Public - Private Partnership Model for Technical Education

by AS Reddy and Kulvir Singh, Thapar University, Patiala Harish Kumar, UCET, Punjab University, Chandigarh JS Saini and KS Mann, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana

Need
There is a need to expand our higher education systems and

make the higher education relevant

Only <9% of the students are entering higher education systems and

as high as 85% of the graduates are proving unemployable

The education systems, specially technical education, suffer from
Lack of resources and not self-sustaining Government is pulling back its support - influenced by higher

education serves individual good, not the social good Limitations of infrastructure and teaching faculty
Private institutions depend exclusively on the student fee, and

most often run as corporate businesses for short-term profit

Adhocism, poor quality faculty and educational infrastructure (labs) Making the education costly, unaffordable and inaccessible

Technical institutions, not constrained by resources,

infrastructure and quality teachers and offering relevant and quality education, are very much in need

Objective
Creation of a technical education institution that
Imparts quality and relevant education
Responding to and remaining relevant to the dynamic employment

environment
Is both accessible and affordable Has reliable and continual sources of revenue Functions within the national regulatory framework/environment

The infrastructure and the faculty of the institution should be

effectively used to earn additional revenue through

Training and skill development Innovations, and Research and Development Consultancy and counseling services

For the ownership, the institution should prove an acceptable

business model

Public private partnership model

Private investment and ownership

Students

Educational programs & curricula

Employable graduates

Infrastructure

Faculty

Society

Training and skill development activities Innovation and R&D activities Consultancy and other technical services

Industry

Public monitoring and regulation

Funds
Private investment and ownership
public involvement limited to monitoring and regulation

Funds will include

Capital investment by the private participant Fee from students Revenue from training and skill development activities,

innovations, R&D activities and consultancy services Industry sponsored development of infrastructure (specially laboratories and workshops) in return of technical services Endowment grants (alumni, social organizations, and other grants)
Distribution of net revenues to the investor and into a corpus

fund

Infrastructure
Buildings, lecture halls, labs, library, workshops, sophisticated

machinery and equipment, etc. The infrastructure will be created for serving the educational programs Must be effectively used (as is being used in an industry) must also be put to use in R&D activities and to provide technical services To be created from
Investment by the ownership Industry funding infrastructure in return to technical support Sponsored research projects

System will be in place for the repair and maintenance of the

infrastructure

Faculty
The pyramid of expertise (basic,

specialized and super-specialized courses) will be specified for the faculty

Overlapping of base courses and to some

extent even the specializations will exist among the faculty members Super-specializations will be electives The pyramid of expertise will not be rigid and can be changed
A faculty member will

have competency in the super-specialization

for the R&D and consultancy works. receive two components of salary

Base salary as a teacher Additional remuneration for involving in the

extra-educational activities (administration, R&D, training, consultancy)

Students and Quality Education

The education programs and the curricula will developed and

maintained relevant through involving the employer/industry and other stakeholders

Institutions produce educated people while the employers

interest is in competent (educated, trained and skilled) people Can adversely influence the development and review process
Training and skills development will also form part of the

curriculum (project semester and PG research) for enhancing employability of the graduates
However, it will not be at the cost of the education

The best faculty will be retained for the teaching and

imparting quality education

Students and Quality Education

Increased emphasis on the PG programs will be ensured
Quality PG research in the sponsored research and consultancy

projects and in industry (industry internships)

System or process approach will be followed in implementing

the education programs Best of students will be attracted through

Brand development and ensuring better placements
Accreditations to both national and international accreditations

Extra-educational Activities
The infrastructure created and the faculty employed for

the educational programs will be effectively used in

Training and skill development activities Innovations and sponsored R&D activities Consultancy and technical services

Branding activities will assist in enhancing and exploiting

the opportunities of the environment (industry!) As a part of the skill development the students (specially the PG students) will be involved in these activities for enhancing their employability These activities will keep the ranking of the institution up and increasing Part of the revenue earned will be used to compensate the faculty involved in order to create a win-win environment to both the institution and its faculty

Thank You