‘Does India Need This Jumble?’ A View From DIDAC

We were delighted to attend the 12th DIDAC India conference in Bangalore as “gold” sponsors from 21-23 September 2022.  It was our first time there, and we were attracted by the promise of a huge global gathering of educational leaders and policy makers.  One thing that is certain:  there were a lot of people there.   Who, what or why was not so easy to ascertain at times.

We were invited to speak at a forum on “New Structures, governance and measures of success” and a transcript of our presentation can be read here [hyperlink].   Essentially we argued in favour of more useful and accurate measures of quality and more initiatives for performing better in international league tables, but not at the expense of developing the distinctive, innovative and globally leap-frogging HE sector that is appropriate for India.  We have the opportunity over the next decades to do something different in this country: ultimately, why should we care if it aligns with the hoops that QS and THES want us to jump through?

We set up our stall in the exhibition hall on the first day, laying out freebies – tote bags, pads, pens, jelly beans (all nicely branded) and some key pieces of literature, including example articles and a brochure for the leadership initiative we are developing.   We found that, once people understood our purpose, which is to provide a forum for influential voices to reflect on and discuss the key issues in the Indian Higher Education sector, and to support strengthening the voice of the sector at policy, governmental and societal level, there was a great deal of enthusiasm.   And the tote bags were a massive winner! 

We enjoyed the atmosphere of the overall conference.  It was vibrant, positive in spirit and the snacks were good.   However, we found that what it gave in spirit, it did not always give in organisation or content.   A number of other sponsors and participants to whom we spoke expressed a disappointment that opportunities had been missed, relationships were not formed and links not made.   There was very little provided for participants in terms of a pathway through the exhibition / conference and its activities.  Generous sponsors were left particularly bemused that a deliberate randomness seems to pervade the organisation.   In particular, we observed that Higher Education, which in this country is one of the fastest expanding, most diverse and experimental sectors in the world, was treated as an after-thought.    There was a predominant focus on early years and school level, and very little dedicated to this important level of education. 

We had the opportunity to speak to the founder and lead organiser, and asked about this apparent jumble, where highly distinctive subsectors in education are splurged together in the conference.   His argument was that we are too silo’d in India and that we need to explore more opportunities to interact across boundaries.    We applaud that notion – there can never be any harm in professionals learning from other sectors and reflecting on best practice.   And, for the NEP to realise its ambitions, there is great need for joining up the dots from post-natal to post-graduate. 

We were however left wondering if there is not more scope to encourage a depth of interaction at an event such as DIDAC.   The human capital and potential that enters the conference centre over the 72 hour period is quite immense and we encourage the organisers to do much more to join up dots, bring together participants with aligned interests and encourage contentful discussions.   

One of the great benefits of the conference for our broader team was the opportunity to reflect in the times we had together at the fringe of the event.   The conference itself reflected the opportunities that there are for doing things differently and taking new approaches in India.  We were able to dream together some of the next steps we will take.  

For us, the million-dollar (almost but not quite) question would be whether we will come back to DIDAC.   Since honesty is a core strand of our DNA, we have to answer: most probably not.    We are not sure that the promised return on investment was delivered and felt disappointed since we had entered the collaboration with the organisers with a great deal of optimism.   We would encourage the organisers to curate much more carefully a nuanced approach to sub-sectors with education overall, to give Higher Education a much more prominent voice, and to value content over volume.    Ultimately this final point is our key message:  whether we be siloEd or jumbled, we should not compromise on quality.