ROLE OF HRD IN HIGHER EDUCATION

M. Kalyana Rama Krishna Rao

M.Sc. (Psy)., M.A.(Edu.)., B.Ed., M.A(Eco)., M.A(Tel.).(M.Phil.).
Vice-Principal
GVR Institute of Education
Sri Y.N. College, Narsapur

Dr. Gandham Sri Rama Krishna

MA(IRPM)., M.B.A.,B.L., D.C.P., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Dept. of Management Studies
Dr.C.S.Rao P.G. Centre
Sri Y.N. College, Narsapur

Smt. G. Madhuri
M.B.A., PG DCA., HWA.,PG. Dip.IRPM,, P.G.Dip.Fun.Eng.
UGC. NET & APSET Qualified
Asst. Professor, Dept. of Management Studies
Dr.C.S.Rao P.G.Centre
Sri Y.N.College, Narsapur

ABSTRACT
Higher education plays an important role not only in the progress of education but also for the
overall development of a society. It must aim at producing scholars for every aspect of life
creating new knowledge, fostering innovation and continuing learning for truth. Higher
education is said to be a liberating force. Excellent quality criteria must be reflected in all the
activities of the higher education, notably in cultivating critical and independent thought and the
capacity for lifelong learning among students. Taking up productive research projects,
organization of national and international seminars and conferences, publication of papers in
refereed journals, etc. Higher education is perhaps the best channel playing a vital role in the
process of learning. Proper interaction between faculty and students is made possible through
communication called teaching. The role of faculty is not only to provide instruction to the
students but also to develop their overall personality. Developing good quality infrastructure is a
key ingredient for achieving excellence in any educational institution. In modern societies,
occupational choices have become wide and certain jobs require specific specialized knowledge,
computer savvy and soft skills that are acquired through the higher education.
Key Words: Human Resource Development, Skill Development, Counselling, Governance,
Computer Savvy, Globalization, Human Resource.
INTRODUCTION
Education is a vital element in the development of personality; it is also an instrument for
fostering and strengthening socially useful skills, habits, attitudes and creates bonds of common
citizenship. Education is an essential factor in achieving rapid economic development, family
development, technical progress and in creating a social order founded on the values of freedom,
social justice and equality of opportunities.
According to Census 2001, anyone aged 7 years or above, who can both read and write
with understanding in any language, is treated as literate. As per Census 2001 report, the literacy
rate in the country was 65.33 percent, among those males 75.75 percent were literates; whereas
the percentage of literacy among females were 54.16 percent. Presently, illiterate definition has
been changed, hence those who are completed higher education but they have not computer
savvy are treated as illiterate. Poor students retrain from going to educational institutes for
acquiring education even though the State Government is offering free education, fees
reimbursement, scholarships and provide facilities like free supply of books to the students.
Higher education plays an important role not only in the progress of education but also
for the overall development of a society. The quality of its citizens depends upon their quality of
education, and the quality of education takes its roots on the quality of the teaching faculty. The
faculty is apparently the bedrock for the grand structure of the nation. Hence, the ultimate
responsibility of the greatness of the nation naturally falls on the shoulders of the faculty.
Human resource development (HRD) is most important aspect in any institution. HRD
means a planned way of developing human resources in the existing circumstances. Here human
resource is the teaching staff, non-teaching staff and students. Most of the reputed institutions
maintain three-tier system of HRD i.e., education, learning/erudition, and training. Educational
department cover under Ministry of HRD. The Ministry of HRD is divided into two
departments: the department of school education and literacy and department of higher education
which deals with university education, technical education etc. Human resource is a key
economic resource and a scarce one. The rapid development of any nation depends largely on the
caliber of its youth. The HRD aims at students development to acquire and sharpen their
general capabilities.

