This study focuses on the interplay between the idea of parity and the reality of disparity. In India expansion of higher education started after independence while the recent few years have witnessed the rapid massification of new universities, technical institutes, and the expansion of existing ones. Based on the assumption that these institutes would contribute significantly to the creation of equality in a hierarchal society, I started my inquiry in the context of higher education in general and technical higher education in particular.
I had no experience in visiting any technical higher education institutions (THEIs) and had no notion of my own regarding engineering education. So, with my unbiased mind, I tried to learn more about these institutions and conceptions among the masses of engineering education. I explored it through different lectures, media reports, and people's opinions. But apart from these theoretical aspects it also has practical aspects that job opportunities through traditional education are reduced day by day as compared to THE and technical institutes are continuously opening new and specialized branches for new opportunities. This leads to greater expansion of education institutions and the Indian education system, especially public institutions.
This study focuses on the relationship between the massification of higher education, the notion of diversity, and equality of opportunity. The reason for focusing on diversity is that Indian public higher education institutes (HEIs) not only show their inclusive image in a hierarchical society but also provide quality education at a subsidized rate. So, being a student of these public institutions (IITs, NITs, IIMs, etc.) is prestigious for every class and community, which makes education a selective field, that is responsible for discrimination (Deshpande, 2006). So, the present study of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad attempts to examine the intended and unintended consequences of massification of higher education.
For me, MNNIT is not only a physical structure but is a type of institution, that presents itself as a system of roles and relationships of individuals based on certain rules and regulations. All institutions, including educational institutions, have their own well-defined physical and social boundaries. These boundaries are reflected as patterns of activities, both inter-groups and groups through formal and informal structures. But often some hidden activities effectively operate in some institutional structure secretly (Beteille, 2010). Which are not always a part of the organizational setting. So, the main concern is to find out these types of hidden activities and try to see the campus as a site of investigation, where students interact with each other through contestation, assertion, and assimilation of different identities.
Before conducting the fieldwork, I prepared a lot and read some sociological literature on higher education to know how to conduct fieldwork in certain settings, contemporary issues regarding different inclusive policies, and diversity as a quest. I also take some overview of particular institutional profiles such as institutional history, administrative structure, admission policy, a course offered strength, policies on equality, equality, and diversity, etc. through the annual report of MNNIT. The objective of the paper is to understand the nature of diversity and analyze the pattern of diversity.
In general, Diversity means a state of being diverse (Oxford Dictionary), but here this state is discussed in five dimensions:
Social Diversity: Social Diversity ranges from diverse social backgrounds of students, it includes caste, communities, religious groups, students of different socio-economic backgrounds, language, gender, physical ability, etc.
Academic Diversity: Academic diversity ranges from diverse academic backgrounds and student performance, it includes medium of instruction, schooling, board of degree, scores obtained, choice of subject, etc.
Institutional Diversity: Institutional diversity indicates a type of culture and support, which determines the pattern of institutional functioning in terms of diversity, it includes different opportunities, resource materials, campus environment, student-teacher engagement, fee structure, enrolment pattern, etc.
Structural Diversity: Structural diversity ranges from diverse structural mechanisms for maintaining/defending campus diversity. It includes different calls, committees, remedial classes, other supportive measures, etc.
Policy Environment: The policy environment ranges from diverse policies at different levels to include students from various backgrounds. It includes scholarship schemes, the structure of the complaint process and effective action, the flow of information and communication, etc.
Based on these dimensions and readings I prepared some questions, which were aimed at knowing the basic profile of students, their parental background, their academic profile, etc. to know their subjective experiences and interaction patterns, I also covered some behavior/articulation-related questions. In this questionnaire some of the questions were open-ended and others were multichoice and optional. While drafting this questionnaire it was kept in mind that it included all the aspects of students’ lives, which were related to interaction patterns or influencing their behavior. I have also conducted some face-to-face interviews based on the questionnaire, to know more about their responses and the reason behind them. I classified demographic, sociocultural and economic aspects into different categories:
Social category: Educational institutions provide reservations in admission based on students’ social categories. So, these are divided into four sub-categories: Gen OBCs SCs/STs Family Education: Students come from different educational backgrounds based on their parental education. These are divided into two sub-categories and every category is further divided into six sub-categories. Father’s Education Graduation and above Professional Degree Higher secondary (10+2) Secondary (up to standard X) Primary (up to standard V) illiterate Mother’s Education Graduation and above Professional Degree Higher secondary (10+2) Secondary (up to standard X) Primary (up to standard V) Illiterate Family occupation: Student’s come from different backgrounds on the bases of their parental occupation. These are divided into two sub-categories and every category is further divided into some sub-categories. Father’s occupation Government sector/PSU Private sector/MNC Agriculture Other Mother’s occupation Government sector/PSU Private sector/MNC Agriculture Homemaker Other Family income: Students come from different economic classes based on their parental income. These are divided into five sub-categories. 50000 Medium of instruction: It can be divided into two subcategories based on his/her language of learning. Hindi English The journey of my fieldwork started with the reference letter of my research guide, which helped me get official permission for a particular organization/ institute. I started my pilot visit with the entry from the gate of MNNIT, Allahabad, from where I reached the administration building to get institutional permission from the Director. But unfortunately, that day Director Sir was not available. So, I met with a Ma’am who was there on behalf of Director Sir and introduced myself, and my purpose of the visit and showed other related documents also. She called me tomorrow for a meeting with Director sir at noon.
After that I went there at noon tomorrow, I reached the Director’s office again to get permission. I was lucky because they had already prepared my document and informed me to take permission-related documents and consult with the Head of Department (HOD) of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. He forwarded that letter to another Professor of the department, who guided and supported me in obtaining information about institutional procedure. During this institutional procedure entire time was exhausted and I was not able to have a meeting with her. The next day I met the Professor introduced myself as a research scholar and talked about my work. Our conversation lasted approximately 15-20 minutes with a special focus on institutional functionality and some other relevant information about the institution.
During all these processes I realized that I am dealing with a complex bureaucratic setting, where I can’t do anything without institutional permission and everyone has his/her own organizational position and related duties.
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