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Needed, re-engineering in education

V. Jayanth

The status of engineering degrees offered by institutions deemed to be universities has triggered a row in Tamil Nadu.

CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: Agitating students at an engineering college in Chennai. — Photo: M. Karunakaran

OVER THE past few weeks, a crisis has enveloped Tamil Nadu's engineering education sector. And, only after the matter went to the Madras High Court did the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development come into the picture through a counter filed in court.

At the heart of the crisis is the status of the institutions that are deemed to be universities (DUs). It was sparked by an advertisement and circular from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on the recognition of the degrees offered by these DUs. As the regulator, the AICTE inspects technical education institutions and recognises the degrees they award. The assessment is based on the facilities, the curriculum, and the infrastructure an institution provides, as also the number of students it can train in each discipline.

The controversy arose from the dichotomy, as it were, between the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the AICTE. While the UGC confers the status of an autonomous college or DU on an institution based on its facilities, the AICTE accords recognition to the degrees granted by any technical education institute.

What has happened is that some of the recently recognised DUs have either not allowed or encouraged the AICTE to conduct its periodic inspections of their facilities to renew the recognition of their degrees. The question the agitating students have raised is: "Are the degrees of the DUs valid or recognised if the AICTE does not inspect and endorse them?'' The argument of the DUs — a handful of them at least — is that they come only under the UGC and there is no need for the AICTE to get involved. That dispute is now before the High Court and will be addressed very soon.

Is it not time for the Human Resource Development Ministry to review the functioning of the institutions of higher education more seriously? It is surely just a matter of time before foreign universities come on to the Indian education scene — either through affiliation or by setting up centres here. The Ministry and institutions such as the UGC and the AICTE should work together and ensure international standards of higher education in the country. Only then can existing universities and institutions compete in the internationalised scenario.

The problem in the southern States seems to be one of surplus. More than 50 per cent of the country's engineering colleges are in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, where higher education has become a "commercial enterprise." Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh account for nearly 500 engineering colleges, and Tamil Nadu has about one-fifth of the DUs in the country. The boom in the IT and ITES sectors, which offer plum jobs on completion of a B.E. or B.Tech course, further encourages students to opt for the engineering stream.

Some of the older self-financing colleges have graduated into Deemed Universities, as recognised by the UGC. Aside from the academic freedom that offers, the DUs have also managed to keep out of the Common Entrance Tests (CETs) and the Single Window System (SWS) of admissions to the engineering colleges in any State. As such, their admissions are independent and they decide the fee structure on their own. The question that has arisen now is who is to recognise their degrees.

This legal battle provides an ideal opportunity for the Union Ministry to take a more proactive and hands-on approach to higher education.

Regulator needed

A national regulator should be formed for private self-financing colleges. The roles of the UGC and the AICTE have to be reviewed and redefined, if need be, to cope with the changing scenario. Just because the Central and State Governments are not in a position to invest in higher education, they cannot afford to wash their hands off it and leave the students entirely at the mercy of commercial institutions. While there must be every effort to recognise special institutions of higher learning by conferring on them a much higher degree of academic independence, a regulator can help ensure that they maintain certain standards, follow the constitutional norms applicable to Government colleges, and see that higher education does not go out of reach of the ordinary students.

The Supreme Court, in at least three major judgments on admissions to private colleges, has laid down that students must be admitted on the basis of merit and that the fee structure can be prescribed by a committee to be set up by the State Government. Just as these self-financing colleges want to enjoy the rights conferred by these apex court rulings on quotas, they must be made to fall in line in terms of merit-based transparent admissions and a reasonable free structure.

That is why an empowered regulator becomes imperative.

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