Republic of India. A Study of the Educational System of India & Guide to the Academic Placement ...

396 Pages·2012·5.7 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
SO 001 525
ED 054 021
Sweeney, Leo J.
AUTHOR
A Study of the Educational System
Republic of India.
TITLE
of India & Guide to the Academic Placement of
Students from India in United States Educational
Institutions.
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and
INSTITUTION
Admissions Officers, Athens, Ohio.
PUB DATE
70
395p.; World Education Series
NOTE
Executive Secretary, American Association of
AVAILABLE FROM
Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, One
Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. 20036 ($1.00)
EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$13.16
EDRS PRICE
Academic Records, Administrator Guides, *Admission
DESCRIPTORS
(School), *Comparative Education, Credentials,
*Degree Requirements, Degrees (Titles), Educational
History, Educational Trends, Elementary Education,
Evaluation Methods, General Education, Higher
Education, *School Systems, Secondary Education,
Student Evaluation, *Student Placement, Technical
Education, Vocational Education
Educational Systems, *India
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this publication, as in the case of
the other "World Education Series", is to provide a guide for the use
of admissions officers and others in the admission and placement of
the students of a particular country for study in educational
institutions in the United States. Specifically it is hoped that this
volume will furnish the basis of sounder assessment of the quantity
and the quality aspects of Indian educational institutions, and the
Indian student and his academic record. The first seven chapters
provide a description of the historic and contemporary educational
scene. The last two chapters deal with problems peculiar to Indian
credentials and provide the focus for the entire work, the specific
placement recommendations based on various credentials and degrees
from Indian institutions. Thirteen appendices provide 240 pages of
information for evaluating the students' credentials, e.g., list of
institutions and samples of credential forms.
(Author/DJB)
CD
--1-
REPUBLIC OF INDIA
LJ
A Study of the Educational System of India
(
and Guide to the Academic Placement
of Students from India in
United States Educational
Institutions
1971
WORLD EDUCATION SERIES
COUNCIL ON EVALUATION OF
FOREIGN STUDENT CREDENTIALS
Member Organizations and Their Representatives
Registrars and Admission OfficersMrs.
American Association of Collegiate
Claudine Waterbury Fisher (Secretary of Council), Associate Registrar, Colo-
rado State University, Fori Collins, CO 80521; Leo J. Sweeney, Director of
Admissions and Registrar, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO, 64110;
Director of International
Robert J. Hefting (Editor,
World Education Series),
Admissions, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80302; John Walker, Assoc.
Program Officer, Foreign Faculty and Student Programs, International Studies
and World Affairs, State University of New York, 8 Thurlow Terrace, Albany,
NY 12201
American Association of Junior CollegesJack C. Gernhart, Assistant to the
Director, American Association of Junior. Colleges, One Dupont Circle, N.W.,
Washington, DC 20036
Association of American CollegesEric Wormald, Vice President, Association
of American Colleges, 1815 R Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20009
Association of Graduate SchoolsChairman: Robert E. Tschan, Assistant Dean,
Graduate School, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
Council of Graduate SchoolsCarroll L. Miller, Dean, Graduate School, Har-
vard University, Washington, DC 20001
Institute of International EducationGloria Ilic, Institute of International Edu-
cation, 309 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017
National Association for Foreign Student AffairsClifford Sjogren, Assistant
Director of Admissions, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48104; Lee
Wilcox, Director of Admissions, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
Observer Organizations and Their Representatives
American Council on EducationElizabeth Shiver, Staff Assistant, Commission
on International Education; American Council on Education, One Dupont
Circle, N.W., Washington, DC 20036
College Entrance ExaMination BoardSanford C. Jameson, College Entrance
Examination Board, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY /0019
U.S. Department of StateAgency for. International DevelopmentHattie Jar-
mon, Chief, Academic Advisory Branch, Program Division, Office of Inter-
national Training, Agency for International DevelopMent, Department of State,
Washington, DC 20523
U.S. Department
of
State7--Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs--'- Marita
Houlihan', Chief, Special Programs Division, Office of Program Development
and Evaluation.
.
us. Office -of Educatiom-LCharles C Hauch, Institute of International Studies,
Office of EduCation, ROom- 3082 ROB Building, 7th and D Streets, S.W.,
Washington, DC 20202.
