Speakers at a seminar convened to deliberate on the recommendation made by the National Knowledge Commission, felt the need for ushering in a new and dynamic vision for education, in order to reorganise and revitalise the system.

Higher Education Minister D H Shankaramurthy set the ball rolling at the seminar organised by Bangalore University in association with the Centre for Educational and Social Studies by admitting that the present higher education system lacked basic planning. “That a large number of educated young men and women remain unemployed and that we are unable to harness their capacities for development, indicates that there is something lacking in both our educational planning and economic planning”, he said.

He then put forth a dilemma faced by the government. A large section of society had been long deprived of access to higher education. However, government alone cannot accomplish the task of providing higher education for all, with its own resources. While private and voluntary efforts have a crucial role to play in this respect, their participation sometimes results in commercialisation of education, he said.

Mr Shankaramurthy felt that globalisation should be utilised as an instrument to reorganise the education system. Further, the country needs to work out its own indigenous model, that suits the national character and condition rather then blindly accepting any western model.

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Director P Balaram rued the declining standards of research and intellectual quality in universities.