A few years ago, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee pointed to an anomaly. The amount university students, at least in the metros, paid for cold drinks was more than what they chipped in for their monthly tuition fee. In its wavering pursuit of liberalisation and rationalisation, the state has remained remarkably wary of modernising the financial structure of universities. As a facile way of asserting its commitment to providing easy access to centres of higher learning — and, of course, in deference to student power — the state has desisted from raising fees. As a consequence, for almost four decades most universities have continued to demand a paltry sum of Rs 10-20 per month from enrolled students. And, of course, as a further consequence little or no money is left in their allocated budgets for investment in libraries, laboratories and other academic facilities after colleges and universities pay recurrent bills like teachers’ salaries — which, it goes without saying, have kept pace with inflation. The proposal by University Grants Commission making it obligatory for colleges and universities to raise at least 10 per cent of their total budget is therefore long overdue and welcome. Certainly, an upward revision of student fee has been recommended by committee upon committee appointed to inquire into the financial imbalances in universities — most recently, the Mahmud-ur-Rahman and Anandakrishnan panels. The rationale, for this hike, is first and foremost financial. Raising monthly fee from Rs 20 or so to the Rs 80-100 that’s been routinely recommended is too commonsensical a suggestion to require further explanation. However, some of the observations made by experts bear repetition. It has, for instance, been noted that there has been a marked drop in philanthropy in higher education. Besides, university officials have been visibly unconcerned about forging linkages with corporates, consultancies and research and development laboratories in a bid to bring in funds. Elite institutions like the IITs have been successful in tapping their alumni’s experience and deep pockets as well as in leveraging their talent pool. Others must be convinced that they had better get into the act, or be left behind; the government cannot be counted upon to write cheques to prevent a shakeout in academic rankings. More importantly, a pitifully low fee is often rationalised with grand rhetoric about India’s commitment to an egalitarian educational system. But that objective is better met by diverting the overwhelmingly lop-sided subsidy from higher education to primary education. As things currently stand, it is the more privileged sections of society who qualify for admissions in elite colleges — sections who can easily part with a few rupees more.
