Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill 2010 has recently been tabled in the Parliament by the Government. The Bill enables the education providers from foreign countries to set up universities in India and offer degrees. They need not follow the reservation norms and are permitted to fix the fees on their own.
The Bill was in fact prepared earlier and had to be kept in abeyance for more than four years due to opposition from various quarters. It was then sent to a Committee of Secretaries, where modifications were made to certain provisions. The Bill is however facing opposition from different sides, including the major opposition parties, students’ organizations and educationists on different grounds. Reports say that there is no consensus even within the ruling party.
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development says that the entry of foreign universities will “enhance choices, increase competition and benchmark quality.” He also feels that the work force will be able to get the necessary training and increase skills. The present Gross Enrolment Ratio of students in higher educational institutions at 12.4 is lesser in India compared to the developed countries. The Ministry feels that foreign universities will help the country to increase the enrolment ratio and India will have more percentage of people studying in higher educational institutions in future.
We have to remember that education is not just another sector in a country. Education enables the citizens to improve their living standards and plays the critical role in shaping the future of the country. The dream of every parent is to give an education that makes children to grow up imbibing the best values, with the required capabilities for life. Hence the Government and the society should be very careful while deciding policies related to education.
Whenever we think of foreign universities, the countries that come across our minds are generally the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and a few others in Europe. A study of the personal lives of the citizens of these countries, their social and economic conditions and the functioning of their university systems reveal that all is not well with their higher educational systems. The purpose of higher education should be to make students better citizens, resulting in the overall development of their lives and that of the societies around them. We all know that many of the western economies are in a very bad shape. There is no saving habit among people in the countries that are known for higher education such as the US, the UK and Australia. Individualistic attitudes have resulted in the large-scale destruction of families and societies. It was reported that in countries such as the US and Australia, more than forty percent of the children were born out of relationships outside marriages. These countries are forced to spend enormous amounts to take care of their families and societies, without substantial results.
Many of the biggest corporations in the world are from some of these countries. The events during the last few years indicate that many of the senior executives of the corporate sector have been engaged in amassing wealth for themselves through all means, at the cost of the interests of the shareholders, public and the governments. Remember that many of these executives are from the much sought after business schools and reputed institutions of higher learning! It is now widely accepted that the education provided by their B schools is not complete.
Paul Krugman, the well known US economist and 2008 Nobel laureate, openly admitted last year that the economic theories of the western countries developed during the last thirty years have failed and proved to be harmful to the world. When we study the history of the west, we can understand that their social and economic ideologies have been continuously failing. The recent economic crisis has landed them in a situation from which they find it difficult to proceed.
At the same time, India has been continuously moving forward after Independence, in spite of the confusions and contradictions at the top. As a result, India is the second highest growing nation in the world today. India was a poor and underdeveloped country when the British were leaving our motherland. But after sixty years, the entire world is turning its attention towards India. The family and social systems of India are looked upon as models by the rest of the world. Our achievements so far, admired by all including the west, have been with our own system of education and institutional set up.
India is an ancient civilization. Education was given utmost importance in the native Indian system. The purpose of education was to make citizens as better human beings and prepare them to contribute to the best of their abilities for the betterment of the society at large. As we all know the first university in the world was established here in our country about 2700 years back. Evidences show that India remained as the most prosperous nation in the world till almost the beginning of the nineteenth century, with pioneering contributions in diverse fields. The surveys conducted by the Englishmen in the early nineteenth century showed that India had an elaborate and a very good system education in the country. Even at that time India’s literacy rate was most probably the highest in the world. Subsequently, the British introduced the Macaulay system of education which resulted in the destruction of the native systems. The approach of the colonial masters led to the decline of the superior position of India.
This is the reason why people like Mahatma Gandhi, Tagore and Maharishi Aurobindo strongly advocated the ‘Indian system of education’ for the overall development of the nation, even before independence. Many educationists and thinkers have been emphasizing the need for India- centric education system during the last sixty years. But unfortunately, we could not even make some of the basic changes that are urgently required.
But in spite of these fundamental difficulties, the Indian education sector has been showing good progress. Governments and societies have established thousands of institutions in different parts of the country. Universities could not increase to the extent required as there were restrictions on their entry for many years. Now we are witnessing a faster growth in the number of universities after the Governments allowed the private sector to establish them.
