Technology's Impact on Higher Education in India: A Literature Review

This literature review examines the impact of technology on higher education in India, exploring the evolution of the education system, from ancient Gurukul systems to the British-influenced model. It investigates the current education scenario, including government initiatives like the Right to Education Act and the shift to grading systems. The review delves into the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), e-learning, and the challenges of implementation, such as infrastructure and awareness gaps. It discusses the benefits of e-learning, including cost-effectiveness and flexible learning paces, and the impact of government initiatives like Digital India in promoting technology integration. The review also explores the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning, the use of various media like virtual classrooms, and the potential of technology to enhance education accessibility and quality.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Impact of Technology in Higher Education In India
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Hypothesis
Growth and popularity of IT in the education sector in India
Alternate hypothesis
There is growth and popularity of technology in the education sector in India
Null Hypothesis
There is no growth and popularity of technology in the education system in India
Impact of ICT in higher education in India
Alternate hypothesis
Information and communication technology has positive impact on the higher education
system in India
Null Hypothesis
Information and communication technology has negative impact on the higher education
system in India
Impact of globalization in the spread and growth of IT in the education sector
Alternate hypothesis
Growth of information technology in higher education sector is dependent on
globalization

2LITERATURE REVIEW
Null Hypothesis
Popularity and growth of technology is in higher education system in India not dependent
on globalization
Support of educators and teachers in the involvement of technology in Education
Alternate hypothesis
Educators and teachers have shown positive feedback towards incorporating technology
in education system in India
Null Hypothesis
Educators and teachers have shown negative feedback towards incorporating technology
in education system in India
Introduction
In this report the impact of technology on higher education in India Education system has
been discussed in details. Over the years there have been several modes of up gradation of the
current education system that is prevalent in India (Dora 2014). There are several fundamental
issues in the education sector that is still relevant in India but having said that the Information
and communication technology has been welcomed by many institutions and organizations not
only in the higher education system but also in the primary level. The education system in India
has set a rigid path and has been following that for a long time (Sinha 2015). For expmaple, most
syllabus do not change for more than ten years or more with respect to the dynamic changes I the

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academics (Woodhead, Frost and James 2013). Globalization and the advancement of
technology have made a lot of changes in the basic education system but that is mostly on the
private sector. The financially challenged and the marginalized group of people still have the
problem of not receiving the elementary education. The Right to Education Act 2010 states that
it is compulsory for all children between the age group of 6-14 years to receive elementary
education (theguardian.com 2017)
Brief history on Indian education system
Since ancient times India has served as the cynosure of knowledge to the world. Some of
the pioneers of scholarly concepts, famous and renowned academics and intellects who have
given this world great knowledge is from the India sub continent. Ancient Indian mathematician
and astronomer Arybhata, who is popularly known as the founder of “zero” is one of the many
scholars who has contributed a lot in the current education system. Apart from that, personalities
like J.C.Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Dr.C.V.Raman etc are all Indians who have acquired honor,
respect and also several awards from around the world for their great contribution to academics
and to the world through their life’s work. (Maity and Maity 2016).
There are several interesting and yet to be known facts about the ancient education system in
India, historians have found a lot of information about how technologically and academically
forward ancient India was. The education system in that era was of the Gurukul structure, it
known to be one of the oldest education systems in the world. A Gurukul is somewhat like
today’s residential schools where it is compulsory for the students to stay within the institute’s
campus. With a capacity of ten thousand students Nalanda is known to be one of the oldest
universities. Until the invention of scripts and methods of documentation the knowledge that was
being imparted by the sage or the teachers were mostly oral in nature. Temples and community

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centers also organized classes for children’s education. The students were taught various subjects
and later different universities specialized in different subjects (Joshi and Gupta 2017).
The westernized and more content driven education system was brought by the British. After
colonizing India during this time the British wanted their children to be educated in the way that
is prevalent in their culture and hence set up schools in India. The advent of the present
arrangement of education with its westernized style of imparting knowledge was brought into
action during the year 1854 by Sir Charles Wood. He set rules and guideline with the approval of
the Governor of the East India Company about setting up a university based on the model of
university of London (Mandal 2017).
This process of education is still prevalent with few modifications here and there.
Inclusion of technology in the education system has been a rage all over the world and so is in
India several private schools have developed infrastructure for e-learning. One of the recent
changes in the education system is that the marks system has been replaced by grads systems to
take the edge off the children (Patil 2016).
Literature Review
Overview of the present education scenario in India
According to Aggrawal and Sharma (2015), in the recent past several arrangements has
been made to upgrade the education system in India by the Indian government. These changes
are made keeping in mind the changing way of education in the rest of the world and also the
ease of the students. Some of the notable changes are the replacement of the marking procedure
to gradation system; the elimination of compulsory board exams for CBSE (Central Board of

