Pvt institutes upbeat

Updated on: Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Kolkata: The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, cleared by the Union cabinet on Monday, is much-awaited news for several private colleges and universities, who believe that the entire education system will undergo a revolution once the bill is passed. Many private players in the education sector have already been approached by foreign universities for collaborative programmes. All they were waiting for was a government nod.

“We have 8.5 acres in Barasat, on which we are setting up Brainware Knowledge Campus,” said Falguni Mukhopadhyay, founder chairman and managing director of Brainware Consultancy Pvt Ltd. “We have decided to establish a school of engineering, which will have five major departments. There will be an MCA course and an MBA school as well. We have just started the process, as the buildings are under construction and we are awaiting an AICTE approval.”

Mukhopadhyay adds that the bill would ensure much improved education. “Even the foreign universities would
gain by taking our students, who are intelligent. There is a huge knowledge pool here. Setting up off-shore universities are a growing trend,” he adds. He explained that the institutes will later plan to enter into a foreign collaboration with the with foreign universities — mainly in the engineering, MBA and computer science departments.

“We are looking for students and facultyexchange programme. A credit-based system, in which students can carry forward credits earned from our university to a foreign university, will also be introduced. We will seek more collaboration in projects. The library network, systems and procedures will improve, when the foreign universities will directly interact with our indigenous students,” said Mukhopadhyay.

Techno India group also has several plans, which includes hiring foreign faculty, a student-exchange and credit exchange programme.

“The management department of Central Michigan University had showed their desire to enter into a joint collaboration with our management department. However, there were too many government rules. If the bill is finally passed, the entire education system will be changed. The competition will ensure survival of the fittest institutes. The education curriculum will have to be modified. The universities will be forced to develop their ambience, introduce better faculty and pump in more funds for their research facilities as foreign universities pay a lot to their researchers,” said Satyam Roychowdhury, managing director of Techno India group of colleges.

Integration of the entire education system — from KG to PG — on the same campus has been achieved by the Pailan Group. “We have had several offers from foreign universities and institutes, asking for collaboration. However, no one will invest unless the education business is made profitable. The government has now decided that if the bill is passed, keeping Rs 50 crore as a corpus, the rest will be kept as profits. With globalisation and foreign universities opening off-shore campuses, the R&D facility shall improve,” said Apurva Saha, chairman of Pailan Group.

Pvt institutes upbeat

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