VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS: Mysore University Vice-Chancellor J. Shashidar Prasad inaugurating seminar on "Challenges in higher education" in Mysore on Tuesday. P. Venkataramaiah, former Vice-Chancellor, Kuvempu University, and Jalees A.K. Tareen, former Vice-Chancellor of Kashmir University, are seen. — PHOTO: M.A. Sriram

MYSORE: The State Government is thinking of providing matching grants to the universities corresponding to the funds generated through research, consultancy and other means to support higher education.

Vice-Chancellor of University of Mysore J. Shashidhar Prasad said here on Tuesday that the Government was thinking on these lines following a suggestion by him in a bid to tackle resource crunch in the field of higher education.

He was speaking at a seminar on challenges in higher education organised by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Mysore chapter, and the Department of Studies in Education, University of Mysore. Prof. Prasad said the falling government support for higher education and requests for additional funds to clear the salary arrears were turned down on the grounds that the varsities should generate their own funds.

This raised questions whether the internally generated funds should be channelised to pay salaries or take up fresh projects. Hence the Government was thinking of releasing matching grant corresponding to at least 50 per cent of the amount generated by universities to bail them out of financial crunch.

Prof. Prasad said reputed universities from the developed countries were entering the country to meet the growing demand for higher education and in the process were earning an enormous amount while Indian universities were strapped of funds and hence there was a challenge of sustenance.

He listed access, social equity and corruption as other challenges confronting higher education in India and cited a survey report to substantiate his claim that academics were more corrupt than politicians.

The former Vice-Chancellor of Kuvempu University P. Venkatramaiah called for public-private partnership with equity support system to expand the number of universities and institutions of higher learning and to provide access to lakhs of students. He said there was a need to open nearly a 1,000 universities but this could not be sustained without public-private partnership.

He said the enrolment to primary education was 85 per cent but it dropped to 39 per cent at the secondary school level whereas only 7 per cent of the eligible students in the age group of 17 to 23 had access to higher education. So the immediate challenge was to bring all students in the eligible age group within the ambit of higher education. He identified access and equity without sacrificing quality as other challenges confronting the higher education scenario.

Prof. Venkataramaiah stressed on the need to launch more open universities and conventional universities to provide opportunity for the dropouts.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail