Higher Education Regulation in India: Problems and ProspectsANUP K SINGH, PHD

New Realities

Emergence of middle class with high aspirations for higher education

Consequently, substantial increase in Graduate Enrolment Ratio

Professional education increasing faster than arts, humanities and social science education

Post 1991, significant increase in private, self-financing institutions

Most professional education takes place in private, self-financing institutions than in government institutions

ICT as a great enabler of learning

Focus on employability

Return on investment as a major concern for students and parents

Complexities of Higher Education

Higher education leads to both public and private good; therefore, the government has an interest in higher education both as the provider and as the regulator

The government controls educational institutions tightly

Information and power asymmetry between the providers and consumers

No exit from educational service once a student has taken admission in a long term programme

Profiteering by many private, self-financing institutions in spite of constitutional provision that education is for charity

Lurking suspicions of all private, self-financing institutions; real charitable institutions thus suffer

Government’s expense on higher education not increasing; thus, it depends on private institutions to achieve its social objectives

Accreditation is made mandatory but requisite infrastructure is missing

Difficulties in balancing access, equity and excellence

Regional and state disparity in higher education

Monopolistic Competition in Higher Education

Product differentiation (Educational institutions differentiate partly on curriculum, student experience, return on investment, etc.)

Many firms (700 universities and over 36,000 colleges)

No entry and exit cost in the long run

Independent decision making (Universities and colleges hardly coordinate among themselves; even if there are some associations, they are fragile)

Some degree of market power (Ranking, accreditation and word of mouth)

Buyers and Sellers do not have perfect information (Imperfect Information)

Corruption in Education

A large number of people perceive the educational sector as one of the most corrupt sectors in India

Bribe to provide license to establish an educational institution

Capitation fees; high admission fees; under-payment to faculty and staff; siphoning out money from the institutions; personal use of institutional resources; sundry charges from students

High on promise, low on performance

Fake degrees; low academic rigour; non-adherence to regulatory norms and standards

Land grabbing; whitening of black money

Regulatory bodies are seen lethargic, inefficient and unscrupulous

Governmental Control of Higher Education

Both central and state government control education

Different state governments differ in their regulation and administration of higher education

There are multiple regulatory bodies, like UGC, AICTE, BCI, PCI, etc.

Sometimes, there are conflict among them

High control, low on support and facilitation

Government acts as a protector of students and parents at the cost of being the promoter of excellence in education

State and national outlook; no aspiration to upgrade to international standards

Lack of clarity to deal with new educational realities

Educational regulations more driven by political exigencies than by high standards

Law and Higher Education

The Constitution of the country allow impart of knowledge to the student as an occupation; however, it does not allow profit creation

Private institutions are allowed full autonomy; however, they are required to follow merit in admission

However, the State can provide for reservation in favour of financially or socially backward sections of the society

Each state is required to found a fee regulatory committee that will fix fee for a period of three years for colleges

Contd…

Private institutions are expected to conduct an admission test through their association; the admission is to be supervised by a retired high court judge

Most state governments have developed a common private university act under which an institution can apply for the status of a university. The act is generally restrictive and provides limited autonomy to the university

However, the UGC demands that for a university to be recognised by it has to be established by a separate Act rather than by a common Act. It created a serious problem for many private universities

The entry of foreign institutions is still a grey area

Suppliers of Higher Education

Central government (Chiefly MHRD, other ministries, government enterprises)

State government (state universities, state colleges, grant-in-aid colleges)

State private universities and colleges (Diversities among promoters, varying from philanthropists to politicians to businessmen, to religious trust, to minority organisations to state government enterprises)

Deemed universities (government and private)

Non-profit company (For example, Indian School of Business)

For profit company (NIIT, School of Inspired Leadership)

Related Industries

Coaching industry

Admission agencies

Admission portals

Print media, including education magazines

Ranking organisations

Soft skill providers

Testing industry

Placement agencies

Market and Higher Education

Market of higher education becoming mature. There is monopolistic competition in the market

Accreditation has failed to create awareness about quality institutions among various stakeholders

UGC and AICTE have made it mandatory for institutions to keep some vital information on their websites

Information about different institutions is available through ranking agencies

There is more supply for many programmes than demand

Therefore, the power of students and parents is not as low as it may seem

Competition among institutions is heating up

Several institutions are being closed, while new institutions are also being established

Regulation of Higher Education

State governments directly monitor and control higher education institutions through licensing, admission and fee regulations

UGC and AICTE are two main regulatory bodies

They are responsible for both assurance of standards and disbursement of grants

There are other professional bodies, controlling professional education like MCI, PCI, BCI, etc. (These are purely regulatory bodies)

Most of these bodies were established pre-90s; therefore, they are not fully geared to address new educational realities and institutions

A recent committee on higher education headed by Dr. Hari Gautam recommended the scrapping of the UGC

Accreditation

It is a mechanism of quality assurance

Besides following higher education regulatory mechanisms, institutions need to undergo accreditation

Accreditation can be in terms of both accredited/not-accredited or grading

It should inform general public and different stakeholders about the quality of an institution

As India is a large country with over 36,000 colleges and 750 universities, there is a need for several general and discipline-specific accreditation agencies

Contd…

Accreditation should focus on student learning and outcomes

Outcome measures (Learning, employability, initial salary, exposure, career progression, student satisfaction, soft skill development, etc.)

It should also reflect Indian realities

There should be strong mechanisms to ensure that accreditation agencies do not indulge in malpractices

It should focus on both assessment of quality and assessment for quality

It should also work for upgradation of quality

Ranking of Institutions

Ranking besides accreditation provides additional information about the quality of institutions to students, parents and employers

In the last two decades, the ranking of institutions have picked up

The ranking of universities in India is recent and is in a nascent stage

The rankings of business and engineering schools are most popular and mature

There is mushroom growth of ranking agencies; many of them are spurious

There is a need for ranking of ranking agencies

The Government of India is considering to rank institutions for public at large

Regulatory Authority of Higher Education & Research

It may set norms and standards for different disciplines of higher education, including government institutions, grant-in-aid institutions and private institutions

It may monitors adherence to those norms and standards by various institutions

It may penalise institutions for non-adherence and malpractices

Another body may be responsible for funding and financial support to institution

The different regulatory bodies need to coordinate among themselves to facilitate the functioning of institutions and universities. There may be a body to coordinate them