Institutional Profile of Professional Higher Education Institutions in India

The Overview

Today, higher educational institutions of India, which have the century-old history, strong traditions, high world prestige and a big intellectual potential, unite approximately 15 million teachers, researches, and students. They include over 17,000 Universities, colleges, institutes, and other educational institutions. The system of higher education also comprises many research establishments, experimental design offices, and experimental manufacturing enterprises. Due to their highly developed educational, research and manufacturing infrastructure, Indian institutions of higher education are ready to offer students a wide variety of academic and vocational programmes, qualification improvement and refresher courses, as well as provide opportunities for participating in diverse fundamental and applied research programmes.

The fillip to higher education in our country actually came when we became independent nation. In the year 1947 the number of persons annually enrolled into higher education, all disciplines put together, was about 40 per 100,00, i.e. about 150,000 persons in all. This number has grown rapidly since Independence to nearly 10 million at the present time i.e those who have passed successfully 10+2 and become the students of higher educational institutions. (it is only 6-7% of the relevant age group of 17-23 years). Some of them will make their contribution to the development of home and world science, others will devote their life to medicine, agriculture, engineering, design, law, economics, management and other professional courses. The most important thing is that every graduate will not only receive the training which suits his aspirations, abilities and diligence, he will develop the skills of constant learning and refreshing his knowledge, which will become his vital requirement. The graduates with a bent for research work may pursue their education as postgraduates and even higher studies.

The Universities, colleges, academies and institutes of India give students the opportunity to get higher professional education in any field. Hence the present Catalogue along with the whole profile of the institutes, gives information about the courses offered by definite educational institutions, where the student may find all the necessary information. The student will have a chance to study the profile of the higher professional educational institutions in India, learn much about their history and development, its structure - physical, academic and intellectual, its teaching staff, fields of study, offered specializations, training courses, qualification improvement etc.

It is true that every parent wants his or her child to attend the best college or Institution. Institutions of higher education have no commonly agreed upon measures to allow for the comparison of teaching and research programs. The overwhelming variety in size and purpose of institutions makes the prospect of comparing colleges a daunting one for students, parents, and the colleges themselves. For this purpose Apeejay Stya Education Research Foundation ASERF along with AC Nielsen -ORG Marg have undertaken statistical and reputation profiling of colleges and attempted to provide overall information to prospective students. An attempt will be made taking all the relevant parameters to what is important for parents and students to consider when investigating which college or institution to choose. By gathering information about support for learning ranging from institutional mission, to curriculum, to campus culture, prospective students can determine whether a college is a good match for their educational goals and needs.

With college costs rising as they are, students and their parents want to be assured that they will get the best value from their institutional investment. It may help to know that despite all the differences among colleges, there are characteristics commonly shared among colleges of high quality that one should consider in its search for the right one. Although these criteria can be used to evaluate any institution to be most effective one should first narrow his search and then put these questions to them.

The most difficult tasks an aspirant faces is the selection of institutes which he should apply to. The options are many and the task seems Herculean. What most students require is compact and reliable information about the plethora of institutes. Information which does not need an extraordinary amount of time and resources together. Through this directory, we seek to provide aspirants with all basic information about a particular institute at one place.

The professional courses with a number of colleges offering options of specializations in various programmes very often leaves a student with a mind-boggling number of options. Today there are large number of institutes in India that offer professional program.

How does one ensure that you know the right institute to apply to? Keep in mind the following basic criteria.
1. Infrastructure
2. Intellectual capital
3. Industry Perception
4. Placement record

So watch out for the following when making a choice of institute to apply or while making a final choice between two institutes.

• Infrastructure is the resources and facilities that an institute has its disposal. Infrastructure consists of various factors like campus area, number of classrooms etc. In today's scenario access to computers, connectivity etc would be of additional importance to deliver an edge in education.

• The Intellectual capital of an institute would consist of the experience of the faculty, number of books in the library, access to published journals or online journals etc.

• The experience of the Faculty of the institute is often a clear indication of the learning imparted at the institute. Keep in mind factors like total number of permanent faculty and whether there is a fair mix of relevant industry and teaching experience.

• The level of Industry Interaction is an indication of where exactly an institute stands in real time with the industry. Consultancy is a telling factor of how professional institutions are visualised in terms of its capacity to groom effective professionals/experts. (Higher revenues from consulting also mean more investment for the benefits of students.)

• The placement record - for foreign jobs, look at the percentage of students placed abroad. Try to identify if the figures quoted as salaries are inclusive of both foreign and Indian placements. Gain an idea of the average salary offered per annum.

• The kind of companies that appear at the institutes and the types of offers that are being made will largely influence your choice once you have a call from an institute.

• Exchange programmes, which are common at IIM A, B, the IIT's etc expose the students to the international professional arena, offering insights into a global trade environment and business practices. Exchange programs allow student's placement opportunities through summer placements or internships when they are abroad.

We're not going to pretend that finding perfect school is an easy task. The options out there are vast, and choosing among them can be tough. Finding and affording the right school takes a lot of work. This directory is designed to help students to navigate through some of those hard questions, by guiding them through the most important criteria for choosing an professional institutions, getting in to it, and then paying for it.
Objectives

The objective of the study is to:

Identifying key Institutes in each category (government, government-aided, private) in selected city/centres providing higher education in following discipline:
• Medical
• Management
• Engineering (technical)
• Information Technology (BCA, MCA)
• Architecture
• Fine Arts and Design
• Journalism, Mass Communication
• Fashion Design
• Law
• Commerce/ Economics BSc, BA, Eco & B. Com

Collecting information on Infrastructural parameters pertaining to:
Basic Infrastructure, Infrastructure Add-ons, Student facilities (Hostel/ Gym/ complex etc.), Teaching learning processes, Faculty, Teaching Aids etc., Extra curricular activities, Course Details/Academic Programmes (Duration, fee structure, placements etc.), Industry Interface (in terms of placement , salary (last 3 years trends), Alumni Support


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