Education and higher education

The term 'education' is used in a variety of contexts and with different shades of
meaning. In its broadest sense, any act or experience that has a formative effect on
the mind, character or physical ability of an individual can be called as educational.
It is in this sense that travelling, reading, conversation or even living with someone
can be an education. The famous author Maxim Gorky has written an autobiographical
book describing his experiences of people, situations, family and social relationships
from which he learnt a lot about life, and he has called the book. 'My Universities'.
In the same sense, it is not surprising that an assessment of learning by children has
revealed that the school contributes only a limited share in the education of children;
the other part comes from family, life, society, playmates and readingiof books and
magazines - in modem times, from radio, television or the computer. Education is thus
a very broad term,as far as individual is concerned.

However, education may also connote a system of institutions organized by society to
deliberately transmit its cultural heritage - its accumulated knowledge, values and skills
- from one generation to another. The educational system of a society would,
accordingly, comprise institutions such as schools, colleges, universities including
teachers, administrators, curricula and courses, examination and certification procedure,
and so on.

Formal arrangements for the education of individuals in present day societies are
conceived in terms of stages arranged in a hierarchy. Our own educational ladder
starting at six years of age, comprises the elementary, secondary, higher secondary and
higher education stages. Since 1968, when the Parliament approved a National Policy
on Education, we are committed to a structure symbolically called "10+2+3". This
means ten years high school education including five years of primary, three years of
upper primary and two years of secondary education. The structure of higher education
consists of three years of education (after 12 years of school education) leading to a
Bachelor's degree in Arts and Science and four years in professional fields like
Engineering and Medicine. This is followed by two years of study for a Masters degree;
and three years at least beyond the Masters degree for a Ph. D degree which generally
takes longer. The new National Policy on Education, 1986, reaffirms the same structure
adopted by most Indian States.

Higher education
Higher education refers to education in post higher secondary institutions, colleges and
universities. It is higher education, firstly, because it constitutes the topmost stage of
formal education and more importantly, because it is concerned with processes in the
more advanced phases of human learning. The entrants are about eighteen years of age
and, therefore, they are mentally mature and capable of performing at the abstract level.
They can analyse, synthesise and grasp concepts and ideas of all kinds. Their creative
faculties are also developed adequately. Consequently the content, methods of interaction
and organization of work have to be very different from what they are at the school.
Three aspects of higher education are of relatively recent origin. One of them is that
social, ecoilomic and industrial development have created a pressure towards greater
specialization. Whereas two centuries ago, students could study Philosophy,
Mathematics and Medicine in their university's programmes, today these subjects are
studied usually by different students in different faculties or institutions. Because of
specialization today's student in higher education knows more and more about less andless and sometimes special efforts are necessary to create a broader understanding of
subjects and disciplines.
The second aspect is that as societies grew more comblex, more selective and efficient
means of cultural transmission evolved. The result Es the formal, institutionalized
system of education. The curriculum, due to specialization and paucity of time has
crystallized into clear-cut 'papers' or courses. Formalism both in structure and content
have crept in. The need of producing students of comparable base of knowledge and
standard of achievement by a large number of institutions, has led to formalism in,
evaluating or examining of students.
Thirdly, research has emerged as one of the most significant dimensions of higher
education today. Creation of knowledge is a tangible output of the educational system .
because of which the Universities have acquired a new social status, particularly, in
the developed countries. In fact, there exists a symbiotic relation between research and
specialization of knowledge and skills. Much research is a team effort of collaborative
nature in which the combined intelligence of large numbers is brought to bear on the
solution of a problem.