Foreign varsities in India: Boon or bane

Updated on: Monday, June 29, 2009

Within the last decade there has been a major shift in the concept and practice of international system of higher education, caused primarily by the globalization processes aided by the developments in information and communication technologies. The push for these developments comes mainly from the developed countries that see commercial opportunities in the new forms of international higher education system. The inclusion of education as a tradable service within the GATS of WTO has given additional momentum to this process. There is an ambivalent attitude to these developments among most of the developing countries that are not quite certain about the benefits and costs of the new approaches to internationalization of the higher education system. Some of the newly industrializing countries like India see positive opportunities for themselves. In the meantime there has been a large-scale proliferation of international programmes in higher education. There have been serious concerns about the quality, value and credibility of many of them.

The data on their number, variety, enrolment, content, quality and comparability of these transnational or trans-border programmes in the countries in which these are offered is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. The impact of these programmes on those who are enrolled is uncertain and is beyond any known assessment system. The cost of these programmes is often unreasonably high and not affordable to a vast majority of students. Some of these programmes offer a variety of confusing nomenclature of degrees not compatible with the local norms and standards.
Many of these are unaccredited qualifications. The students are misled by glamorous advertisements and academically untenable claims. The absence of any kind of policy and regulatory system in most of the countries has led to the proliferation of largely substandard education.

Even the keenest of the observers of the higher education system during the last five years could not predict the staggering number and variety of Transnational Educational (TNE) programmes offered in many of the countries around the world.
According to the conventional wisdom, the creation, transfer and dissemination of knowledge and skills were considered as the primary goals and purpose of higher education. Values of charity, humanity, culture, ethics and social benefits were embodied in the programmes and institutions offering high educational qualifications at national as well as international levels. Higher education should be considered a public service. While diversified sources of funding, private and public, are necessary, public support for higher education and research remains essential to ensure a balanced achievement of its educational and social missions.

In the emerging contemporary scenario higher education is increasingly treated as a commercial commodity offered at high prices at the national level and as tradable products across borders to those who can afford it.
This has resulted in the emergence of new types of education providers, innovative methods of delivery, and new types of partnerships presenting new challenges in framing policies and regulations to monitor and enforce quality standards to the educational process.

In many of the developing countries there has been a high degree of privatization of the higher education system. In countries such as India the response to rapidly growing demand for higher education including professional education is to liberally allow the private sector investment in higher education.
The internationalization of higher education is now seen as a logical extension of this phenomenon. While there are sufficient legal provisions to ensure the quality standards of the education provided by the approved private national institutions in India, there is hardly any authority to regulate the standards of the programmes offered by foreign institutions on their own or in collaboration with Indian institutions.

Higher education exists to serve the public interest and is not a "commodity", a fact, which WTO Member States have recognized through UNESCO, and other international or multilateral bodies, conventions, and declarations.

The mission of higher education is to contribute to the sustainable development and improvement of society as a whole by: educating highly qualified graduates able to meet the needs of all sectors of human activity; advancing, creating and disseminating knowledge through research; interpreting, preserving, and promoting cultures in the context of cultural pluralism and diversity; providing opportunities for higher learning throughout life; contributing to the development and improvement of education at all levels; and protecting and enhancing civil society by training young people in the values which form the basis of democratic citizenship and by providing critical and detached perspectives in the discussion of strategic choices facing societies.

Given this public mandate, authority to regulate higher education must remain in the hands of competent bodies as designated by any given country. Nothing in international trade agreements should restrict or limit this authority in any way.
Foreign academic institutions of different types are advertising their programs in Indian newspapers, magazines, and journals. The advertisements are aimed at attracting students to academic institutions abroad or inducing them to register for diploma and degree programs of foreign universities that are offered in India itself. A perusal of these advertisements showed that the largest number of advertisers has entered the academic arena primarily for commercial gain. The foreign universities offer a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in practically all faculties. Students are invited to enroll, on the home-campus, in undergraduate courses in the liberal arts, business, and medicine. Also on offer are postgraduate courses in engineering, technology, the sciences, the social sciences, law, arts and design, business administration, international business, banking, finance, and management.
Some of the institutions offer direct web-based learning. The programs offered in India are predominantly those in the professional areas of management and engineering. The management courses that lead to an MBA are in the specialized areas of marketing, finance, information systems, mass communications, and international affairs. Other postgraduate management programs are in hotel management, healthcare, and tourism.

In India, internationalization of higher education has taken a commercial form, with academic considerations often taking a backseat. In principle, no objection can be raised against foreign universities trying to recruit students for study outside India. In a way foreign study meets the need for higher education to aspiring students who are unable to gain admission to the institutions of their choice in India. The objection is against the "selling" of degrees, of questionable standard, by un-recognized institutions sometimes in collaboration with some recognized Indian institutions. The franchising of programs has become common but the faculty from the parent institution exercises little or no supervision and facilities are often minimal, and there are few controls relating to quality or financial arrangements.

From the Indian point of view, the activities of such institutions need to be effectively monitored and regulated. Unfortunately, the legal instruments such as the 1956 University Grants Commission Act or the 1987 All India Council for Technical Education are inadequate for this purpose at present. Hence attention should be devoted to finalize and adopt a policy relating to the operation of foreign institutions in India.

The author is chairman of IIT-Kanpur and former v

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Foreign varsities in India: Boon or bane

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