The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Call for a structural overhaul of higher education

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Call for a structural overhaul of higher education

Special Correspondent

Autonomy without regulations may lead to chaos, says Barnala

CHENNAI: A huge vacuum existed in the organisational framework of higher education in the country and the system needed to be overhauled to enable it to meet the demands of a globalising world order, speakers at a seminar on `Autonomy in higher education: regulatory and legal issues' organised by the Education Promotion Society for India said here on Tuesday.

The issue of autonomy in higher education had deep political ramifications and without regulations, it may lead to chaos, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala said.

A little amount of freedom could be allowed for higher educational institutions in academic matters so that they were able to cope with the fast-changing socio-educational scenario, he said.

Vision and philosophy mattered more than regulatory and legal issues in higher education, N. Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, said. A clear distinction had to be made between areas of higher education, where merit alone should be the criterion. In primary education, especially in relation to issues of access to poor and weaker sections, the principles of social justice should be followed, he said.

Higher education, as it existed elsewhere in the world, did not exist in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, V.C. Kulandaiswamy, former Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, said.

Unlike the rest of the world where university campuses had the maximum numbers of students and faculties, in India, the same could be found only in affiliated colleges. If India sought to become a developed country, the numbers of those seeking higher education had to be increased from 6 per cent to 25 per cent.

Both the Central and State governments had abdicated their responsibility towards higher education by withdrawing from the scene and leaving the field to private players.

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