Higher Education

Higher Education 

There are three segments in higher education viz: ?central institutions, which account for 2.6% of the total enrolment? state institutions which account for 38.5% of enrolment, and ? private institutions that cater to the remaining about 60% of students Expansion of higher education during the Eleventh Plan (2007-12) was led by the private sector which now accounts for 58.5% of enrolments. Numerous reports on higher education have been submitted to the Government in recent times. Of these, the report submitted by the Yashpal Committee of 1993 took cognizance of the varied conditions of educational development and suggested a degree of autonomy in the functioning of Universities and decentralization of power. Regrettably, it was here that the concept of foreign universities starting collaboration with Indian private educational institutions was seeded. The idea was that India has low costs of living which would help    attract foreign students to study in this country which could thus earn foreign exchange while bringing in top quality education. The 12th Plan document therefore contends as follows: “Private sector will be encouraged to establish larger and higher quality institutions in the Twelfth Plan. Currently, for-profit entities are not permitted in higher education and the non-profit or philanthropy-driven institutions are unable scale up enough to bridge the demand-supply gap in higher education. Therefore, the “not-for-profit” status in higher education should, perhaps, be re-examined for pragmatic considerations so as to allow the entry of for-profit institutions in select areas where acute shortages persist”. Clearly, educational institutions would in future work mainly with a profit motive. In order to guard against the apprehension that mediocre educational entrepreneurs will invade the country, the Report recommends that investment be sought from the “best two hundred Universities” (as per various rating agencies in the World). There is no indication regarding what such Universities are going to do in our education system, and how such investment is going to benefit the average student, who admittedly still suffers from lack of quality and access. Inevitably, this will lead to creating a few islands of “premium” education accessible only to those with ability to pay huge sums as fees, and about whose quality or relevance to Indian conditions nobody has any idea. This will further exacerbate the inequalities already prevalent in the Indian educational system as regards both access and quality. This is a completely unacceptable policy, and must be vigorously opposed. Other reports too have drifted in this direction. The Birla-Ambani Report says Higher Education is not a public good but a private good! The National Knowledge Commission Report and the recommendations by N.R. Narayanamurthy have treated higher education as a money-spinning enterprise which places knowledge and expertise in the marketplace, and treats students and the feeder community as consumers.The growing emphasis on so-called self-financing educational institutions, which further means high fees and hence providing access only to the better-off, is very much like the slogan of “user charges” in health services and public utilities such as water, power and other infrastructure. These are all part of the neo-liberal policy framework wherein the state withdraws from services for the common good, and instead leaves it to corporate bodies guided by market forces, which inevitably pushes these services towards higher-paying sections of the population and exacerbates inequalities in society. This increase of highfee higher education institutions, aided and abetted by central apex bodies such as the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), Indian Medical Council (IMC), National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) and National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT) have rendered higher education out of reach for students who find it difficult to take loans. Even those middle-class students who do manage to take loans, get tied up for many years in repaying the loans. Such policies have wreaked havoc in developed countries including the UK and USA. In the US, total outstanding student loans have crossed $1300 billion (Rs.90 lakh crores) and students often have loans hanging over them for over 25 years! The NEP Report has recommended merit-cum-means scholarships covering fees and living expenses for up to 10 lakh needy students, but this is not expected to meet real needs or alter the basic problems outlined above. Such market-led higher education is also killing the diversity desired in higher education. There is a kind of “academic cloning” now taking place, where the same kinds of courses in disciplines such as engineering, medicine and management were being cloned and taught everywhere in an attempt to capture the cream of the “student market”. In the process, other important forms of knowledge such as basic sciences, social sciences, humanities and languages have lagged behind, because they are not thought of as commercially attractive, where students will not pay high fees and not take large loans for fear of being unable to pay them. Even major Universities are being forced to run or recognize only the former types of “new generation courses.” This trend mirrors similar trends in the US and Europe where the same neo-liberal policies hold sway.

      Studies on the academic performance in such courses have demonstrated an absolute decline in quality, indicated by a sharp fall in examination results, in spite of such screening processes such as entrance examinations. In fact, the admissions processes in the numerous selffinancing institutions that have sprung up everywhere have become so complicated that entrance examinations do not serve as a screening instrument anymore. This is further complicated by the emergence of numerous ‘coaching malls’ that openly resort to malpractice. Strategies of “quality assurance” such as accreditation and rating devices have not helped in improving the conditions of higher education. Many colleges and Universities have managed to get high ratings, but only in order to attract more funds, not to improve the teaching-learning process or to ensure academic excellence.

No amount of “corporate social responsibility” or corporate profit recycling can hope to replace the role played by the State in the running of an education system that caters to interests of the Indian population and society as a whole. Corporate funds and “for-profit” institutions by their very nature will move according to the profit motive, not as per the greatest social good. No wonder moves are under way to make education a tradable commodity and place education among services governed under World Trade Organization (WTO)