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ICT INTEGRATED HIGHER

EDUCATION: PROSPECTS AND
CHALLENGES
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 International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IJRESS)
Available online at: http://euroasiapub.org
Vol. 8 Issue 2, February - 2019
ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 6.939 |

ICT INTEGRATED HIGHER EDUCATION: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

Sajad Ahmad Mir

Research Scholar
Department of Education
Central University of Kashmir
Mail: sajadmir@cukashmir.ac.in
Abstract
The present paper primarily examines the key role that information and communication
technology (ICT) plays in addressing three important issues of higher education. These three
important issues are Access, Quality and Equity in higher educational institutions. The paper
further seeks to investigate the potential benefits of ICT in teaching learning process,
administration and research that make up the mission of higher education. It also highlights
the major ICT centered initiatives taken up by higher education such as Satellite
Instructional Television Experiment, Gyan Darshan, Educational Satellite and Digital India
Project. Some major challenges for ICT integrated higher education are also explored in the
present study. Finally suggestions have been framed regarding the proper adoption and
implementation of ICT in education.
Keywords: ICT; Major ICT based Initiatives; Higher Education

Introduction
Information and communication technology (ICT) is a force that has revolutionized all spheres of
life in general and education in particular. An integral part of education and a social necessity use
of ICT are widely accepted and appreciated. ICT includes any technological device or application
used for communication. These technological devices such as radio, television, computer, cellular
phone etc. are also used to collect, generate, distribute, administer and disseminate information.
It also provides various services such as video conferencing and distance learning. The impact of
ICT on learning is in relation to use of digital media, primarily computers and internet to facilitate
teaching and learning. ICT resources are easy to access, readily available and user friendly. In
educational context ICT stands for any technology used in conveying, manipulation and storage
of data by electronic means. The fact is that ICTs have provided a helping hand in uplifting the
overall education system, but despite that, the impact of ICT services on academia has been
minimal in the world as a whole. It has put an end to the barriers of space and time. ICTs also
allow for the creation of digital resources like digital libraries where the students, teachers and
professionals can access research material and course material from any place at any time
(Bhattacharya & Sharma, 2007; Cholin, 2005).
In India, higher education is mostly offered by Central, State, Deemed and Private Universities,
Autonomous Affiliated Government and Private Colleges and various Institutes of Excellence like
IITs, NITs, and IISC etc. The higher education system of India is considered as the largest system
in the world in terms of number of institutions and third in terms of student enrolment (only after
China and USA). The system of higher education has witnessed significant great expansion with
the emergence of a number of private institutions over the last few years, yet again the quality
remains a buzzword in contemporary times.
After Independence, Indian Higher Education sector has witnessed a manifold increase in the
number of Universities & Colleges. The number of Universities has increased 39.45 times from 20
in 1950 to 789 in 2018. The sector boasts of 47 Central Universities, 359 State Universities, 260
State Private universities, 123 Deemed to be Universities, 65 Institutions of National Importance
(established under Acts of Parliament) under MHRD (IITs - 23, NITs - 31 and IISERs - 7, IIEST - 1,
School of Planning and Architecture - 3). The number of colleges has also registered manifold
increase of approximately 69 times with just 500 in 1950 growing to 34193 (MHRD, 2018).
Although there is substantial increase in number of higher educational institutions but still there

International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences 1

Email:- editorijrim@gmail.com, http://www.euroasiapub.org
(An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journal.)
International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IJRESS)
Vol. 8 Issue 1, January-2019
ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 6.939
are a good number of students or adults who haven’t have access of higher education due to
prevailing socio-economic constraints imbibed in Indian societies. ICT has, nevertheless, played
a great role in bringing the education back at learner’s home.

Need for ICT integration

In India, Higher Education faces three major challenges including Access, Quality and Equity. ICT
has come up with the facility of heavily student centric any place, any time and cost effective
learning. It has offered access to learning right from learner’s home. It has offered a choice able
alternative to the traditional classroom learning. It has potential benefit of removing once for all
the geographical constraints which have always been seen as a challenge for a geographically
diverse based country like India (Mooij, 2007; Cross & Adam, 2007). Not only this, ICT enabled
education also has removed some of the temporal constraints that learners and teachers usually
experience such as time barriers (Bhattacharya & Sharma, 2007; UNESCO, 2002a). It also
provides speedy dissemination of education to target disadvantaged groups (Chandra & Patkar,
2007). Not only this, ICT is used for non-formal education like health campaigns and literacy
campaigns (UNESCO, 2002b). It can promote gender equity (UNICEF & UNESCO, 2011). ICT based
equipments such as smart phone use enhances the academic achievement of students (Mir &
Paray, 2018). It provides a platform for collaborative learning for students with continuous
evaluation and feedback on an individual basis.

Potential benefits of ICT

a) ICT in Teaching and Learning Process
Academics have taken ICT in teaching-learning process for a good number of reasons such as in
audio-video conferencing, digital libraries, e-resources and e-learning, virtual and blended
learning, distance and online learning, communication and collaboration purposes etc.
b) ICT in Administration
ICT serves various administrative functions in higher education like maintaining financial records
of the institutions, networking with local and foreign institutions, e-payments and biometric
attendance of employees. It is also vital for keeping and maintaining the student’s cumulative
records, academic track record, placement opportunities, uploading and downloading of course
content and online tests for scholastic and non-scholastic activities. Besides these, maintenance
of staff details, their pay scale details, grade performance of staff members etc. are also kept
recorded with the help of ICT based devices and applications.
c) ICT in Research
Use of ICT in research is powerful and most uncontroversial in nature. ICT provides a worldwide
platform for researchers to access and process the data in a broader way. The researchers can
collect required data from target population in an online mode without casting much money,
energy and time. After collecting the raw data, the research make most use of ICT based statistical
software’s such as statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) in order to analyze the data.
This kind of data analysis is quick and accurate without using cumbersome manual task from
researchers.

