The Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Law School have been enjoying autonomy and minimum government interference and their success stories should be the model for the new higher education bills up for debate in the Parliament, feel education experts.
These bills, if legislated, will make accreditation mandatory, curb malpractices like donations and capitations, introduce a fast track adjudication of disputes and most importantly, will open doors to foreign universities to set campuses in India.
"Our advantage is that our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is an economist. Earlier, he liberalised economy and see the benefits we have reaped. And now, he sees the importance of the higher education industry from an economist's point of view," Professor Madhava Menon, director, Dr S Radhakrishnan Chair on Parliamentary Studies, told rediff.com post a panel discussion on the subject.
Menon and many other experts were discussing institutional reforms in Indian higher education at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry Higher Education Summit in New Delhi.
Menon, who had initiated autonomy in National Law Schools, said, "What I realised during my time at the National Law School is that autonomy is the backbone of any institution. The IITs and the IIMs enjoyed this concept way before we did in NLS, where it was introduced in 1985. Just like economy, education needs to be liberalised as well."
Vibha Puri Das, secretary, higher education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, said that education institutions should be liberated of multiple regulations like the economy, so that "better self-governing institutions are born."
According to Prof Menon, there is a constant tussle between the private players and the government. "Private players keep demanding autonomy, but are not ready to give accountability and the government does not want to give autonomy without accountability. So the introduction of a single regulatory body - the National Commission for Higher Education and Research -- will help fix this," he added.
Another expert, Professor M Anandakrishnan, chairman, board of governors, IIT-Kanpur said that penalties have to be introduced and implemented for offences made by institutions.
"This is important. I am not exaggerating, but in India, education sector is the next biggest trade in the blackmarket. According to current laws, even if an institution is caught charging lakhs of rupees in donations, they are fined only Rs 1000. The new bill should increase the monetary fine and also include a prison sentence," he added.
The other bill that will be debated is the introduction of a fast-track settlement of disputes. "Judicial processes can drag on for years. So what we need is a fast-track settlement in case of a student-institution dispute or an institution-regulator dispute. This will ensure quick disposal of such disputes," Das said.
Prof Anandakrishnan said that India must open its doors to the world, but only to those institutions that have a good track record. "Only then will students enroll. The faculty these institutions employ should not become a liability for us if they fail.
So, to ensure this, only those institutions, which have accreditation in their home country, should be allowed. Another important thing is that we should ensure these universities are not coming to India to just make money," he said.
Prof Menon said that the new bill will make sure this does not happen. "What we are making sure with these bills is that the surplus money these institutions will make will be invested further in the education sector. Investments in education should be seen as investments for the country. We have 400 million youth to educate," Prof Menon said.
