The Notion of Institutional Mission

In a world that proclaims Education for Knowledge Economy (EKE), every little smile on our campuses continues to make a difference. It reflects the distinctive mission of Christian Higher Education Institutions .In this idea marketable in today’s unfortunate moral atmosphere fostered by materialism - a preference for external goods over the goods of the human spirit? In the intense competition with specialist institutions such as those focusing on aggressive market—based strategies that fetch them the highest possible grading by the Quality Assurance Agencies, there is much confusion behind such a question. Some of the misunderstandings are due to not grasping what Christianity about, some are to do with mistaking what a mission is and some on a sheer state of not knowing what we, Christian educators are doing to the wider understanding of education.

The distinctiveness of Christian is that it will aim for a holistic development of students, as do other types of education ,but it will envisage this development in the context of the ‘ecology and ‘economy’ of salvation. Each institution of Christian education has its own conception of its mission .Nevertheless, the emphasis is heavily on community service.

I am coming from India, college for women in southern India. Established in 1985 by the Christian Missionary Society with the objective of imparting liberal education to women, the college was indeed a bold experiment in this part of pre-independent India. During the formative years, it suffered serious financial constraints. Later during early 1980s funding for running the college came from the Government, resulting in a diversified growth of the college with 152 teachers serving 2425 students at the present.

The college is primarily a grant-in-aid college with education heavily subsidized by the government in most departments by way of staff salary ,infrastructure ,development and maintenance .Inspite of the recent mushrooming of engineering colleges ,and lower cost alternative institutions such as community colleges polytechnics and distance education programmes in the state, demand for entry into Sarah Tucker continues.The curricular programmes offered by the college at the under graduate and post graduate levels are predominantly general and the degrees are accredited by the Manonmanium Sundarana,r University, Tirunelveli.

The mission of the college, as embodied in its motto "So run that ye may obtain the incorruptible crown" is Service through Knowledge" as service to humanity is the key to obtaining the incorruptible crown .Service is at the heart of the mission of Sarah Tucker College. There is a strong movement in the college towards increased participation in community service. The fulfillment of the college"s mission to help all its students to reach their full potential requires provision of more realistic opportunities across the whole college.The college is serious about opening of more relevant and job oriented programmes and enhancing research and student service- learning programmes.

It is especially committed to enabling those girls who might not be in a position to benefit from college education for financial or family reasons, to work for a degree.In this it is clearly fulfilling one of the government"s priorities for the socio-economic uplift of the local community Sarah Tucker College like all church colleges seeks to serve both church and nation. These twin priorities will continue as the college is trying to reorient itself.

The Mission of Christian Colleges in India.

The Christian church in India has been active in the field of education serving the nation in the context of its plurality of religions and diversity of cultures. Its 250 colleges have an enormous impact on Indian higher education. The Christian College seeks to nurture transparency and probity in private and public life and promote national integration. Empowering the powerless particularly the tribals, women and other vulnerable sections of society is a priority. In its efforts to translate this vision and commitment into action, the college community in India is faced with challenges as nations are caught up in the historical process of globalization.

Economic Shifts

India’s higher education is at the cross roads as educators have lost sight of the long term objectives of education. The system is too heavy and too large (304 universities including 62 ‘deemed universities and 11 open universities, 14,600 colleges, 5,00,000 teachers and 10 million students) to manage under the inexorable process of market reforms, increasing internationalization and vested interests. The system has been allowed to drift.

According to the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, 2001 the percentage of the relevant age group participating in higher education in the High Income countries such as Canada , the U.S and Australia is 62 percent and in India, a low income country, it is a mere 8 percent.

Prior to independence, many philanthropists and religiously oriented individuals ,Christian missionaries in particular established centres of higher learning to promote values of spirituality ,human dignity and integrity .The orientation of this private initiative was social transformation and leadership. Today ,there is an entirely new trend in India’s higher education – a new diversification and massification .There is no doubt that we are in a period of challenge.

"The problem of higher education is not one of inadequate finance (though finance has the distinction of being universally less than adequate.); it is not one of curriculum and syllabi; it is one of expert planning and professional management;" says Dr. V.C. Kulandai Samy , author of Higher Education in India — Crisis in Management. A striking feature of most privately funded professional colleges may be an apparent absence of a lethargic administration. The academics are more powerful than those in the conventional institutions. Students and teachers are expected to work for nothing less than twelve hours a day, something unheard of in any conventional university. One wonders as to whether such administration is management or control .Lack of academic leadership is the single most important weakness that needs our attention today.

