General Management @ Knowledge Zone



Educational Policy Reform: The Battle Ahead!

by Prof. P. V. Ramana *

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Part - III

  • Create a new organization for public funding - Bharat Siksha Kosh under MHRD can be made autonomous. The role of UGC as both Regulator and Grantor is debilitating. (or, retain UGC as Fund allocator among State Universities, and create a University Regulatory Authority - URA, for both Public and Private Universities)

  • Self-regulated mandatory accreditation (wake-up call for AIMS, the silent body of Directors of Business Schools, from whom not a peep is heard!)

  • A system of academic audit and ratings to be published regularly

  • Dismantle the system of affiliation

  • All colleges and institutes offering tertiary education to be considered as Universities with a 3-tier structure: -

    • Society, Trust or a Public Corporation (either for-profit, or non-profit) as owner/ promoter

    • A governing Board

    • Institute Administration

  • Government promoted and public funded institutions will have a majority of state representation in the Tier-1 Society

  • Remove territorial restrictions for functioning of tertiary institutions. The current rules of affiliation and territorial restrictions are very similar to "grazing rights"!

  • Direct public funds into state-guaranteed study loan and grant programs putting money into student hands, eliminating use of subsidies for funding of IIM overheads.

  • Remove hurdles to FDI in Education

  • Investment in Education to be on par with Investment in Research or Investment in Infrastructure. (Harvard is coming to India, via the Research route due to this difficulty only!)

  • Tax al surpluses in Education

  • Allow for-profit corporations to invest in Education, subject to the same rules for Licensing, Regulation and Accreditation, except that they are not eligible for state funds, other than concessional land etc.

  • Recognize that Education cannot be a charity - the GOI will become bankrupt if it seeks to fund and thus regulate all higher education.

  • Create a model act to be enacted in all the States and Union territories for establishment and regulation of Private Universities, and make it mandatory for all existing institutions, which meet the minimum norms to be autonomous universities!

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* Contributed by: -
Prof. P. V. Ramana; BE (Hons) Elec. Engg. from Andhra University, Waltair, India; MBA (Accounting & Finance) from Washington State University, USA; Prof. Engr. (Thermal Power), USA (equiv. to a Doctoral qualification); Receiver of Life Time Achievement award in 2003 for service to Management Education given by World HRD Congress, Boston, USA; he has also founded ITM Group in 1991 and is the current chairman.