Current Scenario of Higher Education in Holistic development of Students in India

In today’s concept the holistic education idea – the principle of educating the full person in addition to fundamental academics – is gaining ground in learning communities. Many educational institutions are becoming aware that students require more from their education than simply a solid grounding in the fundamental subjects; they also require community support and the opportunity to grow in their capacity for compassion for others moreover a pillar in nation building.

Whereby, over the coming decades, the role of higher educational institutions will continue to play a progressively vital element in holistic development of students; parallelly, we can say higher educational institutions are prominent bodies for social and economic development of any nation. Higher education can be seen of as the centre of knowledge and its application. As such, it is a significant contributor to economic growth and development through encouraging higher levels of skill and knowledge. It is viewed as a means of enhancing quality of life and addressing significant social and international concerns. In a broad sense, higher education is one of the major forces behind performance, wealth, and competitiveness. According to UNESCO, Universities’ social responsibility serves as a bridge between their intellectual and pedagogical roles and the advancement of society. 

Research exploration culture is a very important strength for the acknowledgment of HEI’s main goal and vision. Scholastic pioneers like Vice Chancellor, Deans, Directors, Research head, Internal Quality Assurance Cell should act in the enthusiasm manner and proficient enough to established and implement an inventive and state-of-the art strategy in the University system to streamline the best academic and research culture. In current scenario, it is very significant to create real and novel research and Innovation based Ecosystem through involving the students.  It likewise makes way for a debate of the recognizable techniques, dispersal and transformation of best practices and of their transaction from one framework to the next. In most of Universities, only few faculty members play significant role and show their interest to get them involve in research related activities. In terms of manuscript preparation and communication, writing of IPR, project submission to external research agencies, and involvement in industry academia projects only few faculty shows their interest. It is expected from the academic leaders of any of Universities to take the accountability for encouraging and implementing a transparent educational atmosphere, full of decent high professional & ethical standards in educational research. The HEI’s and University must expect from all associated members to build and preserve an atmosphere of mutual cooperation, exchange of research ideas , and development of educational research skill. 

Many Universities are trying to expand their resources to include industry sponsored research and consultancy in multiple disciplines like Science, Engineering, Management, Humanities etc. However our advanced education pointers including access, moderateness, quality, and pertinence are quick improving, much more should be done to accomplish greatness in quality through examination and advancement. A culture of exploration of innovation-based research is largely missing in most of the organizations. Collegiality and a distinctiveness of direction among University staff are significant necessities to formulate that, where individuals should be reinforced by research-related qualities and practices towards building a perfect eco system, which is only possible with the support of various stakeholders involved (Fig.1)

Figure 1: Support system to reinforce the research-related qualities and practices towards building a perfect eco system in the Universities.