”.  The meaning is if a leader sets a bad example, it will be followed by his subordinates. So I think the school or university which can offer uplift quality education must have an upright knowledgeable headmaster with right Weltanschauung.

Only such headmaster can bring up a subordinate educator team with the same personality and educational ability.

Good responses 

Dear all

In Different country, the educational development is different. In developed countries their educational systems have developed well. So many parents in developing countries willing to spend a lot of money to send their children to the university in the country like UAS or UK.

Dear all

少年智则国智,少年强则国强,少年进步则国进步。——梁启超

It is very difficult to interpret the meaning. It generally says the young is the future of the country, if the aim for education is money in all university in a country, what future will be have by the country.

In my opinion, real excellence in higher education programs starts with the excellence of the responsible lecturers and researchers. Without excellence of teached knowledge there will no well educated graduates. That a university offers high quality programs you can measure at graduates' chances on job market. And also money plays a major role. With a good salary universities are able to motivate experts for a job in higher education.

I am working at the 5th accreditation process within two years and in my opinion, accreditation boards do not improve quality. It is expensive and wastes the time for a real educational improvement. Werner Niefer, on of Germanys Top Manager said: Quality must be produced and can not be brought about evaluating.

Wrong politics are on the basis of the problems you mentioned, Dear Sudev. Promotion of the incompetence at all levels and mere games of personal interests do not help much too. What can we do? We should keep and improve if possible the quality standards and Excellency at the highest level possible, according to the surrounding environment. Is that what ultimately our conscience demands and the society expect from us?

In terms of Polish solutions that may be stopping the process of depreciating the role of kindergarten in the education system:

- Restore to the core curriculum teaching reading in the field of studying the letters and reading simple sentences.

- The introduction of a uniform curriculum in kindergarten,

- Restore possibility for children with textbooks,

- Facilitate the completion of the course, so far known as extra curricular activities (eg. A religion, rhythm, art classes, Physiotherapy and others), during the time allotted for the implementation of the curriculum,

- Emphasis on effective learning foreign languages from kindergarten.

  IN POLAND we have just educated teaching staff in pre and elementar teachers - TEACHERS MUST BE HERE MOST education and TOP OF MOTIVATION TO WORK WITH CHILDREN.

 I think that the Polish solutions is a correct scientific approach to rectify the educational system from the roots. If kindergartens become good enough then the schools will change into more efficient places. The universities, afterwards, will recieve quality students to work upon. All in all, it is like a chain reaction proceeding from  step A to step B and then to step C with due care for monitoring progress in each step.

All the responses are very good but I just to add for us have an improve educational system there should be partnership between the private and the government in advancement of an improved educational system.And we as individuals should contribute our own quota too

   Presently , teachers are afraid to fail students , managers are under pressure to only report success , employers have no confidence in certificates and students little pride in having what even their least able classmate holds . How can you judge when all have 'succeeded' ?

   If I had my way , I would turn the system on its head .  I would decree that measuring the rate of failure reflected the' high standards' of an institution , and reward this !  At least then the institution would not feel bound to hand out certificates to students who did not deserve them , employers would have confidence in those certificates , and the students who achieved them would have pride in their achievement .  And the teachers could get on with their jobs !

  Another decree would be that a school student had to pass end-of year exams to move on with their class .  That would save students being put to exams which then have to have a spread of 'success criteria' so as everybody can go home with a certificate ;  in future you would either pass or not .

 I agree with Rich Philp. Through my long career of teaching (3 in schools + 33 in universities), I observed that exams have become much more easier & subjects covered in a course have become far less as time went by. This excessive leniency has spoiled students & turned schools into safe havens for the lazy ones. It is amazing that young lecturers give grades generously & they are evaluated as competent due to the high success rate. An old man, like me, is considered out of fashion now & students complained to me about my "tough" questions. Alas!

