COIMBATORE: Quality assurance in higher education cannot be measured by examinations. There should be much wider yardsticks to measure quality. It should be measured in outputs and outcomes, K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty, Principal Secretary to the Government, Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Government of Tamil Nadu, said here on Friday.

He was inaugurating a seminar on “Quality Assurance and Assessment in Higher Education” for college principals, heads of departments, and senior faculty members, organised by the UGC-Academic Staff College.

Mr. Shetty said that even though teaching methods and pedagogy of education had undergone many changes, the examination system in higher education remained rather much the “study by rote” method.

“The closed book examination system can be suited for school education, but it is not ideal for colleges and universities. This only encourages cramming even at the university level. At least at the higher education level, we need to gradually move towards the open book examination system. It will help remove the practice of cramming which is the bane of higher education examinations,” Mr. Shetty said.

Refuting the theory that such an examination was easy, he maintained that it would lead to setting of different kinds of questions that would involve application and not mere reproduction of what was crammed from the books. He also added that many countries also allowed students to refer to the Internet during the examinations.

Mr. Shetty urged the teachers to encourage students to develop original thinking. If a student solved a sum in an alternative method vis-à-vis the conventional method taught by the teacher, he / she should be appreciated, he said.

Lamenting about the religious superstition and blind faith Indian people followed, he said these were the main causes for the lack of scientific temperament.

Pointing out the lack of critical thinking in education, he said it was necessary to come out of the superstitious beliefs.

C. Swaminathan, Vice-Chancellor, Bharathiar University, said it was time that education was thought of in terms of quality and not how many colleges were being opened in a year. Concurring with the view that it was difficult to measure quality, he said the very essence of education would be lost if teachers and institutions were unable to equip students to face the challenges in the outside world.

A.Thanikodi, Director, UGC-Academic Staff College of the university, and T. Veluchamy, Syndicate Member, spoke.

Courtesy - Hindu