A re-look at private institutions
Private education providers and regulators need to create an environment of mutual trust for the benefit of stakeholders and students
R. S. Grewal
HIGHER education in India faces a major dilemma. Although the private sector accounts for 91 per cent of seats in engineering, 64 per cent in management studies, 95 per cent in pharmaceutical studies, 92 per cent in physiotherapy, 50 per cent in medicine and 94 per cent in hotel management, its role is still viewed suspiciously by many in the country.

Teacher ‘pays’ troublemakers to stay away
Richard Garner
Troublemaking pupils are being offered £100 bribes to skip school during inspections, according to a survey of teachers.

Campus Notes
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
Prestigious scientist awards
PROFESSOR (Mrs) Avinash Nagpal of the Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences of Guru Nanak Dev University has been conferred with the “Senior Scientist Award”, while Rajneet Kaur Soodan, a PhD scholar, has been awarded the “Young Scientist Award” at the Fourth International Conference on Life Science Research for Rural and Agricultural Development organised jointly by the International Consortium of Contemporary Biologists (ICCB) and the Madhawi-Shyam Educational Trust (MSET) at the Central Potato Research Station, Patna, Bihar, recently.

n International Congress on English grammar
n Highest status for varsity
n Symposium on chemistry

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A re-look at private institutions
Private education providers and regulators need to create an environment of mutual trust for the benefit of stakeholders and students
R. S. Grewal

HIGHER education in India faces a major dilemma. Although the private sector accounts for 91 per cent of seats in engineering, 64 per cent in management studies, 95 per cent in pharmaceutical studies, 92 per cent in physiotherapy, 50 per cent in medicine and 94 per cent in hotel management, its role is still viewed suspiciously by many in the country.

The government has categorised elementary education as a “merit good”, while the higher education is considered as a “non-merit good”. The implications of this policy are that funds available for higher education are rather limited, raising serious issues related to access to institutions of higher learning. Considering the Indian demographic environment, the government has no choice but to rely upon the private sector to meet the burgeoning demand. Therefore, the privatisation of higher education in India has not come about due to an ideological commitment, but has been forced upon it.

The regulatory bodies in India have not been prepared for this sudden change and view the entry of the private sector with scepticism. They are suspicious of the monopolisation of higher education by the private sector. The entry and the conduct of some of the private sector players, who sense an opportunity to make a quick buck, further aggravate the matters. A tendency has developed amongst the bureaucrats and the regulatory bodies to paint all private institutions with the same brush. Inadvertently, a pseudo “caste system” has been created among all the public institutions, irrespective of the quality of education being provided by them, being considered a notch above the private sector institutions.

Further, government agencies, which provide grants for research and other academic activities, have framed rules and regulations that discriminate against private institutions. The emphasis is more on the “origin” of the institution rather than on the quality of education being provided by it. There could be nothing more ironical where a business school (ISB) with international standards is not recognised by the regulator but has been graced by the visit of the President and the Prime Minister of India during their convocation and annual functions. This type of environment creates confusion in the minds of the general public which is not well versed with the nuances of the regulatory mechanism pertaining to higher education existing in India. Not many can distinguish between a state private university and a deemed to be university. Rather the phenomenon of creating deemed to be universities is peculiar to India and many foreign scholars and academic administrators fail to comprehend this concept. Invariably, they feel that a deemed to be university could become a fully-fledged university after fulfilling some conditions. It does not bode well for a country which is aspiring to become a great power and which is considered as a potential education hub for South Asia.

Also, failure of bureaucrats to take timely decisions has resulted in a number of court cases that have compounded the matter further. While some of the judgements have accepted that providing education is an “occupation”, others have held that it is an “industry”. Some judicial pronouncements have held that establishing and administering an educational institution for imparting knowledge to students is an occupation, protected by Articles 19(1) (g) and 26(a) of the Constitution. But the courts have also been cautious enough to rule that though providing education may be an occupation and a reasonable amount of profit could be permissible, they have been strictly against any form of profiteering. At the international level, even the WTO has accepted that provision of education is a service that can be traded and it has been included under the GATS. India, as a member of WTO, has accepted that position.

In such an environment, there is need to educate the general public about the role and the status of private education providers. There are a large number of private institutions which are rendering yeomen service to the country, but the public gets swayed by the misdeeds of some of the black sheep in the private sector. The fact that the black sheep exist both in public and private sector institutions is often ignored. Now, the time has come where the private sector needs to be given its due.

The Centre has taken a welcome step to introduce a Bill in Parliament to set up a National Commission for Higher Education and Research that will subsume the UGC and other regulatory bodies. But there are other Bills that are pending in Parliament that have some draconian features and the concerns of the private education providers need to be addressed. The governments at the central and state levels have to resist the tendency to micro manage private universities.

On the other hand, private universities have to imbibe the nuances of self-regulation if they have to earn the confidence of the stakeholders. Private education providers and the regulators need to create an environment of mutual trust for the benefit of stakeholders and students. At present, the former view the regulators as bodies out to harass them and the latter look at private education providers who are bent upon to exploit the students. An enabling regulatory mechanism, which respects the autonomy of universities, is the need of the hour.

