INDIA: New focus is on quality in higher education

Improving quality and providing more funds to state universities will be the focus of India's higher education policy in the coming year.

Unprecedented countrywide expansion in higher education institutions has been the priority for the past two years.

But with infrastructure and recruitment of talented faculty unable to keep up with growth, the emphasis in 2012 - coinciding with the beginning of India's 12th Five Year Plan - will be on strengthening new and established institutions, particularly their quality.

Quality is also key to enhancing partnerships with international institutions and preparing for the entry of foreign branch campuses once the much-delayed Foreign Educational Institutions Bill clears parliament, as expected this year.

The year could be significant for higher education reform given the number of bills pending in parliament. But officials said that state elections in early 2012 could delay any real progress in enacting controversial legislation in the first half of the year at least.

Focus on quality

During the previous Five Year Plan 2007-12, India announced 51 new publicly funded higher education institutions including eight Indian institutes of technology (IITs) and seven Indian institutes of management (IIMs).

However, construction of only four technology and five management institutes has started and about 40% of faculty posts are still vacant. While half of the announced institutions have been set up, most of them face problems including delays in land acquisition and shortages of administrative and teaching staff.

Adding more institutions is no longer a priority.

"The 12th plan will focus on improving the quality of central and state-funded institutions so that they can compete with the global best. Opening new institutes will be secondary," said an education ministry official who did not wish to be named. Four new IITs but no new IIMs will be built in the medium term.

Fourteen 'innovation universities' and 374 model colleges already announced in the current plan but not yet set up, will be carried forward to the new plan.

Strengthening state universities

Cash-strapped state universities, neglected in central government's recent higher education budgets, will finally get help this year. The 12th plan recognises that state universities and their affiliated colleges, which account for more than 90% of enrolment, suffer from severe funding constraints and poor governance, leading to poor quality.

Strengthening state universities is also important for the government to secure parliamentary support for the foreign institutions bill that will allow international universities to set up branches in India.

Describing central support for state universities as a "protective measure", Professor Prakash T Chande, president of the Association of Indian Universities, said: "We have told the government that state universities need to be strengthened if they expect us to compete with foreign universities on Indian soil.

"Foreign universities will come [with] huge budgets, grants and manpower. We object to the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill on the grounds that we do not have a level playing field."

With elections scheduled in five states in early 2012, placating state governments and addressing the concerns of regional (state-based) parties will be a priority for the government, which relies on coalition partners to stay in power.

Legislative delays

The foreign institutions bill, approved by the cabinet in March 2010, is the most controversial of a raft of higher education bills pending in parliament. It faces a tortuous route through the legislative process.

In November the parliamentary committee on human resource development recommended that a clause barring repatriation of profits be revised, and suggested that a fixed percentage of any surplus may be sent out of India by foreign institutions.

The draft bill is now with the education ministry, which can accept or reject the recommendation before obtaining cabinet approval for a final draft. It can then be re-introduced in the Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament.

Another important bill aims to reform the higher education regulatory framework. The National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) Bill was cleared by cabinet in December after two years of delays. Once passed by parliament, this bill will promote greater autonomy in higher education institutions.

It establishes a higher education regulatory body that will subsume current regulatory bodies like the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education and the Council of Distance Education, which oversee higher education in the country.

Other bills aimed at improving the quality and accountability of universities include the mandatory accreditation of all institutions, laws to deal with malpractices by institutions and setting up national education tribunals to resolve disputes.

"We are hopeful that several bills will be cleared this year. Last year was about debate and discussions on the bills and consultation with various stakeholders was needed," the education ministry official said.

But officials have admitted that little is expected in the first half of 2012 with elections in the five states expected in the first four months of the year. "Government, both at the centre and in the states, will take populist stands and try to maintain the [political] status quo. But the bills should move after that," a senior ministry official predicted.

Partnerships

Experts say 2012 will also be about enhancing partnerships with national and international universities and organisations, putting many recent memoranda of understanding (MoUs) into practice.

"Last year we saw several memorandums of understanding signed between India and other countries including the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Scotland," said Dhiraj Mathur, who is responsible for education at PriceWaterhouseCoopers India.

"They all aim at partnerships, joint degrees, research associations and faculty exchange. While these MoUs will be operationalised, I believe many more partnerships will take off in 2012."

But Indian universities with their faculty shortages, outdated curricula, administrative delays, dilapidated infrastructure and an inflexible education system will have to improve quality and infrastructure before they can take advantage of international partnerships.

Except for IITs and IIMs, only a handful of private and public Indian universities have the finances and facilities to take advantage of international collaboration.

"Before we can think of expanding and encouraging foreign collaborations, exchange programmes and research initiatives we need to improve our universities and match the standards of leading American and European universities," said PC Jain, principal of Sri Ram College of Commerce in New Delhi.

Private institutions

The 12th Plan also emphasises the need to encourage private participation in higher education. But there is some scepticism about how far this can go, particularly in allowing for-profit institutions, and this debate will continue in 2012.

"While the government is increasingly looking at the private sector, it is also important to note that the nature of private participation has changed over the years," said Jandhyala BG Tilak, a professor at the National University of Educational Planning and Administration.

"Today few speak about private participation, which is based on the principle of philanthropy, charity and educational development of the poor. The private sector of the 21st century (even of the last quarter of the last century) is characterised by a strong profit motive."

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