Education institutes likely to get partial financial autonomy

Updated on: Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The HRD ministry has indicated that it is open to considering partial financial autonomy for higher education institutions.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal has asked higher education secretary Vibha Puri Das to set up a committee to look into the issue of providing "partial autonomy" to higher education institutes to enable them to be flexible in matters of salary for faculty, funding specific projects without having to rush to New Delhi for approval from the ministry.

The committee, to be formed shortly, will consider the parameters of autonomy to institutions. It will submit its report in three months after which the ministry will need to seek Cabinet approval before the institutes are given this flexibility in financial matters.

The decision to consider the possibility of partial autonomy was made in the course of a meeting of the Higher Education Roundtable, headed by Mr Sibal.

It was pointed out by IIT (Madras) director M S Ananth and IIM (Kozhikode) director Debashis Chatterjee that institutes like theirs are unable to take the decision to hire faculty at higher salaries because they need to get approval from the ministry, an exercise that leads to delays and lost opportunities.

They also said that even when companies offer to pay the extra amount required to hire specific experts or professors, the institutes are unable to take a decision as any deviation from norm requires prior approval from the ministry. This limited manoeuvering has meant that the newer institutions have to make do with fewer faculty, as they are unable to attract teaching staff at the current emoluments.

The committee would also consider moving from the system of block grants to norm-based grants for greater manoeuvering space for institutions.

Education institutes likely to get partial financial autonomy

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