In modern societies, occupational choices have become wide and certain jobs require
specific specialized knowledge, computer savvy and soft skills that are acquired from the higher
education.
Helping the students to develop knowledge, skills, competence and attitude to become the
drives of growth and prosperity in the society.
The higher education must aim at producing knowledgeable persons for every aspect of
life creating new knowledge, fostering innovation and continuing learning for truth.
Striving to produce better individuals with right interest, attitude, moral and intellectual
values.
Identifying hidden interest and talents of individuals and help each one of them to
develop their full potential.
Arranging periodical intensive training and organizing workshops to motivate the faculty
to acquire questioning skills and change their mind-set to modern tools of evaluation and
continuous evaluation strategies.
Recognizing faculty who maintain quality in evaluation process after assessing the nature
and quality of output.
Anthony Robbins says
"Every problem is a gift - without problems we would not grow"
In order to enhance the academic reputation of the higher education institutions they need
to focus on the following:
Higher Education and International Scenario
Internationalization today is high on the agenda of governments and institutions of higher
education. Educational institutions are at present engaged in enrolling international students,
becoming partners in inter-institutional schemes, pushing forward in the drive towards
globalization.
Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) effected on education system. LPG
led to a mushrooming growth of private education institutions, private universities, deemed
universities and cluster universities and offering multiple vocational courses. Commercialization
and corporatization of Indian higher educational institutions set out the agenda for replacing
democratically elected bodies with nominated bodies with the objective of eliminating
democratic dissent from the governance structure of higher educational institutions.
The regulatory bodies for higher education in India are concerned at the unregulated
growth of foreign educational institution setting up campuses in India or offering furnishing
programmes in partnership with Indian institutions like international educational institutions.
"A good teacher teaches
A better teacher explains or preaches but
The best teacher reaches or inspires his students"
Optimum Use of Library Facilities
Libraries, since ancient times, have played a very vital role in society as they function as
a treasure house of human knowledge of the past and provide information support to education
and learning process. Today, libraries have become an important organ in academic institutions.
The advent of information technology has brought a drastic change in the role of the librarian
and supporting staff. The main aim of library is to provide right information with much ease and
in minimum possible time.
Focus on Effective Research

Higher education focuses on leading-edge research with competent researchers, adequate

research funding and tie-ups with industry and research labs. World-class institutions are elite
research institutions that play a critical role in developing a nations competitiveness in the
global knowledge economy. Contributing to society through the pursuits of teaching, learning
and research of global standards. Educational institutions should be in the forefront in
undertaking both fundamental and applied research, thereby contributing to nation building.
Taking up productive research projects, organization of national and international seminars and
conferences, publication of papers in refereed journals, etc., are some of the means to measure
the level of research achievements of the institutions. The establishment of an Advanced
Research Centre should bring together research faculty and representatives of industry to attend
to industrys needs and problems.
Tie-up with academia-industry
Focuses on the importance of academia-industry interaction. Every educational institution
should pursue and encourage technology transfer through both formal and informal channels
utilizing its academia-industry linkages.
Effective Governance
Key governance requirements that should be highlighted are: accountability,
decentralization and process improvement and administration. To ensure good governance, the
organizational structure of the educational institution needs to be designed on the principles of
transparency and participation.
Conducting Counselling
Colleges/ Universitys management should conduct counselling programmes for the
students by the respective teachers once in a month after completion of study hours. Counseling
seeks to improve students mental health and self-confidence, understanding, self-control ability
to study effectively, etc. Thus, the purpose of counselling is to help the students aware of their
strengths and weaknesses, opportunities available for development and the threats in the form of
social and technological changes. Counselling is about helping students to manage their lives
effectively. It also helps the students to clarify their doubts in their subjects.
Effects of Information Technology
Higher education is perhaps the best channel playing a vital role in the process of
learning. Proper interaction between faculty and students is made possible through
communication called teaching.
Networking of computers gave birth to information technology. IT was limited only to
the textual mode of transmission of information with ease and fast. But the information not only
in textual form but in audio, video or any other media is also to be transmitted to the users. Thus,
the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) means IT and other media. It has opened
new avenues, like online learning, e-learning (electronic learning), e-coaching, and e-education
etc. Third generation mobiles are also part of ICT. It provides e-mail facility also. The ICT
brings more rich material in the classroom and libraries for the teachers and students.
Excellent Quality Criteria
Quality concerns in education are a national priority. Quality dimensions in education
include multiple perspectives such as quality of teaching-learning process, quality of research
activities, quality of faculty, quality of academic programmes, and quality of infrastructure etc.
Excellent quality criteria must reflect in all the activities of the higher education, notably in
cultivating critical and independent thought and the capacity for lifelong learning among
students.