'
.
University of the State of New York, State Education DepartmentMiss Marion
Hughes, Associate-in EducatiOnal:ExChange, Office of Comparative Education
and EduCational Exchange Center for International Programs and Compara-
tive Studies, New York State Education Department:Albany,
.NY 12224
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REPUBLIC OF INDIA
A Study of the Educational System of India
and Guide to the Academic Placement
of Students from India in
United States Educational
Institutions
1970
LEO J. SWEENEY
Director of Admissions and Registrar
University of MissouriKansas City
and
Fulbright Lecturer-Consultant
U. S. Educational Foundation in India
1967-68 and 1969
Placement Recommendations Approved by
The Council on Evaluation of Foreign Student Credentials
July 30-31, 1970
3
Admissions, Evaluation and PlacementJohn Walker, Assoc. Program Officer
el
Preface
CONTEXT FOR THIS VOLUME
Perhaps the background out of which this volume has been written
should be described at least briefly.
Such a description may lead to a
greater understanding by the reader of the admission and placement re-
commendations as well as of the text itself.
Together with my family, I was privileged to spend my sabbatical
leave during the academic year 1967-68 as a Fulbright Lecturer-Consult-
ant to the United States Educational Foundation in India (USEFI).
My principal assignment was to establish student advising offices in the
six largest cities in India (Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad,
Madras and New Delhi) for the thousands of Indian students who each
year consider study in the United States especially at the graduate level.
The nature of this assignment gave me a truly unique opportunity to
travel the length and the breadth of the Republic of India;
to visit
scores of universities, colleges, higher institutes, research laboratories,
secondary and primary schools and other educational institutions;
to
meet with educational leaders at all levels within that country; and
otherwise to have an introduction in depth to the social, cultural, govern-
mcntal, religious and educational aspects of India that perhaps few
Americans have been so fortunate to have in that period of time.
Yet I was further fortunate to have the chance to return to India
during 1969 primarily to evaluate the USEFI Evaluation, Testing and
Advising Project approximately one year after the majority of the student
advising offices had been opened. A secondary objective, but one espec-
ially germane to this volume, was the visiting of additional Indian insti-
tutions and the seeking of additional information and reference material
on the educational system of that country.
The reader may be int rested in knowing about the "tests" to which
much of the material in this volume has been submitted. A paper on
"Evaluation of Indian Higher Education" was presented at both the
1969 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Collegiate Regis-
trars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) in Dallas and the National
iii
REPUBLIC OF INDIA
iv
Association for Foreign Student Affairs (NAFSA) 1969 Conference
in Boston. The reactions to those presentations and to the paper as
the Summer 1969 issue of College and University
printed in
(the
AACRAO Journal) have been invaluable to me in refining the mountain
of information and data available on the Indian educational system. Two
admissions workshops also have contributed in this respect. The Third
Hawaiian Workshop sponsored by AACRAO and NAFSA in coopera-
tion with the East-West Center in Hawaii in December 1969 included
India in its in-depth study of certain Asian countries. The reactions of
the workshop participants to the material I presented, as the resource
person on India, and the experience gained in assisting in the writing
and editing of the Third Hawaiian Workshop Report have contributed
In a similar way the
substantially to the development of this volume.
"mini-workshop" based on the Third Hawaiian Workshop that was con-
ducted in Chicago in March 1970 under the auspices of AACRAO,
NAFSA, the College Entrance Examination Board and the Institute
for International Education served as a sounding boar 1 for facts and
conclusions about the Indian educational system.
AN OFFER TO-CREDENTIAL EVALUATORS
As Dr. Clyde Vroman so aptly has pointed out in the preface to his
monumental work on Japan in this World Education Series, "only the
crucial test of extensive, practical use" can reveal how well a volume such
as this serves its purposes. Because of my personal interest in this re-
pect, I would welcome in the case of India (as Dr. Vroman does in the
case of Japan) reports on any major problems encountered in the evalua-
tion of Indian credentials which cannot be resolved by the use of this
book, so that additional information and assistance may be provided to
the U.S. admissions community in the years ahead.
