The University Grants Commission (UGC) had by all accounts failed to fulfil expectations. Indian Universities had performed very badly in global ranking. It is good that the Government had drafted a new law, the Higher Education Commission of Education Bill to revamp the universities. But the snag is that the proposed new law is also inclined to over- regulation which clashes with academic autonomy. The new legislation is intended to improve academic standards. But the Union HRD Ministry is to do the funding. The academic institutions in the country have never been altogether free from Government interference. But, with the HRD ministry directly controlling the financing of universities, the danger of political interference increases. The objective of the Bill is to make groves of academe self-regulatory. The funding aspect defeats the purpose. Repetition of the scandal at Nalanda University is not ruled out. The question is: where will the money come from? The private sector may provide a fair amount of finance. But it is only interested in job-oriented courses. What will happen to pure sciences and humanities? Besides, private sector funding also has strings attached.
The new Bill proposes to arrest the fall in educational standards. But that warrants the appointment of the best available teaching talent. With the HRD Ministry holding the purse-strings, will there be any improvement over the UGC? The bill also empowers the Centre to remove the Chairman of the Commission for ineptitude, whatever that implies. The HRD ministry should have the qualitative competence to exercise such powers. Every institution in this country has suffered due to excessive bureaucratic controls and the inability to attract talent and excellence. Age is equated with wisdom and people continue to remain in certain positions long after they have failed to produce results. Security of tenure and lack of assessment of performance of those holding positions of responsibility in the educational sector have succeeded in killing merit, enthusiasm, motivation and new ideas. Those who have held noteworthy positions in the UGC were insecure about allowing fresh blood into the institution. Moreover, unnecessary control over universities that wish to expand their campuses to the rural outback where higher education is not accessible to the youth has been a huge setback. While universities need to be strictly regulated their growth cannot be stymied by those regulations.
