The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Expanding the university system

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 08, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Expanding the university system

Anita Joshua

Photo: A. Shaikmohideen

Manonmaniam sundaranar University, Tirunelveli

For once, they are all speaking the same language — Planning Commission, the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, the National Knowledge Commission (NKC), Oversight Committee set up to monitor the new reservation policy. All are one in making out a case for a manifold increase in avenues for higher education by 2015 is by having around 1,500 universities nationwide. As of today, the proportion of Indians in the 18-24 age-group with access to higher education hovers around eight per cent which is only half the average of Asia and way below the developed world's 45 - 85 per cent.

While the NKC has quantified the expansion needed, there is a general consensus about the fact that "the opportunities for higher education in terms of the number of places in universities are simply not enough in relation to our needs.'' How India can manage this quantum leap from the present 350 universities to the targeted 1,500 in less than a decade is the question that the system is grappling with given that resources for higher education are not easy to come by under the present regulatory mechanism.

It is with this view in mind that the NKC has advocated a change in the system of regulation for higher education. Finding the barriers to entry too high, the system of authorising entry cumbersome and the multiplicity of regulatory agencies confusing, the NKC's contention is that the system as a whole is "over-regulated but under-governed.''

Instead, it has advocated the creation of an Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education (IRAHE) which should be kept at an "arm's length from the Government and independent of all stakeholders including the concerned ministries of the Government.''

Conceived as a "one-window'' system for setting criteria and deciding on entry, IRAHE would apply the same norms to public and private institutions as well as domestic and international entities.

Given the entrenched nature of existing mechanisms like the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Bar Council of India (BCI), it remains to be seen whether IRAHE will ever see the light of the day.

For, the NKC has proposed that the role of the UGC be re-defined to focus on the disbursement of grants to, and maintenance of, public institutions in higher education, and the entry regulatory functions of AICTE, MCI and BCI be performed by IRAHE; limiting their role to that of professional associations.

Tthe Commission has recommended creation of 50 National Universities; the first 10 in the next three years. To be set up as "exemplars for the rest of the nation,'' these universities will train students in a variety of disciplines at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The National Universities — which will be department-based and will not have any affiliated colleges — can be set up either by the Government or by a private sponsoring body that sets up a society, charitable trust or a Section 25 Company. Of the view that the system of affiliated colleges for undergraduate education is no longer appropriate in the present scenario, the Commission has called for their restructuring.

For one, autonomy could be given to clusters of colleges — selected on the basis of criteria such as similar standards or geographical proximity — and they could in time be upgraded to universities. What's more, the Commission has said as a limited option, such autonomous colleges, or cluster of colleges, could constitute a part of the 1,500 varsities that today appear like a dream for setting up educational institutions require more than just land and money.

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