RELATIVE ROLES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FINANCING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A STUDY OF UTTAR PRADESH

RELATIVE ROLES OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FINANCING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A STUDY OF UTTAR PRADESH SUMMARY SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN APPLIED ECONOMICS By MUNILA NAQVI Under the Supervision of Prof. NAR SINGH M.com., Ph.D., P.D.R. (Hungary) FMSH (Paris), FUR (Germany) Ex Head DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED ECONOMICS FACULTY OF COMMERCE UNIVERSITY OF LUCKNOW LUCKNOW 2015 0

SUMMARY Education is one of the most empowering tool for an individual. It lays the foundation for a better life. It prepares and trained workers at all levels to manage capital, technology services and administration at every sector in the economy. It cannot be denied that education is important for economic and social development. It provides the economy with requisite qualification and skilled manpower for the economic development. It not only provides skills and qualification to new generation but also creates in their minds the awareness of environmental and social realities and therefore helps in attaining for themselves a better living standard. It is the foundation which helps the economy to grow and stabilise the resources for the betterment of the society. The categorisation is done to simplify the understanding of specific level of education. Over the years it has been witnessed that there has been drastic increase in the expenditure incurred on education, and it is due to the fact that both private and public sources of finances are used simultaneously for meeting the needs of the knowledge based economy. On the eve of Independence there were 20 universities in India. By 2014 there were a total of 637 universities in India out of which 289 were State universities, 130 Deemed Universities, 94 Private universities and 43 Central universities. (UGC 2012). With the increase in enrolment and number of institutions, number of teachers in educational institutions (including universities and affiliated colleges) went up from 2,63,819 in 1990-91 to 6,97,885 in 2013-14. A number of studies in India had shown that education has contributed a great deal to India s economic development in all its facets. Loh s study of fourteen most populated states in India during the period 1961-81 revealed that one additional year of education of the work force was associated with a fifteen per cent increase in economic output (Loh 1995). Mathur s analysis of 306 districts of India laid there s the fact that there was a great correlation between human capital and India s development (1993). He concluded that although higher levels of education have great bearing on economic development, primary and middle schooling were no less important as they created 1

conditions conductive to economic development. The link between human capital and economic development was stronger at higher levels of education. The Five Year Plans ushered in an era of systematic economic and social development in India including development of higher education an unprecedented expansion took place in the number of institutions as well as enrolments, as higher education was viewed as the only means to acquire social and vertical mobility. While in earlier plans emphasis was on expansion, from Seventh Plan onwards emphasis shifted to consolidation and improvement in standards and reforms to make higher education more relevant to national needs and to form linkages with employment and economic development. During the Eleventh Five Year Plan emphasis was placed on expansion, inclusion and rapid improvement in quality throughout the higher and technical education system by enhancing public spending, encouraging private initiatives and initiating the long overdue major institutional and policy reforms. The Planning Commission has constituted a Working Group on Higher Education for the formulation of the Twelfth Plan. Education is acknowledged as one of the important elements of the national development effort and higher education, in particular it is of vital importance for the nation, as it is a powerful tool to build the knowledge based society of the 21 st century. The activities of the Department of Higher Education are focussed towards developing India as a knowledge society. The department s continuous effort is to improve and spread out education in all sectors, with a view to eradicate disparities in access and lay greater emphasis on the improvement in the quality and relevance of education at all levels On analysing the contents of the study, the various conclusions have been drawn as stated below. Growth of Colleges and HEIs Indian higher education system has undergone massive expansion in post independent India with a national resolve to establish several universities, technical universities, Research institutions, professional and non-professional institutions all over the country to generate and disseminate knowledge coupled with the noble intention of providing easy access to higher education to the common Indian. The public initiatives 2