Major ICT initiatives in India

Application of ICT in India is not a new strategy in education. During British rule, use of radio and
television to support education were encouraged. All India Radio broadcasted educational
programs for school was installed in 1937. However, after the advent of independence in India
ICT based educational programmes catches the eye of everyone. Some major ICT oriented
initiatives taken in India are worth to be mentioned here:
a) Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE)
The project was launched in 1975 by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
to educate the poor people of India on various issues via satellite broadcasting, and also to help
India gain technical experience in the field of satellite communications. The project has covered
more than 2400 villages in 20 districts of six Indian states and territories (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan) during one year period (Pyla, 2012).

International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences 2

Email:- editorijrim@gmail.com, http://www.euroasiapub.org
(An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journal.)
International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IJRESS)
Vol. 8 Issue 1, January-2019
ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 6.939
b) Gyan Darshan
This ICT based educational service was launched on 26th January 2000 jointly by the Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Information and Broadcasting, the Prasar Bharti and IGNOU as
the exclusive educational television channel of India was Gyan Darshan. IGNOU was given the
responsibility to be the nodal agency for up-linking. The channel has come up with non-stop
transmission of various educational programmes and these educational programmes are
broadcasted every day.
c) Educational Satellite (EDUSAT)
Launched in 20 September 2004, EDUSAT is solely designed, developed and launched to serve
the exclusive purpose of imparting education to the entire India which includes both rural and
urban population at primary, secondary and higher levels. Through EDUSAT, live audio-video
interactive sessions are held between students and faculty members. Online classrooms, virtual
schools, evening coaching classes, radio and television based classes are the new modes of
imparting education in areas with having poor physical infrastructure and lack of efficient
teachers. In 2008, EDUSAT was installed in J&K (India) with two hubs one at Government College
for Women Gandhi Nagar Jammu and other at Government College for Women M.A Road Srinagar
and more than 100 Satellite Interactive Terminals (SIT’s) in different institutions of higher
education, 41-in Jammu and 59- in Kashmir region.
d) Digital India Project
Major ICT intervention of India is the ‘Digital India project’ which aims at making all the services
available to citizens electronically. The objective of the project is to connect 205 lakh villages by
broadband and cellular phones and to facilitate Wi-Fi in 2.5 lakh schools, all Universities and
Colleges, public Wi-Fi hotspots and thus promotes e-governance and transforms India into a
connected knowledge economy. The project is estimated to cost 113,000 crore rupees and will be
implemented in a phased manner by 2019. The University Grants Commission has acknowledged
the role of Internet resources in improving teaching-learning process, building new knowledge,
collaborating with peers in the governance of education in colleges and Universities.

Some Major Challenges for ICT integrated Higher Education

Integration of ICT faces some following severe challenges in education such as:-
a) Lack of awareness or improper knowledge towards technology and its usage.
b) Lack of positive attitude developed by authorities towards implementation of ICT in
higher education.
c) Biased and Inadequate policies with respect to rural and urban areas.
d) High operational and maintenance costs for ICT based equipments.
e) Lack of trained faculty to use the ICT services fully in higher education.
f) Lack of self-sustainability of ICT services in higher educational institutions.
g) Lack or meager networking facilities available in remote and far-flung areas.
h) Low ICT literacy among students and faculty.
i) Lack of availability of adequate ICT infrastructure facilities in education.

Suggestions
On the basis of present study the following suggestions have been framed:
a) There is a need for providing adequate ICT infrastructure facilities at all levels of
education.
b) ICT integration in education has suffered a lot of obstacles, it is suggested that a
collaborative research needs to be undertaken by stakeholders to explore the possible
solutions for the fullest possible integration of ICT in education.
c) There is a need for the professional development of educators, administrators, etc. so
that the perception regarding the use of ICT in education is changed.
d) More financial inputs are needed for the long term and far reaching integration of ICT in
education.
e) Cost effective ICT services needs to provide so that they are within the reach of the less
privileged and marginalized people of the country.

International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences 3

Email:- editorijrim@gmail.com, http://www.euroasiapub.org
(An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journal.)
International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IJRESS)
Vol. 8 Issue 1, January-2019
ISSN(o): 2249-7382 | Impact Factor: 6.939
f) A shift from learning about ICT to learning with ICT or Learning through ICT is the need
of hour.
g) ICT literacy should form a part of curriculum at all levels of education.

References
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paradigm”, International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 21, Issue 6, pp.
543- 568.
2. Chandra, S. & Patkar, V. (2007): “ICTS: A catalyst for enriching the learning process and
library services in India”, The International Information & Library Review, Volume 39,
Issue 1, pp. 1-11.
3. Cholin,V. S. (2005): ”Study of the application of information technology for effective access
to resources in Indian university libraries”, The International Information & Library
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4. Cross, M. & Adam, F. (2007): “ICT Policies and Strategies in Higher Education in South
Africa: National and Institutional Pathways”, Higher Education Policy, Volume 20, Issue
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5. Mir, S.A., & Paray, A.A. (2018): “Internet usage and academic performance: An empirical
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10. UNICEF & UNESCO, (2011): “Institute for Statistics-Global Initiative on Out-of-School
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International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Sciences 4

Email:- editorijrim@gmail.com, http://www.euroasiapub.org
(An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journal.)