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Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

Quest for excellence: There is a need for more universities of good standing, but can it be met by having more deemed universities?

A total of 22 institutions have applied to the University Grants Commission for grant of DU status, and of these, at least 20 are likely to be approved, sources say. Six more institutions are in the process of submitting applications. The State already has 13 DUs, the second highest number in the country after Maharashtra.

The concerns that are being voiced against more number of institutions being conferred the status range all the way from deterioration in the quality of education to the phased withdrawal of accountability on the part of these institutions.

The UGC Act of 1956 stops just short of providing a clear definition. Once a DU is constituted, it becomes an autonomous entity, and can determine its own educational agenda and process, has full functional autonomy (which is quite different, however, from an autonomous college/institution) and is independent of the mother university and can award degrees. However, it cannot affiliate other colleges.

The first DU in the country was established in Tamil Nadu and there has been no scaling back ever since. “As per the tenets of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, the country needs 1,500 universities, deemed or otherwise and we are far below that number. However, in allowing DUs to proliferate, issues of quality seem to be a grey area,” says D. Victor, former Director of Collegiate Education, who serves on several State government boards.

It is not surprising that the most number of commentaries against DUs have also come from Tamil Nadu. Senior academicians like M. Anandakrishnan and V.C. Kulandaisamy have been at the forefront of the ‘Deemed Universities or Doomed Universities?’ debate.

The proliferation of DUs in the country has followed a random pattern, academicians point out. From 1956 to 1966, 10 institutions were conferred the status. In the first 10 years after the enactment of the UGC Act, eight institutions in the country were notified as deemed universities. In the 1970s, only three made the mark, but during the 1980s, 18 institutions were granted approval.

“In the 35 years between 1956 and 1990, only 29 institutions were granted the deemed university status. In the last 15 years alone, 63 institutions were declared DUs. More so in the last five years, when 36 institutions were notified,” points out an educational planner.

Apart from education delivery, the quality of research and a random fee structure have also caused concern. Academicians have also expressed reservations on how the provision of granting DU to only those institutions that have been in existence for 10 years or more has been extrapolated against the clause which allows for a provisional de novo status if the institution delivers academic programmes in emerging areas.

Laudable though the objectives may be, it is the implementation of the UGC stipulations and the lack of an effective monitoring process that has led to a sharp fall in standards, according to academicians.

“The UGC is required to send a team every three years to monitor the DUs but it seldom does so. Most of the DUs, at least in Tamil Nadu, are either privately owned or run by family-centered Trusts. This has led to an unabashed commercialisation and trivialisation of the higher education system in many ways, starting with the levying of excessive fees to the indiscriminate conferment of honoris causa degrees,” Mr. Victor observes.

Another concern is the operation of satellite centres by the DUs under the garb of contact classes, something which the UGC act explicitly forbids. Yet another apprehension is the dwindling role of State governments when it comes to control of the DUs.

“State governments should be brought into the decision-making process of whether or not an applicant should be conferred the DU status. Very often, it is the State government which is in a position to provide inputs regarding the function of the institutions,” according to the academic head of a top DU.

“Academicians should be brought on board the academic councils of these institutions, once the DU status is conferred. This would, to a certain extent, mitigate the drop in quality,” Mr. Victor adds.

Until the checks and balances are in place, it will be an issue of quantity taking precedence over quality.

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