What’s a good ratio?
Will the AICTE move to relax the student-faculty ratio help improve the quality of learning in technical institutions?
The decision by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to relax the student-faculty ratio from the existing 15:1 to 20:1 in technical education institutions (degree as well as diploma engineering institutions) has been received with mixed reactions by the academic community. According to a newspaper report, an association has filed an online petition requesting the Prime Minister to intervene and direct the AICTE to maintain the existing 15:1 ratio.
Those who oppose the move state that the quality of technical education will be diluted because the teachers will be forced only to teach and not to focus on research and their professional development. They also state that their workload will increase and some teachers will lose their job because of the relaxation rule.
Those who welcome the move are of the opinion that many engineering colleges in India are teaching-centric and say that the ratio is quite reasonable. It is true that many technical education institutions focus only on teaching and do not give importance to research and professional development of the faculty. Only in some universities and colleges professors are involved in supervising research scholars, guiding students in innovative research projects, collaborating with industries and teaching.
Teacher-students ratio is defined differently by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE). QS defines it as “the number of full-time academic staff members employed relative to the full-time student enrolment numbers,” but THE defines it as “the ratio of full-time equivalent students to the number of academic staff – those involved in teaching or research”.
Is the lower student-to-staff ratio (SSR) linked to high quality of education in higher education institutions? Will it improve productivity? Is it fair to use SSR as an indicator to assess the quality of technical education in colleges? Is SSR a key determinant of learning outcomes?
The main advantage of lower staff-student ratio is that teaching and learning will be more effective. It helps them have easy access to their professors and enables them to connect with their fellow students and learn better.
Professors can also do justice by giving individual attention students need, interacting with them, modifying their teaching by knowing their learning styles and learning needs, mentoring them and leading them to the path of success. If there are fewer students, professors can go through the work (assignments, projects, papers, etc) carefully and provide proper guidance and support.
When there is a low student-staff ratio, students get personalised attention from their teachers. This helps them excel in studies and motivates them to learn better and acquire knowledge and develop skills in a more efficient way. We can very well state that the lower the student-staff ratio, the higher the level of engagement in academic activities.
Foreign universities
Is it fair to compare Indian higher education institutions with foreign universities and colleges?
“No” is the answer. The reason is that in developed countries there are many research-intensive institutions and in such universities the focus is mainly on research and there the student-staff ratio is lower than 5:1. For example, in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) the ratio is 3:1. In India we have very few such institutions. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is one such institution where the number of students per one member of staff is 2.2.
In top-ranked higher education institutions in developed countries such as the USA and Japan, almost all academics are involved in teaching, research activities, projects and other academic-related activities. Professors are accessible to students and devoted to spending time with their students and providing personal academic guidance. Here is a sample of student-to-staff ratio in some top universities: Duke University (7:1), Caltech (3:1), Stanford University (11:1), Harvard (7:1), Washington University (8:1) and Yale (6:1). All these universities are research-centred institutions and they have more graduate students than undergraduate students.
Two categories
In India we have mainly two categories of technical education institutions. The first category of institutions focuses on research as well as teaching and teachers working at these institutions spend a significant portion of their time in research and are also involved in teaching. The second category focuses only on teaching. Though the education system in the second category is not desirable, such a system is quite prevalent across the country.
What is an ideal student-to-staff ratio? It depends on many factors. If an institute of higher education is research-centric, the ratio should be lower than 15:1 and if it is teaching-centric, it can be 20:1.
If it is a mix of both teaching and research, the ratio could be 15:1. What is crucial is that technical education institutions should move from being mere teaching-centric institutions to teaching and research-balanced institutions. What is important is focusing on holistic education and improving the quality of technical education by creating opportunities for learners to acquire knowledge and develop skills required in the 21st century.
Ultimately, the learning outcome should be effective.
The author is an academic, columnist and freelance writer. He can be contacted at rayanal@yahoo.co.uk
Source: The Hindu, 22-01-2018
