|
Private Perspectives |
NUMBER 49, FALL 2007 |
|
|||
|
Private Deemed Universities in India
Pawan Agarwal
Though the third-largest system in terms of enrollment, with more than 10 million students, India has almost half of the world's institutions of higher education—almost four times more than in the United States and Europe and over seven times the number of institutions in China. Most of the 18,000 institutions in India are colleges and only around 370 are universities. While universities award their own degrees, the colleges award degrees through the university to which they are affiliated. Only 120 of the 370 universities are the affiliating type, the rest are unitary with no affiliated colleges. Academic degrees in India can only be awarded by a university. Both the national Parliament and the state legislatures can authorize the establishment of universities. In addition, the national government can grant "deemed university" status to an institution initially founded as a private or public college. The distinction between a private and public institution in Indian higher education is somewhat blurred. If the government promotes and sets up an institution, it is referred to as a public institution. On the other hand, an institution promoted and set up by a private promoter is referred to as a private institution. However, some private institutions (both universities and colleges) are government supported and highly regulated. Though technically private, these are de facto public institutions. Hence, private institutions here include only institutions that are set up by private promoters and do not receive government funding.
Private Growth
Until recently, these private institutions consisted mostly of colleges. These private colleges are subject to government control via the public universities with which they are affiliated. They lack the autonomy to offer new programs, innovate curricula and evaluation, or change policies in matters of admissions and fees. Many people believe that the affiliating structure is a bane on Indian higher education. However, the affiliating system did ensure rapid expansion, while maintaining the sanctity of admissions and fees. Wherever academic supervision was effective, it also ensured minimum standards were maintained. By the mid-1990s, promoters of private colleges saw the regulatory control of the affiliating university and state governments as cumbersome, impending the full utilization of the colleges' market potential. Thus, they wanted university status to wriggle out of control of state governments and the affiliating universities. This resulted in the proliferation of private universities and private deemed universities. Now state legislatures have established 10 private universities and 70 private deemed universities. Debate over private universities has continued for more than a decade. In 1995, the Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) bill was introduced in the Parliament. While a central legislation for private universities is still pending for want of a consensus, several state governments have established private universities through state legislation. Today, there are 10 private universities in Indian higher education.
Private Deemed Universities
Earlier, the deemed university provision that empowered an institution to award its own degree was sparingly used to allow leading institutions to offer programs at an advanced level in a particular field or specialization. The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in Delhi were the first two institutions to be declared deemed universities in 1958. This number increased to 29 in 1990/91 and 38 in 1998 and now stands at 110. Most of the post-1998 deemed universities are private. Initially, only public and government-aided institutions became deemed universities. In 1976, the Manipal Academy for Higher Education, a pioneer in private higher education, became the first financially independent institution to be declared a deemed university. In 1998, to encourage the development of educational opportunities in emerging disciplines the procedure was changed to favor new institutions. Granting deemed university status, particularly using the new provisions, raised many issues. The process was temporarily suspended in 2002, and efforts were made to frame more stringent guidelines, which the government, however, did not approve. In 2005, attempts were also made to increase the transparency of the process by introducing a screening system, but this initiative was also abandoned. The somewhat opaque and arbitrary granting of deemed university status leads to a perception that the process is susceptible to political manipulation. Meanwhile, the number of private deemed universities continues to increase. Between 2000 and 2005, 48 institutions including 26 private ones were declared deemed universities and 107 proposals were pending. By the end of 2005, there were as many as 93 deemed universities; this number now stands at 110. Besides 17 public regional engineering colleges that became deemed universities and were renamed National Institutes of Technology, only an insignificant number of public institutions have been declared universities. A large proportion of the private colleges seeking this status are in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, states with the highest proportion of private colleges. A history of political patronage to private initiatives in these states is said to account for the institutions' success in acquiring deemed university status. For most successful private colleges, the deemed university status represents a worthwhile pursuit. For one thing, the government control via the affiliating public universities does not apply to deemed universities. Colleges that have maintained a certain degree of control through self-financing gain a higher level of freedom through deemed university status. They enjoy freedom in matters of fees and admissions. Thus large nonrefundable deposits are the norm for gaining admission, and tuition fees tend to be high. Private deemed universities are mostly run by powerful families that either play an important role in politics themselves or earn political patronage by dispensing favors, like preferential admissions. They wield great influence in shaping policy on private higher education, for the purpose of consolidating their own operations. Deemed universities obtained many concessions from the University Grants Commission and the government. Such institutions can now use the term "university" in their title and initiate teaching programs at both the undergraduate and the postgraduate levels in disciplines of their choice. This brings them on par with public universities. Most private deemed universities operate in low-risk, high profit fields that essentially train the workforce of the future—with a few exceptions such as the Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani, and Thapar University (earlier Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology), Patiala. While many of these institutions are of decent quality, they rarely focus on postgraduate education and research. Many of them generate enough surplus funds not only to meet their operating expenses but also to expand and improve infrastructure and facilities.
Conclusion
Though small in numbers, private deemed universities would increasingly shape the future of private higher education in India. Even the foreign institutions would be given deemed university status under the proposed Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation, Maintenance of Quality and Prevention of Commercialization) Bill currently under consideration. This article is based on the author's Observatory on Borderless Higher Education report, "Private Higher Education in India: Status and Prospects," released in July 2007 (available online at www.obhe.ac.uk/products/reports/pdf/2007-07-01.pdf). [Online] Available: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/Number49/p15_Agarwal.htm
|