 Why is it we in tend to look to the big research university as the only model for a tertiary institution?  Remove the ego, does society need or can afford the relatively large number of second tier and below, regional or comprehensive, universities? If they were pursuing an economically defensible “business plan” they would be closing their weak programs.  They would stop subsidizing weak graduate programs with undergraduate tuition surpluses. Downsizing and concentrating on programs that they do well and serve the needs of their communities does not turn them into certificate mills.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

This is a very nice quotation of Uplifting Education:

".... And I do believe that the way to change a society, to uplift people - not just their spirit, but to uplift their society and economic base - is through education.|

                                                                         ---------    Rainn Wilson

There is hope though.

-- We have begun to recognise that the education system is not delivering. reports like this one and PROBE (Public Report on Basic Education in India) are bringing matters to the fore.

-- Educators are experimenting with new methods of teaching learning.

-- Some day some one with the power to do something will wake up.

Unless policy makers and Indians are serious about education, we are going to end up with million of either uneducated or 'educated' yet unemployable youth - a grand recipe for social unrest.

http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-reasons-for-poor-quality-in-Indias-primary-and-high-school-education

As long as our leaders blame the failures of the education system on apartheid (21 years ago), no changes are possible. The failures are due to changes in the curriculum after 1994, and a lack of training teachers in implementing the system in the schools. The failures are well documented, but as soon as our learners underperform when measured against other countries, the previous regime is blamed. It does not help to lower standards, the teachers and lecturers need to take up their responsibility for the learners in their classes - or they have to step down so that those who can, can take over.

We MUST have responsible Governments. There are cases where people who brings the most important decisions about the quality of education have suspicious degrees and diplomas, often caught in plagiarism...!

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_do_you_think_about_plagiarism_especially_when_it_is_related_to_high_Government_officials

HE in Serbia is trending down!

Minister Sarcevic has busted up the national academic community. The Law on Higher Education stomped over the last remnants of academic integrity and competence. This law is just the cherry on top of the cake, which one part of the Cyrillic-obsessed university professors and most of their colleagues didn’t even notice. In the orchestrated public debate on the draft law, the deans and professors were ridiculed and their proposals were implicitly deemed irrelevant or simply rejected. Of course, this final blow against universities and the demonstration of brute political force could not have been arranged without the help of the regime’s associates among university employees. Like all other areas in the country, higher education will be organized in a strict hierarchy, with the minister of education at the top, easily shaping higher education according to party interests. Today, it seems that this is just another deviant policy whose main goal is to concentrate all power in one person. Of course, this is not the case, because another step follows. The structure which is being built is turning the entire education system into something similar to a plasticine mass waiting to be shaped by the particular economic interests focused on savings, when budget money is spent, and on profit, when it’s possible to fill private pockets with budget funds...

http://pescanik.net/monkeys/

It's all over the world that education has become more about certificate distribution system.This can be stopped by implementing the knowledge of education the students has acquired and it's application in practical way for the upbringing of community.The application of knowledge has to be tested, and according to me that would be the best parameter

Education, science, medicine, culture, arts, sports....under the golden calf? I'm sure, we will be in the stone age, again.

Prof. Sudev Naduvath , regardless of easy certificates and vast amount of educational institutions, we must agree that quality education still exists and that is how academia survives.

It is our first duty provide good facilities for academic excellence .I do not believe that technology alone will help the students to develop their skill in the chosen field.Students must love the Institution where they study.The interaction and relationship between students and the faculty will play a major role in the development of students and in turn it will reflect the development of the institution.

Originally, the curriculum focused on relatively narrow set of disciplines. The Trivium included grammar, rhetoric and logic. They were subsequently augmented by the Quadrivium--music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. In aggregate the goal was to prepare the next generation of elites and masters within the seven disciplines. The linkage between the curriculum and student aspirations and external expectations may have never been so close.

Purist views aside the early curricula had a clear and unquestionable vocational orientation. One could also say that the bulk of the disciplines, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic and geometry were fundamental information processing, integration and communication skills.

Question paper to students for internals and final should be

Set from inside the city of institution for internals

And from outside state for external

Students should be clearly instructioned not to depend on class lectures only as it only a basement to cover but they should read their entire text book each and every problems of the syllabus of theirs which will make them work

If an institute is depended on the student then we will become weaker

Even student feedback of only those students who students who score atleast on an average 50% in most papers

Otherwise assesment will be biased

Bring ethics and academic integrity to education.