The new global scenario poses unprecedented challenges for the higher education system. The University Grants Commission has appropriately stated that a whole range of skills will be demanded from the Graduates of humanities, Social sciences, Natural sciences and Commerce as well as from the various professional disciplines such as Agriculture, Law, Management, Medicine and Engineering Responding to these emerging needs, the UGC stated: “The University has a crucial role to play in promoting social change. It must make an impact on the community if it is to retain its legitimacy and gain public support”. Concepts of access, equity, relevance and quality can be operationalised only if the system is both effective and efficient. Hence, the management of higher education and the total networking of the system for effective management has become an important issue. The shift can occur only through a systemic approach to change as also the development of its human resource, and networking the system through Information and Communication Technology. All these factors will impel higher education to undergo vast changes in respect of objectives, contents and methods. It will have to bear momentous responsibilities for generating new vistas of knowledge and wisdom, bolder forms of courage and heroism, unprecedented arts of harmony and beauty, and unimaginable skills suited to developing technologies. It will also be required to set more exacting standards of excellence and perfection.
The emergence of new economy, globalization, privatization and deregulation has thrown up new challenges in the field of legal education throughout the world. The revolutionary changes in information and communication technologies require corresponding changes in the legal system. Globalization and the retreat of the state from traditional role have raised new legal issues concerning methods of protection of poor and marginalized section from further impoverishment. The very nature of law and legal institutions are in the midst of paradigm shift. The expectations of the country and the people from law and legal services in the coming years requires the State to evolve the best strategy to strengthen professional legal education while promoting wider instruction in law as a liberal academic discipline. This requires an appropriate model to achieve supervisory and control mechanism to ensure accountability on the part of professional schools of law in maintaining standards of teaching, research and extension activities The unmet legal needs of different sections of society, delay and cost in accessing justice, impact of globalization on equality and human rights, vast technological changes especially in information and communication, the relative incapacitation of the state by market domination and the role of professions in justice, peace and development. In bringing forth all these changes law and lawyers playa decisive role of facilitation, moderation and control. It is the nature of and access to institutions and procedures which make justice possible. In structuring the institutions and procedures, particularly in periods of transition, lawyers will have to assist communities, interest groups and governments keeping in mind the requirements of equity, justice and fairness.
Keeping the spirit of qualitative improvement of the institutions of higher education, this is the right time to appreciate the integration of teaching, professional skills and research in 21st century to make our system more productive with ample scope for enhancing the skills of employability. Let us accept the following truth with a vision to update our thinking and understanding .Recently the NEP 2020 has given the direction to appreciate the paradigm shift of higher education in 21st century for a new and forward looking vision. The policy emphasizes the introduction of holistic and multidisciplinary approach in higher education through Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4). Quality development has the power to increase teachers’ knowledge of academic contents and teaching skills. Powerful professional development can transform colleges into places in which all adults and students are deeply engaged in learning and making their lives meaningful. It will focus on planning and implementing professional development that is based upon student needs, driven by the intended results and desired changes in educator knowledge, skills and attitudes, and designed to transform the organization into a learning community.
