The Hindu : National : Ministry opposes private investment in higher education

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Thursday, Aug 02, 2007
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Ministry opposes private investment in higher education

Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the August 6 meeting of the full Planning Commission on education, the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has articulated its opposition to the proposal to facilitate private investment in higher education.

Of the view that education cannot be treated as an industry, the Ministry has pointed out that the Planning Commission’s proposal to facilitate greater corporate/private participation in higher education runs contrary to the National Policy on Education, Supreme Court orders and even the National Common Minimum Programme which promises to make education affordable and accessible.

In the agenda note for Monday’s meeting, Planning Commission while making out a case for quantum expansion of capacity and improvement in quality said, “It should be realized [that] with the resource constraints it is not possible for the Government to do it alone. In partnership with the States, we will have to leverage central funds to tap other sources of finances – corporate/institutional/private charities/endowments – to set up new institutions and expand the existing institutions. We need an appropriate policy framework for facilitating private investments in education including removal of entry barriers, simplified procedures for affiliations…” As for the Planning Commission proposal to increase fees to meet at least 20 per cent of the recurring cost on higher education, the Ministry has reiterated its position that this quantum can only be the upper limit and not the lower.

Also, the Ministry sees this as an attempt by the Commission to “smuggle” National Knowledge Commission recommendations to this effect into the agenda; knowing full well that HRD had already decided to go with the Central Advisory Board of Education suggestion that 20 per cent of expenditure was the maximum that institutions could raise from fees or else it would become inaccessible to a large section of the population.

Plan panel proposal

On Planning Commission’s proposal to set up 14 world-class universities, the HRD view is that they cannot substitute for global level excellence of a system which already has 380 universities.

Though the HRD does not have a quarrel with the idea of more institutions, the Ministry’s contention is that it cannot be an “either/or” situation where new universities are opened and flushed with funds at the cost of existing ones.

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