Opinion The foreign impulse

And then I plunged into rural India and came face to face with the fact that 80 per cent of our children receive completely inadequate education. The 15 per cent of these children who survive the 12 years of rote learning in schools enrol for three desultory years of college education. In colleges that are understaffed,with teachers who are demotivated,with little infrastructure and neither sensible monitoring of quality nor even the remotest idea of what students learn in those three years. India today has over 600 universities and over 30,000 colleges churning out graduates year after year,many with little understanding of their chosen subject. Visit Gulbarga,Kolhapur or Bhagalpur and meet any young graduate,fresh PhD or lecturer who teaches there,and the problem will hit you like a fist in the gut. Visit the departments of a university and see the sincere professor vainly battling the system for better curriculum,assessment and learning experience for our students.

So if the objective is to do something to change this situation,many things need to be done simultaneously. That is why I am lukewarm to the government’s announcement that it will use the route of an executive order to allow foreign universities to operate in India. Evidence and rationale seem to indicate that this step will be peripheral to the urgent issues of equity and quality education in India. Two questions,then: Why are foreign universities interested in coming to India? Whom will they serve? The answer to the first is the lure of the huge market of 1.2 billion people at a time when funds are getting severely slashed in Western universities. And for some top universities,setting up a centre in a country like India would add stature to their global social commitment. The answer to the second is that they will present to Indian students the opportunity of a foreign degree right here in India. Will foreign universities plunge into undergraduate courses because that is where the numbers will make financial sense,or will they establish masters programmes to save foreign exchange for India as its graduates seek such qualifications from foreign universities? Even if these degrees will come much cheaper than going abroad and save the government foreign exchange (said to be around $10 billion),the students who will study at these institutions will be those who are financially well-off or educated in India’s elite urban schools. And the crème de la crème may still opt to go abroad anyway. So where do the objectives of equity and equal opportunities for quality higher education get realised with such a move? Sceptics will equate this to the handful of elitist schools offering international baccalaureate programmes to the privileged few who prepare to go abroad for higher studies.

If these universities come to India solely on the grounds of philanthropy,they are welcome. Philanthropic contribution in education is important,and they will have to establish themselves as not-for-profit organisations under Section 25 of the Companies Act rules. The problem is that,based on ample experience,we know this does not work in spirit or reality. How these foreign universities respond to their establishment as not-for-profit Section 25 organisations will be a test of their intentions.

There is a great shortage of quality teachers in our universities; talent is scarce and speaking from our own experience,getting a good faculty for philosophy or psychology gives sleepless nights to those running the institution. In such a scenario,it is likely that foreign universities may merely entice better faculty from existing universities,leaving those institutions in an even more dire condition.

Thus,while direct foreign university presence might benefit a small section of upper crust Indians,our focus must be on core issues and fundamental priorities: one,increase public spending on education. Public spending in higher education should aim for equity and quality. Philanthropy and private spending can take up some of the slack. Two,improve the abysmally poor governance of existing public institutions to help improve access and quality for the disadvantaged by completely revamping regulatory systems,as the existing system is stifling good institutions. Systematically eliminate flab,red tape and cronyism from the regulatory system to give institutions the academic freedom to decide programmes,courses,curricula and to recruit and appoint faculty without interference. Three,allow private-sector philanthropy,and if the above regulatory revamp is in place,it will enable them to innovate. Four,improve the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Today,it hands out A-plus and As liberally,making the assessment seem farcical. Let it use yardsticks where the highest rating is only for institutions that are in the global top 500 and the rest are placed relative to that standard. Finally,create a system where the best people in their subjects,be they social sciences or engineering,are incentivised to teach. It is a travesty that an engineering college lecturer,after 10 years of teaching,gets half of what his student gets upon graduation.

Each of these is a challenge. People have spoken about these for years. The entry of foreign universities is a very limited solution. Ask that young Indian in Gulbarga,Kolhapur or Bhagalpur.

The writer is registrar and chief operating officer of Azim Premji University. Views are personal