Focus on Curriculum Design

The curriculum of each programme need to be revised and updated periodically taking
into consideration the developments in the discipline and making them relevant to contemporary
situations involving the industry and the society, the end-users of the knowledge learning.
Though current curriculum exposes the learners to practical experience through innovative
practices such as industrial visits, internship and project work, the curriculum of the future
should help students connect to the society more closely, understand practical considerations,
encourage creativity and innovation with hands-on practice.
Implementation of Choice-based Credit System (CBCS)
CBCS will enable students to have a flexible learning within a structured model wider
choices outside their discipline of their study. The CBCS provides a cafeteria model approach
in which the students can take courses of their choice. The CBCS facilitates the students to
pursue skills to enhance employability. The Ministry of HRD, Government of India has also been
emphasizing the adoption of CBCS in all educational institutions. The UGC has developed a
broad template to facilitate the implementation of CBCS in educational institutions.
Skill Development Centre (SDC)
Educational institution should impart effective communication skills and more robust
leadership development among students as essential features of the academic experience.
Upgrade skills to international standards through significant industry involvement and develop
necessary frameworks for standards, curriculum and quality assurance. Enhance, support and
coordinate private sector initiatives for skill development through appropriate public-private
partnership (PPP) models. Play the role of market-maker by bringing financing, particularly in
sector where market mechanisms are ineffective or missing. Prioritize initiatives that can have a
multiplier or catalytic effect as opposed to one-off impact. Focus on sustainability development.
Sustainability means judicious use and management of resources to cater to the present as well
as the future needs of the higher educational institutions.
Faculty Development Programmes (FDP)
The role of faculty is not only to provide instruction to the students but also to develop
their overall personality. FDP provide opportunities for professional and career development in
every stage of their career. FDP should be organized frequently so that faculty are constantly
engaged in exchanging and enriching their intellectual capital on a continuous basis. They help
the faculty members to enhance their skills.
Maintaining Infrastructure
Developing good quality infrastructure is a key ingredient for achieving excellence in any
educational institution. Infrastructure facilities such as classrooms, laboratories, student hostels
playgrounds, parking space etc. need to be planned and implemented.
Education Sector and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Educational institutions serve the society by playing an important role in extending the
services providing quality in higher education, supplying skilled human resources. Mahatma
Gandhi envisioned that education should help curb social insecurity and social disharmony.
Objective of any educational initiative should be to inspire the students to put worthwhile efforts
in any meaningful initiative. Several Indian corporations have developed synergistic initiatives
towards higher education and vocational training. This is possible when the corporate also
perform their responsibilities towards society. In order to reap concrete benefits they must help
the universities / colleges to produce such skilled and trained human resource by providing funds
for research and development, organizing various workshops, training and development

programmes, cross over exchange programs and providing facilities for qualitative education that
quantitative. The role of CSR in education is thus mitigating the skills gap with considerable
experimentation and learning-by-doing along the way. In this process, the affected individuals,
companies and society at large are likely to benefit.
Challenges of Higher Education
Mushroom growth of engineering and professional colleges.
Many educational institutions suffer from lack of funds to provide adequate infrastructure
necessary to smoothly carry out academic activities. These modern shops of higher
education are running their courses with temporary facilities.
One of the foremost challenges that higher education institutions in India face is non
availability of quality and committed faculty.
A few educational institutions suffer from lack of good governance practices.
Conclusion
Education today aims at the creation of a rational being that reacts to data and solve the
problem. But unfortunately our education system is continuously changed to get the percentage
of results, discouraging independent thinking abilities. At present we find that, we have been
focusing primarily on questions to test specific information students possessed rather than
questions to promote learning.
Government institutions and private institutions has definitely brought about a radical
revolution in the entire education system. This is certainly useful in order to gear up our
education system and institutions to make them face the challenges of globalization.
Educational institutions are the main ingredients of national development. It is through
HRD, the students will be mobilized to settle in their career. Soft skills development is very
much required for the students in the present global scenario to be successful personalities.
If we develop inquiry, creativity, technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership, the
five capacities which are required to build the education process, we develop all our students.
These five capacities will produce self-independent, self-directed and self-controlled students.
Further the analysis reveals that the majority of the poor households are unable to spend
money on higher education of their children and only a few of their children attend graduation
and post graduation courses. This is mainly due to the low paying capacity and lack of interest
towards education among the parents. Further, they expect their children to work and supplement
the family income. Therefore, they should change their mindset and give the more interest and
importance for their childrens higher education. Both the students and faculty of higher
education should strive their best to solve all such problems and bring out a well attitude
excellent higher educational system in the country.
References
Census of India (2001): Provisional Population Totals, Papers 3 of 2001, Hyderabad:
Directory of Census Operations.
Deepti Agarwal(2001): Education for Empowerment - Meaningful and Relevant, Social
Welfare, Vol.48, No.2, May, New Delhi.
Prof. G.Subrahmanyam(2016), Promoting Excellence in Higher education Issues &
Challenges, Key Note Address in UGC sponsored National Seminar Conducted by Sri
Y.N.College, Narsapur. PP.2-32.

G.S.Rama Krishna, K.Ramesh, K. Siva Rama Krishna(2005), Marginalized Women and

Economic Development, Dominant Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi.
K.R.Rajani(2002): What is to be Done for Effective Teaching Philosophical Perspective,
Education Space, April
Mohsin, Ali Khan(2001): Women's Education: Still a Distant Dream, Yojana, Vol.45,
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