Globalization and the consequent economic prosperity of the societies, have resulted in an unprecedented challenge for educationists—quality higher education for meeting the emerging talent requirements of the industry. The goal of higher education is "to transcend purely scientific concerns to enable learners to make informed choices about important practical problems and to implement solutions to them effectively" (Raelin, 2007). Quality of higher education has to be viewed from different perspectives— students, the primary beneficiaries of such education; parents who pay for their children's education; corporations that hire the students from the colleges; faculty members who teach the students; and the society at large that benefits or suffers from the actions of these students (Madu and Kuei, 1993). This challenge of quality higher education has not been adequately addressed by the educational institutions and industry, resulting in suboptimal performance at both ends. What should be a teacher's role in relation to learning? Is teaching a question of transferring the vessel of knowledge from one mind to another? Does this transference improve when instruction is made more active? What is theory's role in improving subsequent practice, and recursively, does practice have anything to contribute to theory (Raelin, 2007)? What do other variables contribute to effectiveness in teaching and learning?
The primary objective of this paper is to introduce quality paradigms in the higher education. Education, today, is a means for a living. Education sector, today, is perhaps the largest employer. Thus, societies aspiring to create competitive advantages in the global scenario, need to focus on teaching effectiveness. |
