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.
