Prof. K.S Chandrasekar
The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) announced by the Ministry of HRD has initially undergone round of discussions before being presented by them. One of the aspects of NEP is that it envisages the top 100 foreign universities to set up their facility in India. Already letter of approval is granted to many foreign universities to set up campuses in India. In addition, it has been clearly mentioned that the colleges with 15 years of standing will be moved to the next level of a university. It is good that 6% of the GDP is earmarked for Education and as such major part of the investment will happen in developing the primary and secondary education which is expected to push more literacy among the younger population. However, the government has mentioned that 50% of the population should be included in Gross Enrolment Ratio so that India will be able to produce skilled and knowledge driven population to serve the international markets.
According to Asian Development Bank, about 22.7% of the population (both male and female) earn less than $1.9 per day. The lower middle class in India constitutes a major part of the population and if we account them also it can be seen that 50% of the population is under or near poverty. The policy also shows that there is no distinction between public and private universities or colleges. Even though the respective state governments continue to control the fees to be obtained from the students, in many parts of the country, this mechanism is not fully adopted. In this circumstance, the entry of foreign universities is something akin to the liberalization undertaken during the 1990s. When the private or foreign institutions are allowed, the public institutions need to be first made competitive. Without this, the public institutions will have untimely deaths. It should be remembered that the public sector organizations prior to the liberalization were performing very well and the government support was fully there. However, once liberalization came, all institutions were considered to be equal, the very purpose of establishing the public sectors was defeated. During the 2000’s and after that, the country witnessed the sale of the public sectors. At one time, the government even introduced a Ministry of Disinvestment. It should be noted that the same fate will be there for the central and state government higher education institutions. The hall mark of the public higher education institutions is the lower and affordable fees for the students who mainly comprise of the lower middle class. Some of the bright talents have come out of these institutions and have served the society and are doing now. When the foreign universities are allowed, the cost of education will increase. It may be noted that it will stem the flow of Indian students who would otherwise go to foreign countries to pursue their education for want of foreign degrees. This will be made available straight at the cities of India. If the list of universities were these students are studying, more of the universities are outside the purview of the top 100 universities. These universities normally charge a higher rate for education. Cambridge University offers MBA programme. The one year MBA programme costs in UK, Rs.53.4 lakhs. For a BA in Economics, the annual fee is about Rs.19.8 lakhs. All these mentioned here are only tuition fees. If Cambridge University sets up their facility in India, only the elite of the population will be able to afford this fee. Moreover, there will be distinction between the degrees awarded and the rest of the institutions will find it difficult to match the foreign universities. In India, there are already private institutions and universities who have been allowed to operate across the country provided they have NAAC 3.5 score. As the foreign universities are being invited to participate in the higher education scenario, the relevance of NAAC and NBA will be lost. NAAC score is one of the criteria for a university to receive RUSA fund. When the distinction between private and public universities vanishes, the RUSA fund may not reach the needed universities. One should understand that there are many universities who have more than 50 years of existence and they have created infrastructure which is unparalleled as compared to any universities in the world. The emergence of research universities and teaching universities is a welcome move but it requires prudence in converting the existing universities to the status of research universities. The ministry should have identified at least one university in each state to be converted to Research universities or elevate some of the state owned or central institution to the status of research universities. There is a need for lot of home work in this context. It is similar as that of the proposal to start World class universities during the UPA regime but that was completely shelved. There are many niche areas which require lot of attention like Arts, Humanities and Social sciences. Some of the best government institutions in these areas may find it to survive without proper government funding. This is due to the low fees and also scholarships provided by the various governments. Care should be taken to protect these institutions. In Orissa, there is a need for tribal studies and a need for exclusive tribal university funded by the Central government. India is emerging as a major consuming class and the middle class is ready to spend on education for their wards. In this circumstance, the government should look forward to offering competitive education at a lower fees.
One area of concern is the possibility of some of the best faculty being lured away by the foreign and private universities. This is similar to the situation like golden handshake. When the government wants to focus only on primary and secondary education, the private institutions will easily get the elite in public institutions. This will make the best Professors being taken away for the elite class. This will hamper the purpose for which the best talents are recruited for the students. Similarly the movement of all universities to multi disciplinary by 2040 is something which takes away the core function of a university. In Tamilnadu, there are separate universities for Sports, Teacher education and also Music. How they will move towards multidisciplinary is a question mark. It is here that the government should have considered augmenting and enriching such universities. However, now that foreign universities presence is inevitable, it is the question of the survival of the fittest among the elite universities in India which only will ensure global competitiveness of our universities.
(The author is Vice Chancellor, Cluster University of Jammu)
