PMO objects to Foreign Varsities Bill

The long-pending Foreign Education Providers Bill,that promises to usher in Ivy League institutes,has now run into objections...

The long-pending Foreign Education Providers Bill,that promises to usher in Ivy League institutes,has now run into objections from the Prime Ministers Office,which feels the legislation is not in keeping with the new reform agenda it is working on for the education sector. Sources said this was likely to further delay the Bill,which was expected to be on the Cabinet agenda this week.

Highly placed sources in the Human Resource Development HRD Ministry confirmed that the PMO had written to them on the issue. The PMO,it is learnt,feels the Bill does not go along with the reform-centric higher education sector envisaged keeping in mind the Prof Yashpal Committees recommendations. Moreover,the draft legislation,which has already undergone the inter-ministerial consultation process,does not factor in the National Council for Higher Education,the single independent higher education authority.

The legislation,which had run into stiff opposition from the Left parties in the last UPA government,had been recently resurrected by the HRD Ministry with some changes like terming them foreign education providers and not deemed to be universities as proposed earlier.

The Bill also fails to specify a time-bound and transparent process for getting the approval for setting up a centre in India. While a proposal by a foreign university/institute will stay pending with the University Grants Commission UGC for over six months,the Bill does not specify the period within which the ministry will grant its final approval. This absence of a time-bound mechanism,the PMO has said,will defeat the very aim of the legislation.

The PMO has also objected to the fee regulation process saying it will reflect badly if the UGC regulates fee for foreign varsities when it does not do so for universities of India as of now. The PMO thinks the fee regulations may act as a deterrent for Ivy League institutes planning to set up to centres in India.

The PMO also wants clarity on exemptions from the bureaucratic approval process for certain highly prestigious institutes if they want to set up an institute in India. That apart,certain penal provisions in case of violations by foreign varsities have also been frowned upon by the PMO, an HRD official said.