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Higher Education Regulation in India: Problems and ProspectsANUP K SINGH, PHD
New Realities
Emergence of middle class with high aspirations for higher education
Consequently, substantial increase in Graduate Enrolment Ratio
Professional education increasing faster than arts, humanities and social science education
Post 1991, significant increase in private, self-financing institutions
Most professional education takes place in private, self-financing institutions than in government institutions
ICT as a great enabler of learning
Focus on employability
Return on investment as a major concern for students and parents
Complexities of Higher Education
Higher education leads to both public and private good; therefore, the government has an interest in higher education both as the provider and as the regulator
The government controls educational institutions tightly
Information and power asymmetry between the providers and consumers
No exit from educational service once a student has taken admission in a long term programme
Profiteering by many private, self-financing institutions in spite of constitutional provision that education is for charity
Lurking suspicions of all private, self-financing institutions; real charitable institutions thus suffer
Government’s expense on higher education not increasing; thus, it depends on private institutions to achieve its social objectives
Accreditation is made mandatory but requisite infrastructure is missing
Difficulties in balancing access, equity and excellence
Regional and state disparity in higher education
Monopolistic Competition in Higher Education
Product differentiation (Educational institutions differentiate partly on curriculum, student experience, return on investment, etc.)
Many firms (700 universities and over 36,000 colleges)
No entry and exit cost in the long run
Independent decision making (Universities and colleges hardly coordinate among themselves; even if there are some associations, they are fragile)
Some degree of market power (Ranking, accreditation and word of mouth)
Buyers and Sellers do not have perfect information (Imperfect Information)
Corruption in Education
A large number of people perceive the educational sector as one of the most corrupt sectors in India
Bribe to provide license to establish an educational institution
Capitation fees; high admission fees; under-payment to faculty and staff; siphoning out money from the institutions; personal use of institutional resources; sundry charges from students
High on promise, low on performance
Fake degrees; low academic rigour; non-adherence to regulatory norms and standards
Land grabbing; whitening of black money
Regulatory bodies are seen lethargic, inefficient and unscrupulous
Governmental Control of Higher Education
Both central and state government control education
Different state governments differ in their regulation and administration of higher education
There are multiple regulatory bodies, like UGC, AICTE, BCI, PCI, etc.
Sometimes, there are conflict among them
High control, low on support and facilitation
Government acts as a protector of students and parents at the cost of being the promoter of excellence in education
State and national outlook; no aspiration to upgrade to international standards
Lack of clarity to deal with new educational realities
Educational regulations more driven by political exigencies than by high standards
Law and Higher Education
The Constitution of the country allow impart of knowledge to the student as an occupation; however, it does not allow profit creation
Private institutions are allowed full autonomy; however, they are required to follow merit in admission
However, the State can provide for reservation in favour of financially or socially backward sections of the society
Each state is required to found a fee regulatory committee that will fix fee for a period of three years for colleges
Contd…
Private institutions are expected to conduct an admission test through their association; the admission is to be supervised by a retired high court judge
Most state governments have developed a common private university act under which an institution can apply for the status of a university. The act is generally restrictive and provides limited autonomy to the university
However, the UGC demands that for a university to be recognised by it has to be established by a separate Act rather than by a common Act. It created a serious problem for many private universities
The entry of foreign institutions is still a grey area
Suppliers of Higher Education
Central government (Chiefly MHRD, other ministries, government enterprises)
State government (state universities, state colleges, grant-in-aid colleges)
State private universities and colleges (Diversities among promoters, varying from philanthropists to politicians to businessmen, to religious trust, to minority organisations to state government enterprises)
Deemed universities (government and private)
Non-profit company (For example, Indian School of Business)
For profit company (NIIT, School of Inspired Leadership)
Related Industries
Coaching industry
Admission agencies
Admission portals
Print media, including education magazines
Ranking organisations
Soft skill providers
Testing industry
Placement agencies
Market and Higher Education
Market of higher education becoming mature. There is monopolistic competition in the market
Accreditation has failed to create awareness about quality institutions among various stakeholders
UGC and AICTE have made it mandatory for institutions to keep some vital information on their websites
Information about different institutions is available through ranking agencies
There is more supply for many programmes than demand
Therefore, the power of students and parents is not as low as it may seem
Competition among institutions is heating up
Several institutions are being closed, while new institutions are also being established
Regulation of Higher Education
State governments directly monitor and control higher education institutions through licensing, admission and fee regulations
UGC and AICTE are two main regulatory bodies
They are responsible for both assurance of standards and disbursement of grants
There are other professional bodies, controlling professional education like MCI, PCI, BCI, etc. (These are purely regulatory bodies)
Most of these bodies were established pre-90s; therefore, they are not fully geared to address new educational realities and institutions
A recent committee on higher education headed by Dr. Hari Gautam recommended the scrapping of the UGC
Accreditation
It is a mechanism of quality assurance
Besides following higher education regulatory mechanisms, institutions need to undergo accreditation
Accreditation can be in terms of both accredited/not-accredited or grading
It should inform general public and different stakeholders about the quality of an institution
As India is a large country with over 36,000 colleges and 750 universities, there is a need for several general and discipline-specific accreditation agencies
Contd…
Accreditation should focus on student learning and outcomes
Outcome measures (Learning, employability, initial salary, exposure, career progression, student satisfaction, soft skill development, etc.)
It should also reflect Indian realities
There should be strong mechanisms to ensure that accreditation agencies do not indulge in malpractices
It should focus on both assessment of quality and assessment for quality
It should also work for upgradation of quality
Ranking of Institutions
Ranking besides accreditation provides additional information about the quality of institutions to students, parents and employers
In the last two decades, the ranking of institutions have picked up
The ranking of universities in India is recent and is in a nascent stage
The rankings of business and engineering schools are most popular and mature
There is mushroom growth of ranking agencies; many of them are spurious
There is a need for ranking of ranking agencies
The Government of India is considering to rank institutions for public at large
Regulatory Authority of Higher Education & Research
It may set norms and standards for different disciplines of higher education, including government institutions, grant-in-aid institutions and private institutions
It may monitors adherence to those norms and standards by various institutions
It may penalise institutions for non-adherence and malpractices
Another body may be responsible for funding and financial support to institution
The different regulatory bodies need to coordinate among themselves to facilitate the functioning of institutions and universities. There may be a body to coordinate them