Making the Multiversity: An Open Higher Education Model

Abstract

7 Higher education creates professionals, thinkers, future teachers, researchers, economists and knowledge workers, who, besides inhabiting knowledge societies, can be instrumental in creating them. Higher education also has a direct correlation with GDP, health indicators, and development (World Bank, 2002). The current scenario of higher education is marked by various problems of access, equity, and quality. The ills that afflict higher education in the country relate to outdated and rigid curricula, large number of vacant faculty positions, poor faculty quality in terms of both commitment and competence, poor systemic enablers for student mobility, absence of research, minimal and poor extension work, low levels of skill development, low employability, flawed and rigid system of examination, poor methods of teaching and learning, presence of strong vested interests, poor management and educational services, and problems of governance in the ecosystem of higher education. As we grapple with all these problems, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) comes through as a possible silver bullet offering a lot of promise and prospects. With the possibilities of ICT-driven access to quality education, 24X7 availability of educational resources, penetration of Internet, and the now available mobile access to these resources, a fresh perspective on the approach to solving the problems afflicting higher education becomes possible.