In an article on education on his website, Bill Gates noted that while the top universities like Harvard, Yale and Princeton play an important role in higher education, “equally impressive to me are the universities that take on the students who haven’t had a great high school experience”. So while it’s great to have a top class education institution,
it is equally important to have avenues for first time learners or those who might not have done so well in school but still aspire to a degree is some discipline or the other.
It is the light of this observation that the achievement of Goa University, that is, being ranked as the 20th top universities in the country, needs to be viewed. The achievement, but itself is remarkable because none saw it coming. But the rank shows that the university has been silently walking on this journey towards excellence. It has scored well on teaching, learning and resources and research and productivity. Recently, the
university took the decision to upload all research papers on its website which is positive. It scored 100 out of 100 on graduation outcome and 76.61 on outreach and inclusivity. There was a time when the university had a NAAC ranking that was lower than some of the
colleges in the State. But all that
changed last year.
The three marks of a top class educational
institute are top class students,
the best teachers and infrastructure
of a high standard. These are the reasons why the top
institutes like the IITs, IIMs and some institutes in the private
sector fare well. But what happens to the remaining students?
Those referred to by Bill Gates in his article as “students who
haven’t had a great high school experience”? The achievement
of the Goa University is more accomplished because of its record
of inclusivity. It is not an elitist institution but more of an
institution which wants to spread its arms to include anyone
who wants to learn irrespective of personal achievement.
The question now is, where does the university go from here?
Indian universities have been climbing the ladder, but just two
figure in the list of top world institutions unlike China which
has around 25 or so. Reaching for the top and wanting to be
counted is an aspiration for every university and GU must not
let go of this ideal. But it also needs to ensure that while reaching
for the stars it does not lose its foothold on the ground. In
other words, the university needs to continuously reinvent in
order to give students the right education so that their talents
match the course and that the skill imparted matches the requirements
of industry or academics.
The Goa University has been interacting with industry and
other institutions of high learning in order to improve internal
systems and provide tailor-made courses for students.
Its recent effort to give students coming out of the vocational
stream at 12th standards upward mobility by providing a BVoc
degree course, is a step in the right direction because it will
bring about standardization and allow smaller institutions to
provide university linked certificates. This is a work in progress
that needs more attention because of the potential it holds for
students who wish to pursue studies outside the mainstream.
All in all, the Goa University has done well to secure the 20th
position and Goa certainly has something to smile about.