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Secondary Education) was one of the benchmark changes in the recent times. In the Act of Right
to Education it has been stated compulsory elementary education.
Now the question arises as to what extent such efforts in the field of education have
succeeded in different states of the country. In the past the country has faced many difficulties in
imposing higher education, some of these above stated reforms have really changed the face of
higher education in India. According to the authors, there are still many fundamental issues that
impact largely on the education system is still an untapped area by the government of private
sectors who are leading in the education system.
In the report the author has stated some of the initiatives that are taken to improve the
present condition of the education system like the 12th plan of University Grants Commission
(UGC), establishment of National Skill Development Corporation in India etc. Information and
communication technology is the process by which technology is used to send a piece of
information or message to the targeted receiver the sender or receiver can be an individual,
government or any institution. It is the system by which information is processed, analyzed and
sorted so that the end user gets the information they are looking for.
Education is a process of strategic communication by which teachers are on the sender
end and the students are on the receiver end the knowledge that is being imparted is the message
that is being sent.

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Impact of information and communication technology in higher education
According to Khetan and Gupta (2014), this report includes a vivid discussion about how
the information technology and communication process has changed and revolutionized the
classroom in the Indian education system. The authors have discussed about the hindrances that
technical advancement in the education sector face in India. For example, the inadequate ICT
infrastructure like hardware, power supply and also internet in towns and villages as well as in
some cities can prove to be the biggest obstacle in implementation of modern education system
through e-Learning.
The authors have also mentioned about the lack of awareness among the institution
authorities and teaching staff about the advanced method of imparting knowledge. In this paper
we elaborate various infrastructural mechanisms that are required for the installation of
technology in education and process by which the interactions are monitored. The authors also
discuss about the students reach and point of view in the modern methods along with how they
are positively or negatively affected by the process.
According to Sharma (2015), ICT is a convergence of audiovisual networks, applications
and tools which facilitates in interaction and multilevel communication or mass communication.
The devices used in communication are variable and always upgrading. ICT has impacted greatly
on the education system all over the world. India the concept of e-learning is still in its inception
stage. In this report the author defines what e-learning and how it means different in different
sectors. He says it is basically the usage of computer in the learning process.
Furthermore, Sharma (2015), goes on to describe the two segregation of e-
learning which are synchronous and asynchronous. Internet has increased the relevance of the

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term real time and that is what Synchronous mean "at the same time”. This is when the
communication among the participants is conducted in the through internet at the same time.
Whereas, Asynchronous, mean "not at the same time," hence the communication process is not
happing simultaneously for both ends of the sender and receiver.
Sharma in this report mentions about blended learning, which is a mixture of the
traditional classroom along with technology or e-learning devices. He goes on to talk about the
scope of e-learning and technology in India, he says that there are two folds to this concept one is
from the educator level and the other is from a trainer level.
The advantages and disadvantages of the process are also discussed. There are several
cases of dropouts in the process of higher education as well. In the higher education system most
students dropout because they cannot take the burden of the fee structure which is on the
elevated side if the E-classrooms are available.
To counterfeit the discussion according to Abdullah and Gulzar (2016), the e-learning
process is cost effective method in the long run and also allows the students to imbibe the
knowledge in their own set pace rather than going on at par with the educator and other
classmates.
According to Abdullah and Gulzar (2016), to expand and grow in the global market it is
important to conceptualize and implement e-learning tools in the education sector. India has the
capability and the infrastructure of providing e-learning technology as the country itself is among
one of the leaders in Information technology provider.

