Create Harvards and Oxfords in India

By Dr (Mrs) Vishiesh Verma

Indian students are a step closer to gaining access to foreign Universities on the home ground. The cabinet has approved a bill allowing overseas players to open campuses in India. If the things go according to the plan, once the foreign educational institutions (Regulation of entry and operations) Bill 2010 gets parliamentary approval, the first set of foreign educational institutions will start functioning by mid 2011.
India is the third largest higher Education system in the world after China and US in terms of enrolment, which is around 11.04 million(2005-06). In spite of impressive quantitative expansion it lags far behind the developed nations with regard to access to higher education. Nearly `45000 cr per year is repatriated out of India for 3, 00,000 Indian students studying abroad. There are several reasons for so many students going abroad for higher studies, the prominent being; only a small number of Indian Universities occupy a good position amongst the ambit of top class educational institutions to provide best quality higher education. These world ranking institutions are mainly restricted to IITs, IIMs and some universities.

More than 90 percent of the aspirants for admission to these institutions don't get selected not for want of qualifications of the applicants but for the capacity constraints in the institutions. In 2009, 4.5 lakh candidates appeared for JEE test for 10,000 seats. The Vice Chancellor of Kashmir University was sorry to admit only 4,000 students in various subjects out of 35,000 applicants. This year's qualifying marks for B.Com (Hons.) course in Delhi's SRCC was 98.75 percent. Nearly `3,000 crore per year is spent by nearly 6,00,000 students trying to arrange and learn for entrance examinations into IITs and top twenty management institutions. All world class institutions put together provide education to only one percent of the student population seeking higher education. Under such situations, foreign Universities provide safety valve for talented well off Indian students who can't find seats in their chosen fields in Indian Institutions. All these Indian World class institutions put together provide education to one percent of students seeking higher education. The remaining 99 percent students get enrolled in low ranking Universities and Colleges under compulsion.

The employability of students coming from such colleges is also in question especially in special fields like engineering. NASSACOM study states, 'only 25 percent of India's engineering graduates are fit for employment, the rest lack technical skills even knowledge of English'. There are reasons for decline of Indian higher education.
We fall short of educational institutions. During the last fifty years there has been 60 times increase in the college going population but the number of colleges haven't been increased according to that proportion. Financial support for higher education in terms of GDP decreased from .01% in 1971 onwards to 0.4% in 2001. Out of the funds available for education 95% are spent on the salaries of staff. The present higher education system is catering to the needs of less than 10% of aspirants. The dropout rate between the classes 1st to 12th is about 90%.

No doubt, with all these internal weaknesses, India managed to survive with her increasingly mediocre higher education system. Now in 21st century we have no choice except to compete in a globalized economy in the areas that require highly trained professionals, thus the quality of higher education automatically assumes greater importance.
India is a country bubbling with youth population. About 60 crore population is below the age of thirty years. According to India's report on unemployment the average Indian will be only 20 yrs in 2020 compared to 37 in China and US, 45 in west Europe and 46 in Japan and for a country so young it would be boon to a create a well trained work force.
Inviting foreign Universities in India is one of the strategies of Government to expand higher education system in terms of quantity and quality. It is supposed that it will curb the outflow of foreign exchange. Besides it will fill demand and supply gap, and make higher education globally competitive.

Besides it is expected that with the establishment of foreign Universities over here three fourth of students exodus would end. Working of foreign Universities would have impact on the performance of domestic education providers. With global standards of teaching and infrastructure every local institute will need to compete, to attract students with improved pedagogy, internationally accepted courses and upgraded facilities. There will be a qualitative change in the educational institutes at national level. Good international Universities can help improve quality in Indian Universities not just through increased competition for students but from increased partnership and sharing of best practices in teaching and learning. To that extent, the foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill 2010 is welcome.

Education Minister, Kapil Sibal has described the bill as "a milestone, which will enhance choices, increase competition between Indian and foreign Universities and bench-mark the quality."

There are many debates on the issue of entry of foreign institutions in India. Prof Yashpaul said, there is no wisdom to be got from outside the country. Setting up a University isn't buying office space and furnishing it. There is more of it, something that comes from teacher and student interface. That can't be imported by teachers. To him "Foreign University Bill is only about signing agreement between Babus in India and abroad, it has little to do with education".

There is no denying that educational export are a promising source of foreign exchange, at present foreign students contribute US $11 billion to the US economy and over AUS $ 4.2 billion to Australian economy. In America Colleges, age population declined by 15% per decade since 1977, therefore the Universities in US survive on export of education.
So far three Universities have shown interest in India. American University ranked 84th on a scale of zero to 100, Virginia Technical University ranked 71st and Georgetown ranked 23rd. The ranking of first two Universities show that they are not preferred by American students. Georgetown University was basically founded by Catholics and Jesuit in 1789, with the aim of educating theology. There are still compulsory papers on theology that each student has to clear as apart of the curriculum. The Universities like Harvard, Oxford won't shift to India. A University is much more than a place of teaching, it also has a cultural ambience rooted in its traditions and geographical locations. But it is certainly possible to create educational centers of excellence in India which are world class and could successfully seek some sort of affiliation with world famous Universities. The government is in a hurry to start 1500 universities by 2015. Professor Yashpaul, Chairman of the committee on "Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education" recommends that India has about 26000 affiliated colleges, but some of these colleges are as big as some of the Universities in USA. A small number of good affiliated colleges, about 1500 may be converted into Universities. This will take care of our present need of adding more universities. It is possible to create such educational centers of excellence in India and get them affiliated to famous Universities. Let these College charge fees required to maintain excellent standards. Let there not be caste based reservations. These super colleges to be privately funded and would be insulated from political interferences. Money is available for education from private donors provided there is no political interference in running of these institutions.

We appreciate and invite foreign Universities to provide world class infrastructure, teachers, administrators, those who make the students work hard during their stay in the institution. Such institutions make out the program where students and teachers have to stay and work to the maximum. There is transparency in appointments and results. No political interference, no favors. The teachers have to earn their stay in the institutions based on the opinions of students and students have to pay for their stay in the institution.

(The writer is a former Reader Coordinator of University of Jammu)