played a dominant and controlling role in this phase. Most of the universities were public institutions with power to regulate academic activities, in the areas of jurisdiction through the affiliating system. With the public funding being no more in a position to take up the challenging task of expansion and diversification of the higher education system in the country to meet the continuously growing demands at present, there is little option other than bringing in private initiatives in a massive way to meet the various challenges. The deregulating mechanism of controls started with the granting of Autonomous status to identified colleges. Establishment of many colleges have resulted in diversifying the horizon of education which was restricted to fewer courses and colleges in earlier times.the another constraint that has been eradicated to a greater extent is the availability of funds. Previously public sources of finance are the only option available for supporting and expanding the level of higher education. Government cooperates in every possible way to provide adequate resources but still single source was not enough to meet the expanding demand of education. Therefore in late 1990 s the concept of private financing was initiated and it turned out to be a great support in the field of education. Under private financing it includes tuition fees and other expenditures incurred by the students. A part from this money is being used for meeting the required needs of the higher education. At present India possess a highly developed higher education system which offers facility of education and training in almost all aspects of human being s creative and intellectual activities such as arts and humanities, natural, mathematical and social sciences, engineering, medicine, dentistry, agriculture education while colleges for general education,, law, commerce, management, music and performing arts, national and foreign languages, culture, communications etc. Quality of Life Education enlightens the understanding of themselves and the world. It upgrades the quality of life and provides wider benefits to the society as a whole. It raises the level of people s creativity, productivity and promotes entrepreneurial skills. It plays a prominent role in acquiring social and economic progress and better income distribution which can be attained by developing professional, social, political and communication skills through education. Economic development of developed nations confirms the 3

importance of non-material investment and also establishes that economic development depends completely on the creation of educated labour force equipped with necessary technical skills for modern industrial production and ready to accept and promote economic development. Social Upliftment It acts as a stimulant for social upliftment enhancing the returns on investment made in almost every area of developmental effort, be it population control, health hygiene, environmental degradation control, empowerment of women and other weaker sections of the society. From earlier times, education occupies an important role in Indian society and especially the higher education. The modern system of higher education is of a nascent origin dates back to two centuries ago. In the next forty years many such colleges were established in the different parts of the country at Agra, Bombay, Madras, Nagpur, Patna and Calcutta. The first three universities were established in 1857 at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. After this the next hundred years witnessed a slow growth in the development of Institutions of higher education. Expenditure on Education It is apparent that governments commitment towards higher education is a low priority with only 10 per cent of educational expenditure and the minimum of 2 to 4 per cent of the budget only for higher education. And this holds true for all the states. Elementary education has got the maximum support followed by secondary education. Government in the post reform period has given a free hand to the private sector in higher education. Hence, we find a proliferation of higher education institutions. A skewed development has taken place with a marked preference given to certain discipline such as engineering, medicine, management, finance, law and many more rather than the general higher education. Access to Equity and Quality of Education The rising trend in higher education is being witnessed but it s actual worth can be obtained if it is in accordance with equity and quality which can be achieved by opening more of HEIs in such backward areas where the approach of education has been neglected. Thereby providing quality education by employing highly qualified faculty so 4

that they can serve the purpose of education.priorlyeducation were more in terms of quantity but now it has been completely changed the concept of quantity has been replaced by quality thereby making a remarkable contribution to the social sector. Regional Distribution In order to attain the level of balanced educational development hence it requires proper allocation of funds to various remote and backward areas where there is a need to have number of degree colleges and universities. As it will provide an opportunity to the youth to obtain requisite qualification as per their interest that will help them in fetching good jobs. Privatisation In earlier times the entire funding and management is being run by the government but it poses great difficulty before the system as the funds are inadequate to meet the rising demand of the masses. Therefore in 1990 s the concept of privatisation was brought into use and stood out to be an important player in the education system by providing diversified courses and availability of large number of institutes, thereby providing employability to the people. And it sorted out the defects of the already existing system and management of funding. This as a result gave a new dimension to the perspective of education by inviting equal contributions from public as well as private. Financial Stability On examination of financial allocations we find that the centre had allocated 24 per cent to the social sector in the First Plan which however got reduced in subsequent plans to 18 per cent in Eighth Plan but again in Eleventh Plan it increased to 28 per cent. As government intervention in the economy increased, social sector expenditure expanded with government taking up the responsibility of providing nutrition to the poor women and children, replacing family planning with family welfare, spending on adult literacy, providing cheap land / houses to the poor and spending on different welfare schemes. Of this 7.6 was allotted to education in First Five Year Plan which also got reduced to 4.37 in Eighth Five Year Plan and then increased to 7 per cent in Eleventh Plan. In absolute Terms expenditure on education increased enormously from Rs. 149 Crores in First Five Year Plan to Rs. 2,74,228Crores in the Eleventh Five Year Plan. 5

