With education sector requiring an investment of over $150 billion in the next 10 years, the government has proposed new private partnership models for expansion of higher education sector in the country. The government has proposed setting up of large education hubs in different parts of the country anchored by large public/private sector enterprises funded through their allocations for corporate social responsibility.
A national convention on Higher Education on Monday denounced the three bills introduced by the government for the control of private institutions and universities, as “draconian.”
Rising demand for post-secondary education, lack of government investment in the sector and the deteriorating quality of many public universities has led to an increase in private players in Indian higher education. But the regulation of private institutions has failed to keep up with their rapid growth, leading to concerns about quality and social equity.
Surprisingly, very few appear to have found serious contradictions in the approach of the eleventh plan, which aimed at inclusive growth but through giving the private sector an enhanced role.
India's Parliament has amended the country's Constitution to impose admission quotas for lower castes and classes on nearly all private colleges that do not receive government aid.
As the founder of KIIT University, a top private institution here, Achuyta Samanta has built an institution that occupies dozens of buildings across 350 acres of plush land. Yet he has no office.
India’s university regulator is likely to make it harder to establish private universities in the country as part of an effort to crack down on such institutions, C2live, a news Web site, reports. Many private higher-education providers have been caught offering courses without the regulator’s approval.
Several private universities have opposed some of the higher education bills, making it even more difficult for the government to gain support in parliament.
The Indian higher education system, which witnessed a significant growth over the last decade with private educational institutions playing a catalytic role in that direction, lends its infrastructure to students sponsored by foreign universities. This will not only help Indian institutions to place their credibility on the world map of higher education but also earn foreign exchange for the country.
Higher education reform in India, including proposed bills to allow in foreign universities, has hit another snag after the party leading central government performed below expectations in elections in three out of five states – reducing its room for manoeuvre in pushing key bills through parliament.
It is a story being replayed across many Indian cities. Poorly regulated, unaccredited and often entirely fake colleges have sprung up as demand for higher education accelerates, driven by rising aspirations and a bulging youth population.
Fifteen bills including Private Universities Act and Foreign Education Providers’ Bill are pending in parliament. On the role of private players in the field, he felt that most of the courses offered were market-driven and not holistic. Private players are showing more interest in professional courses in engineering and medicine, he said.
Shri Rajeshji Tope, Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra, has said that the state Government will support high-quality research by different private institutions and will also consider more flexibility in admission process in unaided private management institutions to increase Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education.
Perturbed over key bills related to reforms in higher education being stuck in Parliament for over two years, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday accused private players running educational institutes of stalling passage of these legislations which seek to raise quality.
Perturbed over key higher education reform bills being stuck in parliament for more than two years, India’s Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal last week accused private education institutions of stalling the passage of legislation that seeks to raise quality, reports The Times of India.
In order to attract private investment in higher education, the government should allocate land free of cost for 999 years to set up educational institutions, a plan panel committee headed by NR Narayana Murthy has suggested.
Education should be kept away from politics. Wherever you have more regulations, you will also have more corruption. That is why private universities were propagated in the first place; to build an environment away from the trifling matters faced in public colleges.
The State Cabinet has cleared the establishment of three more private universities. At least, three more established educational institutions have put their proposal before the government seeking permission to establish private varsities.
Private bodies such as registered societies, trusts or companies and foreign institutions (termed ‘promoters’) will also qualify to set up the non-profit innovation institutions – either through collaboration or independently – after signing an agreement with the government.
It seems imminent, a whole lot of private universities are coming up in the state and are bound to knock traditional universities down a notch (or two) with their breakthrough numbers.
In an effort to broaden the spectrum of higher education, the state government is set to rope in private players and impart quality education at the university level. The effort of the Trinamool government is seen as a step ahead of the erstwhile government's decision to set up a private technical institute of higher learning, like the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication at Kalyani, which didn't materialize.
Aimed at encouraging the involvement of the private sector in the field of higher education, the new guidelines also make it essential for private universities to have infrastructure, including labs and libraries, and qualified teachers as per norms set by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The bill seeking to set up six private universities in the State would pave the way for enhancing the quality of higher education, Higher Education Minister C T Ravi has said.
The Universities for Research and Innovation Bill 2012, introduced in the Indian national parliament in May, aims to create high-quality research and innovation universities, or world-class universities.
Manipal University is in talks with Chinese officials to open the first campus of an Indian university in China, writes Ananth Krishnan for The Hindu. The Karnataka-based private university is exploring a tie-up with Tianjin University and Shanghai's Tongji University to provide training in information technology and sciences.
Did private professional college managements play a role in the recent exit of the executive director of Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA)? Sources in the state higher education department suspect so since KEA’s former executive director V Rashmi was adamant on taking action against private professional colleges for collecting excess fee from students who got undergraduate seats through Common Entrance Test (CET) 2012.
Surprisingly India, which has a severe infrastructure deficit and is a comparatively poor nation, has found itself in a unique place that remains unparalleled in richer nations. Today, around 80% of India’s higher education and healthcare is provided by private agencies without any aid whatsoever from the government.
When resources are limited, philanthropy isn't the best practice. Advocating this mantra, the Planning Commission has retained a suggestion to allow higher education institutions to run for profit in the final draft of the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Those planning to set up private universities in the state will now have to follow a new mandatory condition - they will have to provide 50% of seats to students from Karnataka. Otherwise the state government will not provide them private university status.