Centre for privatisation of higher education

Updated on: Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Suggesting increased private partnership as a viable financial model to enhance investments in the education sector, the government has recommended raising fees in higher education institutions and allowing schools to function as profit-making bodies with a regulatory mechanism in place.

For students belonging to the weaker sections, there could be provision for financing grants for pursuing higher education, repayable after the students start earning so as to ensure sustainability of the system, the Mid-Year Analysis for 2010-11 tabled in the Lok Sabha recommended on Tuesday.

While appreciating the creation of new institutions and various reforms proposed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, including establishing a National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) as an overarching regulatory body for higher education, the analysis, nevertheless, says adequacy of teachers — both in numbers and quality — remains a cause for concern. Universities need to be reoriented to the changing situation and demands in the job market. Many universities are simply out of touch with the modern systems. Quality of education and demand-supply mismatch are other issues, it points out.

While a select number of institutions in the country do offer world class education, in most institutions the quality is quite unsatisfactory without a continuous effort to upgrade standards, teaching methods, content of learning and quality of teachers, it says.

Sounding a note of caution on the proposal to allow foreign educational institutions to function in India, the Mid-Year Analysis says there is a need to see that these institutions, as permitted under the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010, do not misuse the system. This is possible if they have low stakes in the overall system and make minimum investment in infrastructure and faculty. They should be encouraged to fund their Indian campuses for sensitive, cutting-edge research.

On the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — which came into force this year — the report recommends involving big corporate houses in education philanthropy as part of their corporate social responsibility. Virtually disagreeing with the government's stated position that schools could be run only as non-profit trusts, the report points out that private schools are already making huge profits. It is, therefore, advisable to discontinue with the non-profit trust requirement and allow schools to make profit.

At the same time, a regulatory structure can ensure that a certain number of students from the weaker sections are also enrolled. Such a system, if strictly regulated and enforced, would encourage competition, be transparent and inclusive and ensure the flow of much-needed supplementary capital in this field.

Centre for privatisation of higher education

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