State of Higher Ed in India: Time to Act is Now

I would like to share an urgent issue of "State of Higher Ed in India: Time to Act is Now".

The views expressed in the table below are my personal observations reflecting on education system in India and the United States. I also have a vantage point of working in the industry for over 39 years and joining academia with my industry experience 20 years ago. In the last two decades, I have an honor to associate with 30 different educational institutions globally.

No.	Current State	Future State
1	Focus on Rote Learning (Memorization)	Encourage Inquiry-based Learning
2	Focus on Dry Theories	Include Best-In-Class Practices
3	Irrelevant Curriculum	Align Curriculum with Industry Needs
4	Lack of Soft Skills in Curriculum	Focus on Soft Skills in Curriculum (Communication, Leadership, Project Management) (Interpersonal skills, Problem Solving, Teamwork)
5	No Social Service Requirement (Unused Potential)	Require Social Service for Graduation (Engage the Youth in Nation Building)
6	Lack of Quality in Education (Curriculum, Entire System)	Instill Quality in Education (In Curriculum, System-Wide Excellence)
7	Faculty Lack Industry Experience	Recruit Faculty with Few Years of Industrial Experience
8	Static Faculty Knowledge (Use of Old Teaching Materials)	Require Faculty Knowledge Upgrade Continuously
9	Lack of Industry Interactions	Create Advisory Boards with Industry Leaders Tie-Up with Professional Organizations
10	Lack of Alumni Interactions	Strengthen Alumni Association for Better Branding

Post Secondary Higher Education (age 18 and above):

As per Report of the Higher Education in India, key issues are related to Expansion, Inclusiveness, Quality, and Finance (University Grants Commission [UGC], September 2010). The access to higher education measured in term of Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) increased from 0.7% in 1950/1951 to 1.4% in 1960–61. By 2006/2007 the GER increased to about 11 percent. By 2012, (the end of 11th plan objective) is to increase it to 15%.

Education and The World Bank:

Education is fundamental to development as it contributes strongly to economic growth. It also holds sustainable, proven benefits for people in terms of higher earnings, better health, and greater resilience to shocks. 

Helping countries reform their education systems to promote learning for all is a central thrust of the World Bank’s Education Strategy. The concept is broad, recognizing that it takes multiple actors and reforms to realize progress.

Why Systems?

Because a systems approach focuses on education outcomes, and how inputs contribute best. The results depend not only on having enough classrooms, teachers, and textbooks but also on having the policy environment, resources, and accountability mechanisms that can promote—and not obstruct—education results.

SABER (Systems Approach for Better Education Results) is a global knowledge platform that is helping countries assess their education policies and identify actionable priorities to help education systems achieve learning for all. Policy areas covered by SABER include early child development, student assessment, teachers, and workforce development.  

• By collecting data on policies and institutions that matter for success (according to evidence) and producing an objective snapshot of how well the system is performing in relation to global good practice (and other countries).
• By providing metrics to measure and monitor progress.
• By promoting cross-country learning.

US Baldrige Performance Excellence in Education Framework:

In the Unites States, by the Act of Congress in 1987, the Baldrige Performance Excellence Award Program was established. In 2001, Education category was included in the Program. Since 2001, there are 10 educational institutes that have won the prestigious national award for Excellence in Education. It includes seven K-12 schools, one community college, one undergraduate business school, and one university. You can learn more about Baldrige in Education at http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications/education_criteria.cfm.

These criteria focus on Systems Approach and include seven categories starting with Leadership and ending with Results. Personally, I have a pleasure to use the Baldrige Criteria at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Illinois School System, and in my Operations Management/Quality Management courses since 1993 at various business schools in the Chicago area and in India.

The ASQ India has a singular focus of uplifting educational excellence at all levels (primary, secondary, and in higher education areas). We firmly believe that by using the Baldrige in Education Criteria, one can begin the assessment of an institution, identify areas of strengths, and opportunities for improvement. There are various role model examples of Baldrige Award Winners in Education. Learning and adapting some of the best practices from the winners will serve Indian Educational Institutions well.

I welcome your thoughts and comments on this critical issue of transforming education system in India.

Quality Moments

I want to share my quality moment from organizing ASQ Northern Illinois Quality Conference (NIQC) in 1998. Five Chicago area ASQ Sections' member leaders came together to form an alliance with an objective of providing state-of-the-art quality management conference for both ASQ members and non-members.

A cohesive team of 8-10 Section member leaders put together a fantastic program for one-day conference at an affordable price. The response was overwhelming with over 300 attendees participating in the conference. At NIQC, the quality moment was understanding the member needs for such conference for their continuing education and delivering an outstanding program.

Learning from the positive results, we pursued this journey and continued hosting NIQC for total of 15 years, ending in 2012. In 2003, we added one-day workshops for in-depth knowledge sharing. The entire NIQC process was managed well both technically and in fiscally responsible manner.

In summary, my learnings and quality moments came when we understood ASQ member needs, forged alliance with member leaders from various sections, and delivered world-class conference with workshops at a very reasonable price and with high value.

