Higher Education Institutions and IDP

The Karnataka State Higher Education Council came out with a mandate of building on the Institution Development Plan for all Universities setting timelines for submission. The mandate was clear: HEIs had to ensure that there was clear roadmap developed for the University which would enable them to envision the next few years of growth and development of the HEI. While there was a lot of grunting and grumbling on how does an organization plan for the next ten years ahead of time; notwithstanding the fact that the pandemic and now the tech-pandemic had capsized the entire system; the flip side of the challenge was to at least attempt to put a plan together and create a road map that would define the way forward for a HEI.

Taking that as a challenge, it was important to understand how the entire labyrinth has been consciously planned which in turn gives a logical consequence to the planning for the Institution. A negative standpoint was certainly not the answer to such a challenge. So, what does planning normally imply in a HEI:

• Manpower planning: deciding and recruiting what each HEIs perspective of top quality faculty would involve
• Infrastructure planning: academic, administrative and other amenities
• Curriculum: programme offerings, design and methodology
• Training and compliance
• Focus on research and publications
• Funding and allocation of budgets

Following this set of planning, has been a subset of planning which includes:

• size of the student body as evidenced by the admissions
• admin support
• IT requirement

Evidently in all of these mundane planning, the progress map for a student who spends 4 to 6 years at the HEI of his choice is ignored. What does student centric planning involve in a HEI:

• Talent building
• Skill enhancement
• Application of learning to work
• Student engagement and networking
• Expanding knowledge

All these and other areas of what otherwise constitutes the HEI’s responsibility goes overlooked and ignored as well. Is this oversight because they are not tangible goals or do HEIs conscientiously choose to give them secondary or rather tertiary importance? While the basic premise of HEI education is to build that desire in the learner to know more and strengthen willpower, over the decades, this premise has been lost in the process of institution building and development. The choice of the learner of the newgen, for emerging set of programmes, multidisciplinary aspect of education, internationalization, curriculum enhancement, structuring of the number of years spent in a HEI leading to a degree or a postgraduate degree or doctoral studies thus remained the same. And this is what the NEP has made an effort to change.

On the other side, the rising demand from the industry has seen a cascading demand for different skills in the new recruits. Research has had its own demands, need of the young graduates to cater to the requirement of the industry has been rising, and subsequently the demand for all-round development of a young graduate, specialized learning and catering to the needs of the country as a logical consequence has led to the insistence on planning at the HEIs. Meandering to my earlier point of discussion: how does one go about planning the IDP for a HEI in the midst of all of these?

• First, involve the youth and all stakeholders in the entire planning and development process. Fresh graduates have their set of challenges and reigning in their thoughts in the entire process while framing a road map is important.
• Second, understand the linearity of the entire flowline of the process of the drafting of a IDP for a HEI (as shown below):

Taking this process further as is evident from the flowline, the NEP has been an effort to make higher education a student centre of learning. The IDP which precedes the NEP document of the HEI, aligns to the 5 pillars for Institutional development which revolves around:

• Affordability
• Accessibility
• Quality
• Equity and most important of all
• Accountability

Ensuring that HEIs are accountable for the student learning and grooming apart from making them future ready is what the IDP aims to achieve. So the IDP of any HEI must ensure that it aligns with the key principles of the NEP2020 summed as below:

• respect for diversity as reflected in the curriculum and pedagogy followed by the HEI
• equity and Inclusion
• ensuring community participation and student engagement with society
• introducing assessment systems in place that assess the comprehension of a concept and its understanding and application rather than rote learning and writing
• lead learners to think critically and creatively thus leading it to innovation

All of these plough back to the first subset of planning which require quality faculty support and resources and most of all continued review and monitoring of processes. The last lap would have HEIs participating in all the various accreditations and rankings to know where they stand.

The IDP strategy template (ref: KSHEC document) has clearly defined the thematic objectives in the form of Panchamrut for HEIs:

• governance and Management excellence
• enhanced teaching and learning
• technological advancement
• outreach and partnership and
• research and skill development

To arrive at a road map for each of this, is required constitution of a committee whose first objective would be make a SWOC analysis of the HEI. This exercise is to be followed by sharing the set of questionnaires with various stakeholders, analysing the responses, and arriving at the outcomes. The outcomes can then be mapped under each of the thematic objectives as defined under the Panchamrut to derive the IDP for the HEI.

What will be the next few steps once the IDP for a HEI is defined? Building on an action plan to achieve the set goals and targets for the HEI. Ensuring all claims are evidenced by data. Comparison of achievements and results of all the metrics as listed. Further analysis of conditions that have led to greater success of a metric or metrics. Exchange of information between a league of HEIs. Taking into consideration the moral responsibility of achieving all the plans and goals set by senior leadership.

In conclusion, effective and transparent governance mechanism and involvement of all stakeholders in the entire process of monitoring and review mechanism of the IDP is what can enable a HEI to align with the IDP drawn and grow to satisfy and justify the hope of society as placed in HEIs