Assocham favours Foreign Universities Bill

Updated on: Monday, March 22, 2010

New Delhi : Despite stiff criticism from the Opposition and the Left, Assocham today pushed for enactment of draft Foreign Education Bill on the grounds that it will dramatically enhance the profile of higher education and called upon political parties to extend their support to the UPA government's move to ensure its smooth passage in Parliament.

Saying that its ''findings'' show that the legislation if passed will save foreign exchange outflow of about 7.5 billion dollars per year by way of acting as a positive force in retaining Indian students to study in the country rather than go abroad for foreign education.

The Bill is titled 'Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010' and has been cleared by the Cabinet. Assocham listed some of the outlines of the Bill. For instance, foreign universities would be allowed to set up their campuses in the country, thus preventing brain drain.

It quoted its President, Dr Swati Piramal, as saying that it would prevent at least 75 per cent of the students to study in India rather than go abroad and whose number is estimated as five lakh per year. These include professional courses in engineering, medicine and management.

The chamber said students choosing to go overseas have a perception that foreign education is qualitatively superior and helps them find a better job. It said the passage of the Bill will widen the definition of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in higher education and shake up the market as well as open up ''exciting possibilities'' for teachers.

The apex chamber said higher education, which is run on subsidy, will get deregulated, enabling greater competition which will benefit the student community.

Assocham said on an average an engineering or management student in reputed engineering institutions pay 120 dollars per month as fee, while the amount is between 1,500-5,000 dollars in equivalent institutions in countries like the United Students, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Britain.

It then gave instance of how Australia earns 15 billion dollars annually from around four lakh foreign students while the number of foreign students that are currently receiving higher education in India is less than 30,000.

It said the foreign universities have already put in place elaborate plans to set up their shops in India, especially in places like Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Pune, Mumbai and even Dehradun and are keenly waiting for this Bill to become an Act.

''The Bill, which has already been cleared by the Cabinet, has some cause of concern about provision which allows foreign education institutions to have their own admission processes and fix fees.

However, the law of land applicable to private institutions should be applicable to foreign universities aspiring to set up campuses in India. Currently, the fee for private engineering and medical colleges is fixed by state level committee headed by a private Judge. There is no mechanism to finalise the fee structure in private universities which the current Bill should ensure and said the proposed legislation should take care that managements of foreign universities do not exploit the Indian students and unnecessarily take advantage of free flow of education,'' Dr Piramal said.

Reports say that the differences on the Bill not only emanate from the BJP but also the parties like the Samajwadi Party as well as there are differences within the Congress party itself. One of the keenest supporter of the Bill is non other than HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.

It is being opposed on the ground that it will take away teachers from Indian universities to foreign universities within the country, but also because of its inegalitarian and elitist character. The foreign universities will not provide reservation for STs, SCs and OBCs, opposition parties say.

Criticism from the civil society and intellectuals is directed at the intellectual content and the changes in the course structure that it will bring about. For instance, Indian history would no longer be a preferred stream and the thrust would be on engineering, medical as well as management courses. The theory of management evolved in the West and carries with it the tag of Westernism or the capitalist enterprise.

It will thus train students which are more technocratic in nature and not have a broader understanding and appreciation of India's deep-seated culture and history. Besides, it will gear subjects of social sciences like political science and economics which are bereft of ground realities of the country.

In all likelihood, they would be structural functional in nature, catering to the westernised outlook of the elite. Says Suhas Borker, editor of CFT news and a social activist, that the course content of many Indian universities have gradually but deliberately been changed as a consequence of policy design. For instance, there was a time when many more students would prefer to going for Indian history than now.

The preferred courses are management, information technology, and the like which do not give a broader ideological understanding of society. Borker says many intellectuals, who did not toe the line of the ruling elite have been sidelined and marginalised.

This is also the fate of students doing PhD. He gives the example of erstwhile Soviet Union where emphasis was on science, mathematics and engineering, and social sciences were not the thrust area so that the Soviet regime could impinge ideology as it suited it. The propaganda regime never wanted students to have an ideological understanding, while an open society which is pluralistic in character should allow free flow of all ideological views. ''Or who lives if India and its democracy dies,'' Borker says.

Assocham favours Foreign Universities Bill

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