Please note that
this is not an offer to furnish credential evaluation services, but rather
an offer to assist in the resolution of major problems in credential evalua-
tion which this volume does not seem to answer.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Without question I am deeply indebted to more persons than avail-
able space will allow me to acknowledge. However, I wish to identify at
least a few to whom I especially am obligated. Dr. Clyde Vroman, who
as AACRAO Group II Chairman in 1966 encouraged me to become
6
PREFACE
active in Group II International Educational Activities and who has
been a continuing inspiration to me, will have my lifelong appreciation.
For their part in my selection as a Fulbright Lecturer-Consultant in
1967-68 I owe special thanks to Mrs. Cassandra Pyle, Assistant to the
Dean of Students for Foreign Admission and Foreign Study, University
of Chicago, and Dr. Margaret Cormack, the USEFI Director in 1966-67
when I was selected for that award.
For their parts in my introduction to India and its system of education
I owe a lasting debt to Dr. W. Robert Holmes. USEFI Director since
1967-68, and Dr. Promila Gupta, USEFI Evaluation, Testing and
Advising Project Officer. Others in India who have rendered invaluable
assistance include: the staff of the USEFI New Delhi headquarters; the
USEFI Student Advisers and especially Dr. Nalini Shetty in Madras;
Dr. Amrik Singh, Secretary, the inter
- University Board of India and
Ceylon; Dr. P. J. Philip, hint Secretary, University Grants Commission;
and Dr. Robert R. R. 13:-ooks, then Chairman of the USEFI Board and
the United States Chief Cultural Affairs Officer in India. To Frederick
J. Tallow and Katherine S. Snider of the Association of Universities
and Colleges of Canada, I offer my deep appreciation for the opportunity
to cooperate with them on a research project related to India and to
share resource materials. A special acknowledgment in the form of a
dedication of this book to her goes to my wife, Anna Belle. Her willing-
ness and that of our family of four children (Kathleen, Janice, Michael
and Susan) to sacrifice financially and otherwise so that the Sweeney
family might have the chance of a lifetime "to experience another
world" and her understanding of the long hours and days requi:
for
this volume really have made all of this possible.
Leo J. Sweeney
Kansas City, Missouri
Contents
Preface
iii
I. Introduction
1
Purposes
1
Plan and Contents of This Guide
1
How to Use This Guide
1
Companion Publications
1
II. IndiaIts Land and Its People
Introduction
4
Physical India
4
Historical India
6
Population
8
Linguistic and Ethnic India
10
Social and Cultural India
11
Governmental India
Economic India
15
III. Development of Indian Education
Introduction
17
Education in Earlier India
17
Education in British India
18
Education in Today's India
20
IV. Primary Education
Overview
35
Pre-Primary Education
37
Lower Primary Education
37
Higher Primary Education
38
V. Secondary Education
Overview
39
Lower Secondary Education
41
Higher Secondary Education
43
United States-Type Secondary Schools
51
VI. Higher Education
Introduction
52
1RM
11111111111111 1111111111111111
Diploma and Certificate Courses
University Education
One Indian University
7
Agricultural and Rural Education
'7+
Business Administration and Management Education
'7:
Engineering Education
8(
Health Sciences Education
Teacher Education
81
VII. Major Issues and Trends in India and Its Educational. System
94
Population
Literacy and Language
9:3
Food
96
Urbanization Squalor
91
Unemployment/Underemployment/Brain Drain
98
Overexpansion in Higher Education
99
Teacher Quantity, Quality and Status
100
Wastage and Stagnation
101
Examination and Evaluation
101
Student Unrest
103
Quality of Indian Students in fin United States
104
VIII. Guidelines and Suggestions for Admission Officers
Introduction
107
Attested Credentials
107
Interpretation of Marks Sheets
108
Division or Class
114
Syllabi
114
Use of the Appendices
115
Equivalency of Certificates
116
Availability of United States Testing
116
World Education Series India 1964
117
United States Educational Foundation ii I n di a
117
Currency Exchange
119
Key References
120
IX. Admission and Placement Recommendations
General Considerations
122
General Placement Recommendations for U.S. Education 126
APPENDICES
A. Universities, Institutions Deemed to be Universities
1
and Institutions of National Importance 1970
135
5
9
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