Course correction

The deemed university status enabled not just full autonomy in setting course work and syllabus of these institutes and research centres,but also allowed them to set their own guidelines for admissions,fees,and granting degrees. The process of conferring the deemed to be university status was a rigorous one and involved detailed deliberation on an applicant institute8217;s suitability for the status.

While the process remains the same in response to representations made by educational institutions and on the basis of a recommendation following on-site inspections made by an expert committee comprising UGC chairman,All India Council for Technical Education chairman,Higher Education Secretary and academic experts,and also keeping in mind the concerned state government8217;s views,the Human Resource Development Ministry issues a notification granting deemed university status to institutes the rigour seems to have gone out of it.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Consider this: in the first 10 years after the enactment of the UGC Act,eight institutions were notified as deemed universities. In the 1970s,the UGC decided that notification under Section 3 should be made in special cases only and three institutions were conferred the deemed university status. There was a slight shift in policy in the 1980s and 18 more institutions were added under Section 3. Between 1956 and 1990,in 35 years,only 29 institutions were granted the deemed university status.

However,in the last 15 years,63 institutions were declared deemed universities. The last five years,especially,saw a spurt,with 36 institutions,excluding Regional Engineering Colleges,being notified as deemed universities as per the details compiled by the Prof Yashpal led Committee on Rejuvenation of Higher Education.

From the likes of IISc,those with deemed varsity status suddenly included family-run institutes,either linked to politicians or business houses. Like the Jaypee Institute of Technology; Manav Rachna International University in Faridabad which was set up by a one time property dealer O P Bhalla; and Maharishi Markandeshwar University near Ambala which also has a property dealer for Chancellor. Several of the deemed varsities in Tamil Nadu,which have been now found unfit by the HRD Ministry,have linkages with prominent political parties in the state. Tripura Governor D Y Patil is the founder of the D Y Patil University which has also been found unfit. Santosh University is run by Chennai8217;s Dr P Mahalingam who was a personal physician to BSP leader Kanshiram.

With high profit margins some of these colleges charge well over Rs 25 lakh for professional courses education seems to have become as much a booming business as real estate.

STEMMING THE ROT

While advocate Viplav Sharma filed a PIL in 2006 seeking regulation of the teeming number of deemed varsities,the Prof Yashpal-led committee also recommended putting on hold all deemed varsity proposals. The step is absolutely the right one. After all the careers and lives of children are at stake. Most of these institutes are being run as business propositions and in many cases family members are Chancellors and Board members of institutes, Professor Yashpal,former UGC chairman and well-known academic,said with reference to the government8217;s decision to derecognise 44 deemed universities.

While the mediocrity of several deemed varsities was also noticed by the parliamentary committee examining the HRD ministry8217;s Demand for Grants 2008-09,the PM-backed National Knowledge Commission NKC called for doing away with the deemed varsity system altogether.

Incidentally,while almost all of the NKC8217;s recommendations were rejected by the Arjun Singh-led HRD Ministry and the Prof Yashpal Committee8217;s recommendations were also kept on the backburner,the two reports have become the roadmap for higher education reform ever since his successor,Kapil Sibal,has taken over. The ministry,which earlier allowed an increasing number of deemed varsities to flourish,submitted before the Supreme Court that at least 44 of the 130 deemed to be universities did not deserve the status and proposed to withdraw the same.

Many institutions which attained deemed university status from being a college increased their intake capacity disproportionately and in some cases exponentially in relation to the qualified faculty strength and other academic infrastructure, said the ministry in its affidavit. The full report,along with the task force report on student interest,will be placed before the apex court in March. 

THE WAY FORWARD

At the core of the deemed varsity problem,however,are simple demand-supply issues and flaws in our regulatory system. With a system wherein a university can only be set up through the tedious route via an Act of Parliament,the deemed to be university process offers the only alternative to come close to varsity status,pointed out Pratap Bhanu Mehta,a former member convener,National Knowledge Commission and president,Centre for Policy Research.

The NKC,incidentally had pointed out that an independent regulatory authority was the need of the hour because setting up a varsity through the parliamentary route alone was a formidable barrier. Mehta reinstated the point.  While indiscriminate awarding of deemed varsities is a concern,it is more a symptom,not a cause. It is a symptom that the government is not providing quality education. Even acting on these 8216;blacklisted8217; deemed varsities is an easy way out,it does not solve the structural problems, he said.

The HRD ministry,meanwhile,is mulling doing away with the entire deemed university system itself while the UGC has submitted a new set of regulations to ensure more accountability in deemed varsities. But what about the accountability of the university regulator? The Professors Forum of India,which has welcomed the bold stand of the HRD Ministry on the issue,has expressed hope that Sibal will take this to the logical conclusion and bring to book those who allowed such a situation to persist.

The answer probably lies in setting up an overarching regulatory authority or a National Commission for Higher Education amp; Research,thinks the government. Mulling radical ideas like subsuming all current regulatory bodies from UGC to AICTE,the National Council for Teacher Education etc into a single entity in the form of NCHE,the Kapil Sibal-led dispensation wants to reform regulatory processes to make them transparent and facilitatory instead of restrictive.