Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Regulating Higher Education in Private Universities

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After the CMJ University imbroglio the Government hurriedly activated the Regulatory Body for Higher Education in Private Universities to go into the anomalies of CMJU. Since each university is created by a specific Act the regulatory norms should flow from the Act. The mandate of a regulatory authority is simply that – regulation – not control and not setting up roadblocks to the objectives of spreading higher education in the State. The Regulatory Body must be far-sighted and ambitious and facilitate the growth of properly functioning private universities in Meghalaya rather than stifle their growth with bureaucratese. Before getting into regulatory specifics, it is necessary to clear the air about the role and nature of education, in this case higher education. These misconceptions play a role in the competing ideological debates on private participation in higher education. Detractors of private universities see them as anathema. Often, ‘privatisation’ and ‘commercialisation’ are tarred with the same brush. On the other end of the spectrum there are votaries who believe that making profit from education is no sin since competition begets quality and better returns. But both models fall short of the real meaning and purpose of education in India as mandated by the Indian Constitution which is to reach education to every citizen in every nook and corner of the country.

The Supreme Court has clearly stated that higher education is a non-profit activity. The apex court has also held that the fundamental right to establish and administer educational institutions is an ‘occupation’ and not a trade/business of profession. Capitation fees have been disallowed. And private institutions are obligated to maintain the standards of professional excellence by admitting students on merit and allowing a free and fair access through a transparent admission procedure based on reasonable fee structure. Perhaps it is not for nothing that the Supreme Court allows unaided professional institutions to devise their own fee structures with the rider that profiteering should not be the motive. It is also necessary to recognise that state governments hold the power to regulate the universities it has created without being overly constrained by the tenets of the University Grants Commission (UGC) whose mandate clearly is to regulate central universities. Often the bureaucracy finds it hard to move out of its comfort zone and prefers to follow the beaten track instead of innovating and stepping out into a liberal space allowed by the State Private Universities Act. If the purpose of setting up private universities is to spread higher education why should off campus study centres within the State of Meghalaya be disallowed? Does this not defeat the very purpose of a State University?

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