Expenditure on higher education increased from Rs. 14 Crores in the First Five Year Plan to Rs. 64715 Crores in the Eleventh Five Year Plan. The ratio of higher educational expenditure was 9 per cent in First Five Year Plan and in Eleventh Plan it was 23.2 per cent. It can be stated that there has been a tremendous increase in the expenditure of the government towards education and it will help the economy to grow into a knowledge based economy. Budgetary Allocation The budgetary allocation by the centre on university and higher education has been fairly robust in terms of annual growth rate during the pre- reform period. However, it was during the post-reform period, the budgetary allocations for the university and higher education in the Union budget exhibit fluctuations. If we add the states share the scenario does not improve much. States came under fiscal crunch with the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management (FRBM) Act during the late 1990 s. Almost three fourths of the higher education budget is spent by the states. The sharp hike in the public expenditure on higher education in 1998-99 was due to the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission which led to an increase in salaries of both the academic and nonacademic staff. While a rise in the budgetary allocation for higher education was a welcome change but the rise did not contribute to the physical expansion of the sector. One can argue that this rise was commensurate with the overall rise in public expenditure and no special importance was assigned to the higher education sector. The outcome was inevitable. Shortages of staff as vacancies were not filled up. Poor maintenance of infrastructure facilities also led to poor standard of education in the state sector. The wide spread introduction of neo-liberal economic policies favour the growth of privatisation in education. And to a certain extent NEP reduced the role of the government. The education sector suffers significantly the higher education institutions due to the insufficiency of funds with the government. And as a result committees were formed such as Justice Dr K Punnayya committee and Dr D Swaminathan committee in 1993 and 1994 to suggest measures and means for financing of higher education and technical education through government sources and making the optimum use of resources. It has been observed that policy framework is carefully planned at the level of the Planning Commission, Ministry of Human Resource Development and University Grants 6

Commission. However, the policies are not fully implemented mostly because of faculty management of the institutions of higher education. The administrative structure of the universities, which was devised in the pre-independence period seems to be still continuing. The new challenges facing the system of higher education in the country cannot be met without a total overhaul of the structure of management of higher education institutions. This has become all the more necessary because of globalisation which requires talent, competence, drive, initiative and innovation at several levels. This cannot be achieved without overhauling the administrative set up of universities / institutions. RECOMMENDATIONS Higher education need to be removed from concurrent list which gives Centre and State government s legislative powers. The objective behind keeping elementary and higher in concurrent list was in line with national federal inclination along with a genuine desire to give state governments needed leverage over educational matters. This has actually worked very well until higher education system was rather modest in size and scope. It moreover has also led to huge expansion in number of state universities at the cost of central funding through UGC as grants in aid. Over the period though this fell short in view of ever swelling demand of higher education and private sector eventually step in and bridged the gap. Yet the reality is a very large number of graduates, post graduates and research degrees are awarded by state universities not central ones. This means actual higher education takes place in state universities where the central government has very little oversight or control. The UGC merely doles out grants in aid to State universities with modest control over. The State governments moreover have paid near nil attention to higher education in their jurisdiction as they are financially always poorer than the centre. The higher education as a result suffered at state level, where it hits the hardest. Though UGC has been continuously seeking innovative ways to bring state universities and colleges under greater supervision but seems to have fallen short. One of the effective ways to remedy the situation is to move up the higher education on the union list so that the centre can take care of it better with large sum of resources. 7