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According to Biswas and Hazra (2016), Digital India is one of the most attractive and
most popular agendas of the current Indian government it is a part of Make in India project that
the government has undertaken. Modern technology has enables individuals to connect from all
over the world easily and effectively. The online education system is now quite prevalent among
the urban India. According to the authors, the current UK-India business Council report named
Meeting India’s educational Challenges through E-Learning-2015; India has been stated as the
second largest e-learning market after US.
The digital India campaign not only seeks to expand the process by which Indians
lead their lifestyle and work but is also going to facilitate the education system by implementing
new plans regarding e-learning. Some of the agendas of the campaign are to provide schools and
other educational institutions with broadband services and Wifi networks which will build a base
for e-learning and inclusion of technology in the education sector. One of the most important
challenges and aims of this campaign is to bring awareness and train people to become more
technologically advanced and use the provided benefits.
On the contrary, in this report the Biswas and Hazra (2016) has defined e-learning and
has discussed comprehensively the medium that are used in the current education system to
upgrade the procedure in a modern way. Some of these medium are virtual classrooms, usage of
e-mail, using applications like Skype or Google hangout etc. he also describes in this report how
digital India program is going to impact e-learning. This is an argumentative report where the
authors discuss the constraints and the prospects of the technical involvement in the education
system (Bhattacharya 2015).

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Biswas and Hazra (2016), state that the cost of data in India is so high that even if
it is made available for the common public to consume, they will not. Even in recent time’s
people who are living in rural India cannot visualize themselves using internet or availing the
facilities that are associated with technology in the education sector having said that, it is also a
fact that there is a lack of skilled and trained educators in the country. There is a requirement of
people to train others as well that can use the technology optimally and use it for the further
benefit of the students.
According to Pande, Wadhai and Thakre (2016), in this report the authors discuss the
concepts of Blended learning and IBT Internet Based Training. According to the authors of this
paper E-learning is defined as the process of providing knowledge to the students through
various electronic media such as internet, audio, video. There is a lack of awareness among the
students and the educators regarding the availability of the technology and the ways to use it.
The demand for higher education has seen a rise over the years in India. This is a sign of
progress in the education sector but there are various other related notions which are still
successful.
Top university campuses of India is in New Delhi like Delhi University and the Indian
Institute of Technology etc. these places have several information technology usege in their
curriculum like using whiteboard, usage of videos and audio as part of learning method.
According to Mukhopadhyay and Parhar (2014), the authors argue that “E-learning
results in higher knowledge retention” as there are various audio visual references that can be
made available to the student in the e-learning platform. Blended learning and Gamification are
some of the concepts of e-learning which are effective in retention of knowledge. The challenge

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here is the inadequate knowledge about the facilitates available, lack of trained educators, lack of
proper infrastructure made available to every corner of the country. The socio-economic
background of the majority of the population is also a factor which behaves like a drawback in
this situation.
Impact of globalization and e-learning on higher education in India
According to Dattatraya et al. (2015), globalization has to play a huge role in the current
education system all over the world and also in India to its core and now children have to
compete on a global basis to make a mark. In the paper the authors have stated that there is a lot
of difficulties and problems that are faced by the teachers in the education system as well as the
fault in the training and skill development of the educators in the recent times. The authors have
tried to analyze the situation and conditions related to the technical institutes. The demand for the
seats of technical institutes all over the country has risen exponentially and so is the advent of
new institutes with the help of the fish bone diagram concept the issue has been addressed.
Due to the advent of internet the world has become a smaller place but the reach of
education has increased. E-classroom allows students to learn from every corner of the world
(Altbach 2015).
Schools like Amity International School and Delhi Public schools have incorporated
technology into their education system but these schools have an elite group of students who can
afford the high fee structure.

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Growth of ICT in private sector in the education system
According to Muralidharan and Sundararaman (2015), in this report the authors have stated the
rapid and exponential growth of private schools in the recent times. The increasing market share
of private schools that have a definite fees structure is especially prominent as it is taking place
in a context of increased spending on public education and near universal access to free public
primary schools, and raises important questions regarding the effectiveness of private schools in
these settings and the optimal policy response to their growth.
The flipside of the growth of private sector in the education industry has weekend the
public education system yes it has contributed to the economic growth but only the people who
are financially strong are the ones who are gaining from this façade. However, the quality of
education on the whole is really low there is a dearth of skilled and trained teachers in the rural
areas and hence children are not getting enough knowledge as they should have (Amin 2016).
According to Banerji Bhattacharjea and Wadhwa (2013), this form ASER reports reveal
that 29% of children between the ages of 6 and 14 in rural India attended private schools which
charge fees in exchange of service in 2013 compared to 18.7% in 2006, this points out to the
rapid increase in market for private schools in India.