The Government of India prepared a Bill in 1995 for the Establishment and Regulation of private institutions .Instead of pressing this Bill further, the Central Government adopted a policy of awarding the status of "deemed university" to private institutions that met the national goals and criteria laid down by the University Grants Commission and other statutory bodies. Under Section 8 of the UGC Act(2000), deemed universities are required to posses viability and a management capable of contributing to university ideas and traditions. These developments might threaten the reputation of any degree or any university.

There are two unusual features of government funding higher education in India.

Since the 1990s, government has resorted to cutbacks in higher education in the wake of structural adjustment, paving the way for the rapid expansion of self—financed private higher education.

Cutbacks in government funding has resulted in two major consequences: First, it has resulted in bifurcation of faculty both teaching and non teaching into the old tenure and the new non tenure tracks. Second, institutions are becoming increasingly differentiated in management tools, the concepts of performance, productivity, accountability and administration

The efforts taken by the governments to regulate private colleges in various states have failed driving the judiciary to intervene .India’s constitution guarantees various minorities based on religion or language, the right to establish and run educational institutions "for religious and suitable purposes’. But today shrewd politicians and businessmen take advantage of this provision, raising exorbitant amounts of money, legally or illegally, through capitation fees, beyond the reach of many middle class families. In its most recent judgment ( August 14,2003), the Supreme Court has taken a tough stand against capitation fees and profiteering by the private colleges. It has threatened to derecognize private colleges found guilty. However the impact remains unclear; there are reports of persistent underhand dealings for obtaining seats in private, professional colleges. Notwithstanding the legal rulings, alliances among politicians, business and academia sustain the commercialization of higher education for private gains.

Internationalism is a central focus of higher education policy world-wide. Nations recognize that they operate in a global economy and that understanding other societies and cultures is both necessary to be competitive Universities from the industrialized nations are increasingly active in offering’ off-shore degrees. There are many models available in today’s educational market place, without any regulation.

The past five years have witnessed a dramatic revolution in the dominant technology of academic work .Teaching practices have historically proven extremely resistant to change, but indications are that teaching is changing in ways we do not yet fully understand .E-learning is becoming important as information and communication technology evolves.

Motivated by market reasons ,powerful transnational corporations want to further liberalize the world economy and then control, manage and provide higher education anywhere in the global market. The government of India through extensive privatization, commercialization and deregulation is supporting this. The General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS ) covered in the World Trade Organization ( WTO) a forum for corporate interests at the Uruguay Round I 1994 is a legally enforceable agreement aimed at deregulating international markets in services, including education. The WTO has explicitly stated that one of the advantages of GATS is that it will help ‘overcome domestic resistance to change.’ If the obstacles which make it difficult for foreign suppliers to market their educational services are removed, then the system of higher education in developing countries, including India, will crumble and the future of democratic public education will be bleak.

As for as India is concerned, the foreign education providers are targeting at the economically well-to-do group in the society in order to maximize profits. The impact of GATS would be that the non organized private education providers in India would be the first ones to take an advantage. The public education providers would be marginalized in the race due to unequal rules of the game. There is bound to be an un favourable balance in the trade of education services. The 10th Five Year Plan envisages setting up a Task Force to advise on negotiation on higher education issues in WTO. Serious thinking is required to extend the benefits of higher education to the less privileged sections of society.

A NEW DIRECTION

The sense of community on the decline since the 1990 s, is deteriorating as the institutions of higher learning are increasingly differentiated by competing interests. There is no doubt that we are in a period of challenge. The general conditions are changing in ways we do not yet fully understand. The following elements are part of the equation:

The system of tertiary education is segmented into alert, utilitarian privately funded institutions and the old traditional government funded colleges and the universities with their permanent faculty that exalt in pursuing knowledge for its own sake, maintaining the barriers between unshackled learning and the fashions of politics and commerce. To them , powerful insights and widespread benefits flow from the spirit of unquenchable curiosity. Sadly, there, simply are not enough resources for minority established campuses to be first rank in every field.

Accountability will inevitably increase. Teachers will be increasingly constrained by the needs of the employing institutions and subject to the measurement of output. Academic labor will be more carefully monitored and controlled.

The tenure system will be abolished. Teachers will be recruited on a constant basis.

The demand for ‘ university -industry linkages’ common in higher education is part of this trend.

Pressures to generate external funding for research will continue. Funders are now less willing to support basic research that might have little immediate benefit

The differentiation between the "haves’ and the "have-nots'" among individuals, institutions and nations will continue.

In the end , we at Sarah Tucker College agree with the author of "Global Education Outlook" (TIME,November4,2002) who says" judgment good or bad- comes down to individual character." " Trends may change, but traditions do not."

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