For General Education Governments have to make trade off as they distribute limited resources across the array of educational vehicles associated with life time learning. The most effective public actions are those that focus directly on the source of the market failures or the distributional concerns. Future advances in research will affect the theme of higher knowledge centrally, the country is getting ready to strengthen the system of higher education and to adopt strategies that will provide new dimensions to the delivery system that will help to change society and prepare young people to shoulder the heavy responsibilities of a difficult but fascinating future. It is the primary responsibility of the state to provide the eligible with good quality higher education at reasonable cost. There shall be no withdrawal of the state from this responsibility. In fact the investment in this area by the state shall be stepped up to 3% of the GDP. This is essential for the intellectual strength of the state to address equity concerns. A huge dedicated fund say National Human Resource Development Fund to the tune of at least one per cent of the GDP, may be created to tackle the equity problem. It shall be the accepted principle that no talented person shall be denied access to higher education opportunities on the grounds of economic and social backwardness. This fund may be dedicated to offer direct financial support in the form of scholarships, partial financial assistance and educational loans to students directly based on the criteria of talent, social or economic backwardness. A well designed mechanism to spot to spot talents in different disciplines, knowledge is needed for this purpose. Further fool proof criteria to determine social or economic backwardness. Industries may be encouraged to be partners with educational institutions directly for the development of human resources dedicated to their interests. This could happen in the areas of creating infrastructure, faculty sharing and direct support with funds. The UGC may set up a High Power Committee to explore these possibilities and to work out the modalities for such a partnership. 8

Those areas not capable of attracting private funds shall be supported sufficiently from public funds. It is essential for the balanced intellectual growth of the society. Industries and Individuals may be encouraged to channel a percentage of their profits to higher education sector with no strings attached to such contributions. Viable incentives may be offered for attracting such investments from the private resources. The idea to allow students to do diploma or certificate courses side by side with their degrees, recently put forward by the UGC, is a welcome step towards empowering the students to take up work soon after their Degree courses. This is an area where private initiatives can come to augment the activities of the colleges. The colleges can develop in house facility and other facilities for this purpose and make these facilities available at a reasonable cost. Such a measure will turn around many colleges from non-performing class to performing class. There shall be a mechanism to accredit these courses and facilities to ensure quality. This is an area where public private partnership has a creative role to play. Designing courses with relevance to future and developing the necessary manpower to deliver the requisite purpose. All this calls for a team of professionals in different areas to come together to develop proactive strategies for higher education to meet the future demands. A strategy planning body and an institution to design and develop futuristic courses for transferring them to the universities and colleges may be created. According autonomous status to all performing institutions will facilitate rapid development of efficient and state of the art of higher education institutions. Dominant role of genuine academics in the governing structure of higher education institutions. The proposed regulatory mechanism shall have instruments to ensure this. Restructuring of the framework to include the element of global perspective. The needs and aspirations should be well integrated, intersected and equipped with the demands of the globalisation. 9

Production of socially, politically and economically productive and responsible citizens that would help the economy to develop. The quality education, which can be obtained by maintaining regular records of faculty, monitoring the approach of classroom teaching, grading system for students and teachers. Though by inculcating this system it will enhanced the perspective of education. The growth and development of higher education and its participative role in addressing the problems of society. Implementation of specialised courses in Law and secretarial practices at graduate level. Development of diverse classroom set up that involves more use of technology to make students understand the subjects. The regional government, not mere as the concurrent responsibility but as an unaltered major player of regulating maintenance and development of the institutions of higher education. To bring about the change in the models and practices used by rural higher institutions of higher education to meet the needs and demands as per the place and time. Tightening the regulation of higher education and resource management, allocating from the public treasure, so that it could reach out at each and every nook and corner of the country for comprehensive growth and development of the system. Inclusion of summer projects as a part of curriculum as it will help the students to understand the practicality of the subject and its applicability in real sense. For Technical Education Development of colleges, in such areas where there is lack of educational set up. Hence it is required to identify such areas where there is a requirement to have colleges, to provide quality education to the young masses, i. e mostly in the remote or rural areas which have been neglected. The present archaic administrative practices need a thorough reform. A healthy public private partnership can do much in this regard by way of exchanging good 10

practices. A management system, lean but professional making use of modern communication and information technologies is required to facilitate quality higher education. Subsidies should be targeted to those who deserve them or to the fields of study that warrant subsidisation for efficiency and distributional reasons. Such subsidies must be redirected. Scholarships should go to the credit constraint and to those who because of their talent or their choice of discipline are likely to generate positive externalities. Means testing targeting may itself be encumbered by information problems, but it may be onerous for higher/ tertiary education than for lower levels, because the students are fewer. For Medical Education Policy reforms in higher education on the question of minimising subsidies from the government counterpart takes the forms like increasing the autonomy of the institutions, moving to demand side financing rather than government pays and relying on a mixed of private, non-governmental public providers. The fee structure of medical institutions should be minimised, so that it would not be a burden for a middle or lower class student to reap the benefits of quality education being served at such Institutions. Emphasizing the need of curriculum up-gradation in the knowledge-based economy. Increase in the number of affiliated colleges and universities. For Management Education A Total Quality Management for courses offered, monitoring the achievement of the students at all stages of the course, shall be introduced at all the higher institutions. Private institutions to offer courses on any discipline, the viability and sustainability depending upon the increasing demands of the students. Implementation of a coherent long term policy perspective on management education to regulate private institutions. The unfettered growth of private higher education especially in Engineering and Management disciplines combined with 11

the international economic and political events created a surplus in the labour market in the coming years. For Agricultural Education The number of Agricultural colleges should be increased in rural areas, along with the 5 year integrated course on B.Sc Agri business along with MBA Agri business in Indian language. At present there are only few agricultural universities/ colleges therefore it is an urgent need to increase this number and provide a new dimension for agricultural development of the country. There is a need for innovative and demand based educational practices in the institutions of higher education. Others Time scale promotion should be made in universities and only those teachers should be promoted who have really achieved the required level. Just in sequence of interview, presentation of the best research work of the candidate should also be organised in auditorium for an hour or so in English/ Vernacular. Some Post- Doctoral fellowships should also be awarded by UGC to teachers for one year to work in reputed research institutes/universities in India. To help solve the region specific problems of development. Teachers should also be prepared to provide consultancy services to Government/ Private agencies, besides Businessmen and Entrepreneurs of that region. To improve the quality of education for students of undergraduate classes, the two courses, viz i) English language and Personality development and ii) Computer Application should be started in evening and also in summer vacation in all colleges and universities under self- financing scheme at the subsidised fees. To provide job opportunities to mediocre or poor graduates, one year course of the following types i) Secretarial Practice and Office Management ii) Computer Accounts iii) Rural Marketing and iv) Entrepreneurship for small business, besides imparting practical training in each course for a period of two months. These are some suggestions and expectations from Government, Industry, Educational Institutions, Parents and Students for improving quality of higher education- 12

Towards a Learning Society As we move towards a learning society, everyhuman activity will require contributions from experts, and this will place the entire sector of higher education in sharp focus. Although the priorities, which are being assigned today to the task of Education for All, will continue to be preponderant, the country will have to prepare itself to invest more and more on higher education and, simultaneously, measures will have to be taken to refine, diversify and upgrade higher education and research programmes. Industry and Academia Connection Industry and academia connect necessary to ensure curriculum and skills in line with requirements. Skill building is really very crucial to ensure employability of academia to understand and make sure good jobs (keeping in view knowledge + skills+ global professional skills = good jobs). Incentives to Teachers and Researchers Industry and students are expecting specialized courses to be offered so that they get the latest and best in education and they are also industry ready and employable. Vocational and diploma courses need to be made more attractive to facilitate specialized programs being offered to students. Incentives should be provided to teachers and researchers to make these professions more attractive for the younger generation. Innovative Practices The new technologies offer vast opportunities for progress in all walks of life. It offers opportunities for economic growth, improved health, better service delivery, improved learning and socio-cultural advances. Though efforts are required to improve the country s innovative capacity, yet the efforts should be to build on the existing strengths in light of new understanding of the research innovation-growth linkage. To Mobilize Resources The decline in public funding in the last two plan periods has resulted in serious effects on standards due to increasing costs on non-salary items and emoluments of staff, on the one hand, and declining resources, on the other. Effective measures will have to be adopted to mobilize resources for higher education. There is also a need to relate the fee 13

structure to the student s capacity to pay for the cost. So that, students at lower economic levels can be given highly subsidised and fully subsidised education. Coming of Information Age The world is entering into an information age and developments in communication, information and technology will open up new and cost-effective approaches for providing the reach of higher education to the youth as well as to those who need continuing education for meeting the demands of explosion of information, fast-changing nature of occupations, and lifelong education.knowledge, which is at the heart of higher education, is a crucial resource in the development of political democracy, the struggle for social justice and progress towards individual enlightenment. Student-Centred Education and Dynamic Methods Methods of higher education also have to be appropriate to the needs of learning to learn, learning to do, learning to be and learning to become. Student-centred education and employment of dynamic methods of education will require from teachers new attitudes and new skills. Methods of teaching through lectures will have to subordinate to the methods that will lay stress on self-study, personal consultation between teachers and pupils, and dynamic sessions of seminars and workshops. Methods of distance education will have to be employed on a vast scale. Public Private Partnership PPP is most essential to bring in quality in the higher education system. Governments can ensure PPP through an appropriate policy. University Grants Commission and Ministry of HRD should play a major role in developing a purposeful interface between the Universities, Industries and National Research Laboratories (NRLs) as a step towards PPP. Funding to NRLs by the government should ensure the involvement of institutions of higher education engaged in research activities to facilitate availability of latest sophisticated equipment. There has been some effort both by the government and the private education institutions to develop the teaching staff at various levels. However, this needs to be intensified with appropriate attention to all the aspects related in order to prepare quality and sufficient number of educational staff. Such efforts need a very serious structuring for the research base institutions. We have to be optimistic 14

that private-public partnership and the Industry interface will take place in the field of education at all levels, and particularly in the backward regions, which is the need of the hour. To achieve excellence, we thus need to create a real partnership between government, educators and industry Partnerships that can provide our high-tech industries with skilled workers who meet the standards of their industry. To Provide Need Based Job-Oriented Courses All round development of personality is the purpose of education. But the present day education is neither imparting true knowledge of life and nor improving the talent of a student by which one can achieve laurels in the field one is interested. So, combination of arts subjects and computer science and science and humanities or literature should be introduced so that such courses could be useful for the students to do jobs after recruitment in some companies which would reduce unnecessary rush to higher education. The programme must be focused on graduate studies and research and developing strategies and mechanisms for the rapid and efficient transfer of knowledge and for its application to specific national and local conditions and needs. Meritorious doctoral students should be recognized through teaching assistantships with stipends over and above the research fellowships. Finally, based on knowledge only vision of the future life and work can be had; based on this vision only a broad ambition can be fixed for oneself; and based on this ambition only one can lead interesting life doing satisfying job to do remarkable achievements in some field in the world. International Co-operation Universities in India have been a primary conduit for the advancement and transmission of knowledge through traditional functions such as research, innovation, teaching, human resource development, and continuing education. International cooperation is gaining importance as yet another function.with the increased development of transport and communication, the global village is witnessing a growing emphasis on international cooperation and action to find satisfactory solutions to problems that have global dimensions and higher education is one of them. 15

Towards a New vision India realizes, like other nations of the world, that humanity stands today at the head of a new age of a large synthesis of knowledge, and that the East and the West have to collaborate in bringing about concerted action for universal upliftment, and lasting peace and unity. In this new age, great cultural achievements of the past have to be recovered and enriched in the context of the contemporary advancement so that humanity can successfully meet the evolutionary and revolutionary challenges and bring about a new type of humanity and society marked by integrated powers of physical, emotional, dynamic, intellectual, ethical, aesthetic and spiritual potentialities. Cross Culture Programmes After education, tour to all the places in India and world as far as possible with the cooperation of government is necessary so that one can understand about people, culture, arts, literature, religions, technological developments and progress of human society in the world. Action Plan for Improving Quality Academic and administrative audit should be conducted once in three years in colleges by external experts for ensuring quality in all aspects of academic activities. The self-finance colleges should come forward for accreditation and fulfil the requirements of accreditation. Universities and colleges should realise the need for quality education and come forward with action plan for improving quality in higher educational institutions. Individuality The life of one will not be interesting but rather boring, monotonous and frustrating. This is mainly due to parental interference in the education of the children. Parental guidance is necessary but it should not interfere in the creativity or individuality of the students. Also, in spite of the obsolete type of education system, some are achieving wonderful things in Sports, Music, Dance, Painting, Science and Technology in the world. This is only due to the encouragement of the parents and some dedicated teachers in the educational institutions. Higher education is necessary for one to achieve excellence in the line one is best. But one should be selected for higher education on the basis of merit only. Further, fees for education in general should not be high; especially, 16

the fees for higher studies should be within the reach of every class of people in the nation. Privatisation of Higher Education In any nation education is the basic necessity for the socio-economic development of the individuals and the society. In reality only 20% of the population is educated in India. So, improved standard of education as first priority should be offered to the majority by the govt. authorities with sincere political will. Also, privatization of higher education is absolutely necessary in a vast country like India as government alone is helpless to do so. Quality Development Quality depends on its all functions and activities: teaching and academic programs, research and scholarship, staffing, students, building, facilities, equipments, services to the community and the academic environment. It also requires that higher education should be characterized by its international dimensions: exchange of knowledge, interactive networking, mobility of teachers and students and international research projects, while taking into account the national cultural values and circumstances. The level of education and knowledge being imparted by many colleges.is not up to the mark. Instead of concentrating on quantity, these institutions should concentrate on quality. The approach of doctoral research in social sciences needs to be more analytical and comparative and be related to society, policy and economy. A study conducted on social science research capacity in South Asia (2002) showed that the share of the Indian universities in the special articles published in the Economic and Political Weekly was only about a 25 percent. This too was dominated by only three universities, namely-jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Mumbai & University of Delhi. World Class Education Indian government is not giving priority to the development of standard in education. India should aspire for the international standard in education. Many national universities like in the USA, UK, Australia, etc. allow studies in higher education for foreign students in their countries and through correspondence courses as well. In the same way Indian universities of world class education can also offer courses of studies to 17

foreign students taking advantage of the globalization process. To achieve that goal it should adopt uniform international syllabus in its educational institutions. Personality Development Finally, education should be for the flowering of personality but not for the suppression of creativity or natural skill. In the globalized world opportunities for the educated people are naturally ample in scope. As a result business process outsourcing (BPO) activities have increased competition in the world trade leading towards the production of quality goods and their easy availability everywhere in the world market. That is the way the world can be developed for peace, prosperity and progress by able and skilful men. Status of Academic Research Studies If we see the number of researchers engaged in research and development activities as compared to other countries we find that we have merely 119 researchers, whereas Japan has 5287 and US has 4484 researchers per million of population. Even in absolute terms, number of researchers in India is much smaller compared to US, China, Japan, Russia, and Germany. Numbers of doctoral degrees awarded in all subjects are 16, 602 out of which 6774 are in Arts and 5408 in Science and rest in others (professional subjects). India has a little over 6000 doctorates in Science and engineering, compared to 9000 in China and 25000 in US. It increased rapidly from a little over 1000 in 1990 to over 9000 in recent years in China. In comparison, there has been a modest increase in India. National Science Foundation (NSF) - Science and Engineering Indicators (2002) shows that in the US, about 4% of the science and engineering graduates finish their doctorates, 7% for Europe. In India this is not even 0.4%. Data on doctorates particularly in science, engineering and medicine suggests that only a few institutions have real research focus. In engineering there were merely 650 doctorates awarded in 2001-02. Of these 80 percent were from just 20-top universities. In science, 65 percent of the doctorates awarded were from the top-30 universities. Stipends to Research Fellows The number of PhDs from Indian universities should increase with proper standards. This should be seen in the context of extremely low fraction of PhDs in India 18

in relation to M.Sc./B.Tech., as compared to what it is in USA, UK, Germany, Japan etc. Meritorious doctoral students should be recognized through teaching assistantships with stipends over and above the research fellowships Identifying talented, meritorious students and encouraging them through recognition is very important to attract students into research and teaching. Fair Quality Assurance System Colleges and private institutes should set up Internal Quality Assurance Cell and must follow a minimum standard to give degrees. The quality assurance system must be independent of political and institutional interaction and it must have a basis in the legislation. There should be operational, financial and academic autonomy coupled with accountability. There is a need of an independent accreditation agency with a conglomerate of government, industry, academia, society etc. means all stakeholders of the education to ensure that the stakeholders particularly the students are not taken for a ride. They should be able to know whether a particular institution delivers value or not, then things can be under control to some extent. It is also important that all institutes of higher learning must make public the acceptability of their courses and degrees. (i.e. the status, recognition and acceptability of their courses by other institutions). To Increase Quantity of Universities We need more universities because we are more in number and present number of universities is too less. On 13th June, 2005 Government of India constituted a high level advisory body known as National Knowledge Commission (NKC) to advise the PM about the state of education in India and measures needed to reform this sector. It was headed by Sam Pitroda and submitted its report in November 2007. NKC has recommended setting up of 1500 universities by 2015 so that gross enrolment ratio increases to 15 percent. It has also called for establishing an Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education (IRAHE) to monitor the quality of overall higher education in India. After Independence, there has been tremendous increase in institutions of higher learning in all disciplines. But with the quantitative growth has it been able to attend to the core issue of quality. India is today one of the fastest developing countries of the world with the annual growth rate going above 9%. In order to sustain that rate of growth, 19

there is need to increase the number of institutes and also the quality of higher education in India. To reach and achieve the future requirements there is an urgent need to relook at the financial resources, access and equity, quality standards, relevance and at the end the responsiveness. Report of the National Knowledge Commission if implemented can help boost education sector in India. We are moving towards an era which would be defined by the parameters of knowledge and wisdom. India in order to become a developed nation by 2020 and knowledge power by 2015. The decisions that are going to be taken on these are likely to hold the key to India s future as a centre of knowledge production. We need higher educated people who are skilled and who can drive our economy forward. When India can provide skilled people to the outside world then we can transfer our country from a developing nation to a developed nation very easily and quickly. According to Prime Minister of India Dr.Manmohan Singh The time has come to create a second wave of institution building and of excellence in the fields of education, research and capability building. We need an educational system that is modern, liberal and can adapt to the changing needs of a changing society, a changing economy and a changing world. The thrust of public policy for higher education in India has to be to address these challenges. However, one university can t make much difference. If the government welcomes more such initiatives, the future will be ours. We will be able to match and compete with other countries and the dream to be the world s greatest economy won t be difficult to achieve. To attain and sustain national, regional or international quality, certain components are particularly relevant, notably careful selection of staff and continuous staff development, in particular through the promotion of appropriate programs for academic development, including teaching/learning methodology and mobility between countries, between highereducation institutions and the world of work, as well as student mobility within and between countries. Internal self-evaluation and external review must be conducted openly by independent specialists, if possible with international experts to achieve the desired objectives so targeted for education. 20