Role of Higher Education in Education System of the Country

Education is the cornerstone of economic, social and cultural development of a country. Higher education is seen as a critical pillar of human resource development because it provides not only the high-level skills necessary for every labour market but also the training essential for all professions. But as the higher education in Punjab grew in size, its problems and prospects too increased both in numbers and size, and its relevance to the present socio-economic needs of the society increasingly became issues of debate. There are a number of problems faced by the higher education institutions in Punjab. Some of them are: lack of adequate infrastructure facilities, higher student-teacher ratio, lack of adequate financial support provided by the government, poor academia-industry interface, dearth of employment opportunities for youth, irrelevance of curriculum, lack of qualified teachers, aphorism etc. are some of the problems or challenges plaguing our higher education system. Ludhiana has the maximum number of arts, science, commerce and home science colleges i.e. a total of 36 colleges which is highest in the region and the total number of students in B.A/B.Sc. and B.Com.

Objectives:

To study the opinions of teachers (rural-urban both) regarding higher education scenario in Punjab.
To study the opinions of teachers (rural-urban both) regarding the status of college-industry interface in higher education institutions in the present scenario.
To study the opinions of teachers (rural-urban both) regarding financial support provided by the government to deal with severe shortage of teachers.

Generally known as the agricultural state, Punjab is now taking huge steps towards improving their education facilities. People from all over the world are now coming down to Punjab to complete their higher education whether it is engineering, business studies, humanities and so on. Colleges like Lovely Professional University, ISB Mohali and so on are just some of the great colleges in Punjab. Punjab is not far behind even in the field of research and development. The constant progress in Punjab’s education sector is taking higher education in Punjab to a whole new and advanced level.

The educational board of Punjab has existed since 1969. They have made sure that the standard of education is always increasing. They have also declared grant of autonomy by the Punjab Government. Thus, they can make improvements and amendments from time to time. They have worked throughout with great determination and with the view of progressing Punjab. The Punjab board provides vivid opportunities as well as options to the students to choose their field of interest. Whether they want to be an engineer, doctor, lawyer or anything, the board has options and opportunities for all.

Now let us discuss some of the institutions that provide higher education in Punjab.

The first one in the list has to be Indian School of Business, Mohali. The college is one of the best for students who are aspiring to do a post graduate programme in management. It is a course of one year duration and takes NMAT and GMAT for admission processes. The total fees of the PGPM is thirty six lakhs seven thousand two hundred. You can check the ISB Mohali Campus to see its beauty which would make you want to study there. The college is great in terms of academics and placements and can definitely be considered if one is looking for a great course within a duration of one year.
Another popular and well known college in Punjab is Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar. They are affiliated to State private university and provide an MBA(hons.) degree after a course duration of two years. Their course fee is approximately four lakh twenty thousand. They take scores of CAT, MAT, CMAT, NMAT, GMAT, XAT scores as admission criteria. They are known for their wide industry connections and amazing placement records.

Other than these there are other institutes such as: