NEW DELHI: Since revenue generation through student fees beyond 20 per cent of the recurring requirements of universities could well affect access to higher education, the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) Committee on Financing of Higher and Technical Education has favoured a progressive taxation system where the affluent are taxed more to benefit the middle and lower income groups.

A recommendation to this effect was made by the CABE Committee — headed by Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar — in its report on Financing of Higher and Technical Education, submitted to Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on Tuesday.

`Sound system'

While the committee preferred a "sound differential fee system" in higher education based on the principle of `ability to pay,' the practical difficulties in implementing such a regime have made it suggest a progressive taxation system with the proviso of looking at more than just the income tax.

Also, according to the committee, if the total allocation for education is raised to the elusive six per cent of the Gross National Product (GNP) from the current four per cent, then higher and technical education should get at least 1.5 per cent of the GNP. Of this, one per cent should be for higher education and 0.5 per cent for technical education. At present, about 0.4 per cent is spent on higher education and 0.1 per cent on technical education.

On student loan programmes, the committee has taken the view that extensive reliance on such schemes could be counter-productive in the long run, "creating a view that higher education is not a public good but a highly individualised private good as the responsibility of funding shifts from the State to households [through introduction of fees] and within families from parents to the children themselves [through loans]."

Growth of self-financing courses in higher education institutions and private higher education should be regulated to avoid vulgar forms of commercialisation. While stating that philanthropy in education should be encouraged by the Government through appropriate fiscal incentives, the committee noted that the "overall role of private sector in education cannot but be limited." Similarly, "foreign universities that enter India with a view to exploiting the situation here and essentially to raise resources need to be prevented." The committee has called for tough and detailed regulations to enable only those foreign universities having high academic standards wishing to provide good quality education use the provisions in WTO/GATS to enter the higher education scene in India.

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