Government has ushered in multiple reforms in the higher education sector.
While these are positives, a comprehensive overhaul of UGC and other regulatory structures is long overdue.
What are the political developments in the Ed-sector?
PM Modi’s vision to create 20 institutions of eminence and Union HRD ministries push for reforms have set the stage for overhauling the landscape.
The HRD Ministry first saw the passage of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Bill, 2017, which will extend greater autonomy to the IIMs.
This was followed by reforms in the rules for granting autonomy and changes to the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) mandate.
Also, “Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan” (RUSA) was continued in order to improve the quality of higher educational institutions in the state.
In this backdrop, it would now be appropriate to usher in major institutional reforms to overhaul the regulatory framework in the sector.
Such an Act will further reforms adopted until now, and pave the way for the emergence of high-quality higher educational institutions.
What structures could possibly replace the current UGC?
Broad View - Currently, there are 3 regulatory agencies in the higher education sector under the Union HRD ministry – UGC, AICTE and CoA.
A new Act should hence consider establishing a ‘Higher Education Regulatory Commission’ (HERA) to subsume all the 3 regulators.
States do play an important role in higher education and an advisory council consisting of representatives of all states needs to be established by the union.
In addition, leading educationists from diverse fields should also be roped in as members to the advisory council that advices HERC on all matters.
Autonomy - UGC has regulations under which it divides universities into three categories (I, II and III), with varying levels of autonomy.
The proposed act could consider merging Category I and Category II universities into one group – with autonomy to write their own curriculum.
In addition, they could also be granted the authority to oversee the curriculums of their respective affiliated colleges (not part of Category I).
For some independent courses that those non-autonomous colleges wish to start, HERC could be empowered to vet them with an appropriate expert body.
Also, HERC should be empowered to formulate guidelines for establishing institutions, reviewing compliance and call for closures if needed.
Substructures - If these suggestions are adopted, UGC will be relieved of the multiple regulatory responsibilities that will get divested to the HERC.
The two other major tasks of disbursement of funds and accreditation could then be vested with separate finance and accreditation boards respectively.
Both these boards should have full autonomy in discharging their functions once the broad policy is formulated at the level of the HERC.
Accreditation - HERC in cooperation with accreditation board should have the responsibility to draw up standards and a grading system for institutions.
Multiple accreditation boards need to be established under HERC guidelines and mapping institutions with the boards should be random.
Direct financial dealing of institutions with accreditation boards also needs to be eliminated to ensure robust inspections and certifications.
Financial Aspects - HERC in cooperation with the finance board should develop guidelines for funding institutions.
HERC should also formulate policies for tuition fees and teacher salaries and explicitly provisions to raise funds should also be framed.
The HERC should have a secretariat to support its activities and also maintain a separate grievance remedy office.
Foreign Institutions - The proposed act should also provide for a clear path for the entry of foreign institutions into the Indian landscape.
As India has a large young population, foreign institutions will have an incentive to enter the country – which will in turn benefit our Ed-landscape.
Research Integration - There is a divide between teaching and research institutions and it is neither benefitting students nor benefitting researchers.
Hence, the act must also chart a path to integrate teaching and research to enable state-of-the-art labs to actively engage university scholars.
