Corporate Social Responsibility @BPUT

The BPUT authorities are trying hard to bring sanity into the higher education sector that is growing at a very fast rate. Under the 11th five-year plan this rate is bound to grow even faster with greater private participation. With corporations worldwide trying to seek out opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid, India is becoming aware of the challenges related to inclusive-growth. Under these circumstances, the state should be careful in exercising controls. Excessive non-market oriented controls fail to meet the expectations of young minds driven by aspirational goals. Such ineffective controls then give way to unhealthy aspirational politics. Hence a regulatory framework, designed to balance stakeholder expectations, needs to be put in place.

Majority of parents and students want good placements and are, therefore, willing to pay for private education. Most academic administrators want to ensure “quality in education” albeit using outdated experience from a protected economy. They use evaluation systems that are just not good enough for the new economy. While companies need “industry-ready” engineers, it is yet to be determined that the performance in the BPUT exam is strongly correlated with post-placement job-performance. To counter the deadlock with the students, instead of suggesting holistic solutions, the Academic Council has formed a 7-member panel to assess only the exam system.

It is time we became the trendsetters instead of emulating what other states are doing. BPUT is well placed under a Vice-Chancellor who understands the various quality models that can be used to develop distributed process-capabilities. Implementation of these models would ensure greater responsibility and autonomy with built-in accountability at the level of the schools. The schools have their own independent stakeholder community to guide them in their development. Such an arrangement would also ensure greater involvement of the placement company at the level of the school.

BPUT needs to develop the regulatory framework to create the necessary competitive environment with the schools given the option of self-certification of quality. It is time the industry department and the state government supported the VC in thinking and implementing out-of-box solutions to our existing problems. Academic administrators need to create effective learner-centric modules leveraging the power of information technology to hold the interest of creative young minds. They cannot afford to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. For instance, use of smart cards for monitoring attendance may result in a tinkering effect that may lead to stifling creativity in the academic environment. Finally, when corporations are poised to virtually rule the state, it is time we engaged the companies into some serious corporate social responsibility.