I look forward to learning from your quality moments.

Quality Beyond Manufacturing

As we all know quality control and quality assurance concepts first started in manufacturing sector. In recent times, those concepts have been broadened under a quality management umbrella. From the U.S. Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework, there are some basic tenets which are equally applicable to manufacturing and other non-manufacturing sectors.
These tenets are:  

1. Enlightened leadership to guide and set directions for an organization
2. Strategic planning to achieve organizational objectives
3. Singular focus on customer delight
4. Effective information and knowledge management
5. Employee engagement
6. Continuous process improvement
7. Sustainable results through streamlined processes

There are several non-manufacturing sectors which can be best served by the above tenets. These sectors include:

• Service (e.g., banking, insurance, retail, auto dealership, etc.)
• Education (e.g., Prekindergarten, K-12, undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, etc.)
• Healthcare (e.g., hospitals, physicians, nurses, health research laboratory, etc.)
• Government (e.g., local, state, federal)
• Non-profits (e.g., foundations - charitable and social)
• Socially Responsible Organizations

Many of the quality control and quality management tools used in the manufacturing sector are equally applicable in non-manufacturing sector listed above. Some of these tools are:

• Good Governance - Leadership Excellence
• SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis - Strategic Planning
• Balanced Scorecard - Strategic Planning
• Voice of the Customer (surveys, interviews, focus groups, report cards, market research, etc.) - Customer Delight
• Benchmarking - learning from the best-of-the-best
• Teamwork - employee engagement
• Meeting Management - employee involvement
• Recognition - employee motivation
• Process Mapping - SIPOC (supplier, input, process, output, customer) - Continuous Improvement
• Tree Diagram - decision making - Problem Identification
• PDSA - Plan, Do, Study, Act - Deming Cycle - Continuous Improvement
• Pareto Diagram - Prioritization
• Cause-and-Effect Analysis (Ishikawa Diagram) - root-cause analysis - Problem Solving 
• Project Management - initiate, plan, execute, control, and hand-off - Change Management
• Risk Management - risk identification, prioritization, risk response, mitigation strategies - Change Management
• Organization Assessment - ISO, Baldrige Performance Excellence Award, State & National Quality Awards, etc.

For sustainable results, an organization need to delight the customers, take care of employees, and continuously improve processes. They should be ingrained in the DNA of the organization.

I look forward to your views on Quality in Fields "Beyond" Quality and other applicable quality tools and techniques.

Sustaining Excellence for the Long Term

Here are few ideas around how to sustain excellence for the long term.

Sustaining Excellence is synonymous with Sustainable Change Management. The Change Management foundation hinges on Enlightened Leadership, Great Project Management, and Excellent Talent Management. The Change Management Model calls for 1). Determine the need for change, 2). Prepare and plan for change, 3). Implement the change, and 4). Sustain the change. World-wide organizations have adopted Eight Stages of Change Management from Prof. John Kotter, a professor emeritus from Harvard Business School.

Sustaining excellence is the responsibility of leadership to steer the organization in a right direction and be there along with your people throughout the excellence journey. Now this is a tall order. This will require leaders who clearly communicate need for change and coach people to remain on the mission to implement change.

To implement the change successfully, there is a need for great project management. Nearly 70% of change initiatives fail. The main reason for this failure rate is lack of good project management. One needs to implement aggregate project plan to inventory all the projects in the organization pipeline, prioritize those projects according to importance to customers, and allocate proper resources to complete those selected projects/initiatives. And have periodic reviews to assess project performance and risks.

Ultimately to sustain the change, one needs to select and nurture the talent. To effectively manage human capital, leaders need to create engagement through participation, external motivation, and development initiatives. People who are sustaining the change must be recognized and rewarded.

In summary, it is a challenge to sustain excellence. The roadmap is already there, however, organizations that execute the change management well will succeed, and rest will perish.

I am eager to learn about your views on sustaining excellence for the long term. 

Quality Training

Here are my observations regarding quality training at my previous employer, AT&T Bell Laboratories:

At the Naperville, Illinois location of the AT&T Bell Labs, we had a major initiative to embark on a quality improvement journey in the Switching Systems Business Unit (SSBU) in mid 1980's. The following projects were implemented:

• Quality 101 for Executives and Employees - This involved sending a core team for crash quality management training (e.g., 3 days with Dr. Deming). The core team designed a 2-day Quality 101 course for Directors and delivered to division directors (train-the-trainer approach). Then these directors cascaded the training in their departments. The entire SSBU was trained in basics of quality. 

• Process Management Teams - This involved formation of process management teams and documenting key processes using the SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer) diagram and necessary training in the use of SIPOC Diagram. This effort required identifying key processes within SSBU, forming process management teams which received training in SIPOC use. The teams then captured their processes using a uniform SIPOC diagram approach. Understanding customer requirements led to key metrics and the continuous improvement journey started using facts and data. As a result, we received the ISO 9001 certification in one year in 1991 for the entire SSBU (6,000 employees across three countries - Netherlands, UK, and USA).. 

• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) preparation classes - As I have already shared in my previous blog posts, between 1990 to 1995 around 350 colleagues enrolled in the CQE preparation classes, 200 took CQE exam, and 89 became ASQ CQEs. The pass rate was 66% as compared to average ASQ pass rate of 33% for CQEs. The number of CQEs at the Naperville Switching Design and Development location was the highest among all ATA&T Bell Labs locations including manufacturing units.

• Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award Assessment of all AT&T Divisions and necessary training in Baldrige - This initiative required each division to form a core team of directors and engineers to use the Baldrige criteria to annually assess the division. All executives received appropriate training in interpreting the Baldrige criteria. Under this initiative AT&T received three Baldrige Awards - one in Manufacturing and two in Service.

Another example I can share was with our three Medicare Contractor clients who were getting ready for ISO 9001:2004 certification. Here we organized a 1/2 day training for the Executives to provide ISO methodology and its importance. Then we trained the entire staff an Introduction to ISO Process. The teams then started mapping their key processes using the SIPOC diagram. Before the Auditor came for certification, the entire workforce was trained in the ISO Process. As a result, all three Medicare Contractors achieved their ISO 9001:2004 certification without any non-compliance.

In summary, when appropriate quality training is provided with alignment to the organization's strategy, the employees get motivated and achieve great results.

I look forward to learning about your experience in quality training.

My Certification Advice

After joining the American Society for Quality (ASQ) as a member in 1987, I decided to take the ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) exam in December 1988. At that time I was with the AT&T Bell Laboratories and already working in quality management area.

As we had embarked on a journey of quality excellence at Bell Labs in Naperville, Illinois, my Vice President (Edward Prell) in the International Switching Customer Business Unit had an expectation that I should become certified in quality discipline. Also, help prepare others at AT&T Bell Labs to get their ASQ certifications.

I enrolled in a CQE preparation class at the Oakton Community College in Des Plaines (about 30 miles from my home). There were 10, three hour sessions in the evening. One interesting thing happened in the class was to form a buddy system. I paired up with another class participant, who served as a sounding board. That buddy system helped me a great deal in clearing up my doubts and answering difficult questions. I did pass my CQE exam at the first attempt (pass rate was 33% at that time).

To follow up on my VP's expectation, I started an ASQ CQE preparation pilot in 1989 with 5-6 colleagues in the quality department at AT&T Bell Labs. Once they got their CQE, in 1990 we started offering ASQ CQE preparation classes at AT&T Bell Labs, twice a year (April-May and October-November). From 1990 through 1995, we enrolled around 350 colleagues at AT&T Bell Labs in these Prep classes. Out of 350, 200 decided to take the CQE exam, and 89 got their CQE (Our prep class passing rate was around 66%). This was one of the highest numbers of ASQ certifications among all of the AT&T locations including manufacturing sites.

Here are some tips and tricks to prepare for ASQ Certification exams:

• Have proper credentials to qualify for taking a specific ASQ certification exam.
• Have adequate preparation - either join a refresher preparation class through your local section or join a refresher class at a community college.
• Always use a buddy system - pair up with another exam candidate from your area. 
• Have good practice solving prior year exam questions (e.g. Juran & Gryna textbook).
• For an open book exam, take only relevant reference books with you. I saw several people bring bags full of books - it does not help, it wastes your valuable time.
• The certification exam needs good time management:  

          1). First answer those questions, where you know the answer.
          2). Pass on most difficult questions in round 1.
          3). Tackle difficult questions in round 2 - you may need to look up a right reference.
          4). In multiple choice questions, 2 out of 4 choices are incorrect, eliminate them.
          5). Do not leave any questions unanswered. If unsure, make an educated guess.
          6). Always check your answers at the end.

• Prior to the exam day, have a good night rest - do not cram at the last minute. It is counterproductive!
• Once prepared, focus on taking the exam and passing it at a first attempt.

If you are certified, I look forward to learning about your tricks and tips.

Social Networks and Quality Professionals

Personally, I use LinkedIn, Facebook, Tweeter, Blogs, YouTubes, and Discussion Boards for professional networking with others in quality field.

1). Joined LinkedIn in February 2007. I use this network for professional sharing and learning. I have joined several groups of like-minded quality professionals.

2). Joined Facebook in July 2011 and using it to connect with the American Society for Quality (ASQ) professionals and others. Periodically, I post interesting articles and blogs on my Facebook account. 

3). Joined Tweeter in November 2012. I use this social network as my digital library. When I read an interesting article/blog, I immediately retweet in my Tweeter account.

4). Joined ASQ Influential Voices in January 2012. I respond to official topics and add my own topics of relevance through my blog posts.

5). I have learned how to create an YouTube for special events in August 2011 and have created few YouTube videos.

6). Using Discussion Boards when I teach quality management and operations management courses in an Online setting for well over two years.

Overall, the social networks are the best ways to connect with quality professionals on a global basis. It is effective and fast. I continue to learn through these interactions and able to add my value along the way.

I would welcome your views on the use of social networks for continuous learning and sharing.

If you are on any of the social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Tweeter, you are welcome to send me an invite to be socially connected!