It is a known fact that the purchasing power of middle-class families has gone up and they are prepared to pay for the education of their children. Therefore, the policies of the government should ensure adequate social returns on higher education. The middle class yearns for quality education because it is considered to be an elevator to opportunities and upward social mobility. Therefore, the government would do well to concentrate on quality rather than dissipating energies on issues like regulating fee structures. At present, the qualifications earned by students from various universities or boards lack uniformity of standards necessitating holding of entrance examinations for admissions to higher educational institutions. Could the government usher in policies that help in reducing the time and money spent by students on various competitive entrance examinations?

Now, the time has come where we need to identify the relative strengths of public and private sector institutions and help them complement each other to synergise the national effort in making India a powerhouse of knowledge.

The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Himachal Pradesh

Teacher ‘pays’ troublemakers to stay away
Richard Garner

Troublemaking pupils are being offered £100 bribes to skip school during inspections, according to a survey of teachers.

A teacher in a UK school described as a “hell-hole” discovered his deputy head in the playground with a fistful of £20 notes to distribute to those pupils not required on inspection days.

Other action apparently taken by schools to secure the best ranking include encouraging weaker teachers to take sick leave and sending one newly-qualified teacher home on a disciplinary notice.

The stories emerged when the Times Educational Supplement posed the question “the worst thing your school has done because of an Ofsted inspection” on its website. It received 110 submissions in a month.

Another example centred on a piece of artwork that was highly praised during a school inspection, which was then loaned to neighbouring schools.

Ofsted described the figures as “disappointing”. It said it had received 38 complaints about school misconduct during an eight-month period last year.

UK Education Secretary Michael Gove has expressed his concern over schools encouraging students to play truant on inspection days, and would like “no notice” visits whereby inspectors arrive unannounced. — The Independent

Campus Notes
Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
Prestigious scientist awards

PROFESSOR (Mrs) Avinash Nagpal of the Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences of Guru Nanak Dev University has been conferred with the “Senior Scientist Award”, while Rajneet Kaur Soodan, a PhD scholar, has been awarded the “Young Scientist Award” at the Fourth International Conference on Life Science Research for Rural and Agricultural Development organised jointly by the International Consortium of Contemporary Biologists (ICCB) and the Madhawi-Shyam Educational Trust (MSET) at the Central Potato Research Station, Patna, Bihar, recently. Soodan was also awarded with the “Best Oral Presentation Award” for giving presentation on the topic entitled “Assessment of Physico-Chemical Parameters and Genotoxicity of Rice Cultivation Fields of Amritsar in Allium Cepa”. Both of them were also awarded fellowship certificates of MSET-ICCB on the occasion. The international conference was attended by renowned scientists, technocrats and researchers from all over the world.

International Congress on English grammar

Dr Sukhdev Singh, Professor of English at Guru Nanak Dev University, delivered a plenary lecture on “Conjunctive Cohesion, an Aspect of Textual Grammar” at the 7th International Congress on English Grammar organised at Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamanglam, Tamil Nadu, recently. His book Grammar of the Modern English Language, co-authored by Balbir Singh, was also released on the occassion by Dr Krishnaswamy, former Professor of Linguistics and English Grammar, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. Dr Singh in his lecture stressed that the study of grammar should go beyond the study of lexis and sentences. He elaborated that the system of conjunction had evolved as a complementary system of expanding texts. Professor Krishnaswamy while appreciating the efforts of the authors said the book offered accessible description of the complex aspects of the modern English grammar in a lucid style.

Highest status for varsity

In a major achievement, the university has attained the status of “University with Potential for Excellence”. This is the highest status awarded to a university by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Under this programme, the university will get Rs 50 crores from the UGC for research and infrastructure development. With this, the university has become one of the best 10 universities in India to acquire this status. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. A.S. Brar, said the focused area of research would be materials science. Another thrust area for research would be environmental management (in respect of Punjab) with emphasis on environmental monitoring and remediation and biodiversity assessment and conservation, he said, adding that the study would focus on improving the status of environment in the state.

Symposium on chemistry

A national symposium on “Chemistry in 21st Century” under the aegis of the UGC and CSIR was organised at Guru Nanak Bhawan Auditorium to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry. Professor C.L. Khetrapal, director, CBMR, Lucknow, inaugurated the symposium, while Prof. P. Balaram, director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, delivered the keynote address. Dr Subodh Kumar, Chairman and Head of the Department, detailed the achievements of the department during the last 40 years. More than 150 delegates participated in the symposium. Over 80 research achievements in the form of poster presentations were also presented during the symposium. Dr Balaram in his keynote address discussed the philosophical development of science in the 19th and 20th centuries and accentuated that in future, with the fast consumption of elements like lithium and other rare earth elements from natural resources, the focus should be on alternative innovative sources.

— Contributed by G. S. Paul

Admission Deadline
Agriculture

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All India Pre-Veterinary Test 2012 (AIPVT 2012)
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Eligibility: 10+2 (PCB & English, 50%)
Age: Min 17 years (on 31 December ’12)

Test: 12 May 2012

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Application Deadline: 15 February 2012

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