It is not that the Government cannot create good institutions in India. Many of the institutions promoted by the Governments such as the Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science are producing candidates who are comparable with the best people from the best universities in any other part of the world. So what is required is the change in the attitude and approach of the Government. It is unfortunate that the funds allotted by the Government for higher education and the amount spent for it are not to the extent required for a country like ours.
If the Government feels that it will not be able to provide the necessary facilities, it is better to involve the local societies and the private sector, and then monitor them with the necessary regulatory mechanisms. As for the foreign universities, they will come here with their own motives. It is not sure whether the universities that are well known would prefer to come here now. As for the state universities in countries such as the US, many of them are in serious difficulties, as the governments are finding it difficult to provide them with the required funds after the economic crisis. So the universities are increasing the fees payable by the students. As they face difficulties in payment of salaries, they are taking steps to reduce professors and staff. This has resulted in protests in many universities and colleges since last year. There were instances of arrests of students and imprisonment. March 4th was observed as the ‘Day of Action for Public Education’ in more than thirty states across the US.
Against this background, some of their institutions are reported to be looking for opportunities in other countries to keep them in the business. A country such as India with a huge population and high growth rate would be a fertile ground for them. India’s permission to allow them to function from here would make them survive in the field.
There is one point that keeps crossing our minds. Many western countries such as the US and the UK are facing serious social and economic crisis. Learned experts from their own globally reputed institutions of higher learning have been finding it difficult to provide even basic solutions to their problems. When such is the case, what is going to be the use of their universities here? What type of ‘quality education’ will they provide? It is accepted that they are advanced in fields of science and technology. But unfortunately those developments do not benefit the common man. For example, the medical expenses are very high in the US which has the maximum number of Nobel laureates in medicine. What is the use of newer inventions in science and technology, when they are not able to benefit the larger sections of the society?
India has strong cultural backgrounds with thousands of years of experience. The fundamental reason for India’s achievements is the family and community orientation. If India has to emerge and grow as a powerful nation, her unique strengths have to be nurtured and preserved. Many express doubts as to whether the entry of foreign universities will be suitable to our ethos and values. We have to understand here that sex magazines are allowed to be published by the students in some of the ‘most respected’ universities in the west within their own campuses. They are allowed on demand from the students as theirs is ‘free’ society that would like to give ‘full expression’ to the ‘feelings’ of the youngsters. What kind of impact it will create in our family- based society, when such institutions decide to replicate their ‘initiatives’ here? Indiscipline, misbehavior and criminal activities are reported in large numbers in some of their institutions. Moreover the recent studies undertaken in their countries have revealed that about three fourth of the colleges do not groom their students properly.
In this situation, different options could be explored. Many Indians are working as professors, scientists, engineers, doctors, IT experts and corporate executives in reputed establishments in the developed countries. With their experience in western environments we can involve them to improve our higher education, wherever we feel it is necessary. In the recent years, some of the management professors working abroad have established institutions here. They are doing well. We can encourage such initiatives in other fields also. The Government can provide them the necessary support.
We all know that there is need for training in India at different levels. A latest study by the US professors shows that the Indian corporate sector is many times ahead of the US in providing the required training to their employees (Harvard Business Review, March 2010). The non-corporate sector that contributes the maximum to the national income and growth has its own arrangements to train the required people. But they are not always adequate. The Government can help the industrial and business sectors by providing necessary support to the major clusters, where thousands of people are working. Training can be provided to the maximum number of people at the cheapest cost, when the work is undertaken in collaboration with the local industry/ business associations. We have to remember that in the earlier centuries, the guild system provided the necessary training for different types of vocations. Such systems can also create entrepreneurial opportunities for many unemployed persons, even while providing the required personnel for the industries.
India has a huge pool of skilled manpower that does not have formal education. A few years back the Department of Science and Technology reported that around 30 per cent of the innovations taking place in the country are through illiterates. A certificate by the college/ university would help the uneducated and under educated sections that have skills improve their status and positions and make them recognized by the world. The Government has to take necessary steps to allow educational institutions to certify the uncertified but skilled people, by following proper evaluation methods. We don’t need foreign universities to do this.
The contents of the contemporary education system are largely based on the western experiences and theories. They are not relevant to our conditions and many of these theories have failed in their own countries of origin. It is time we changed them immediately. Moreover, the Indian universities should be given the necessary option to make experiments and innovations, within a broad set of parameters. The Indian private sector seems ready to make investments in education. They are capable also. Hence the Government should take necessary steps to make use of them.
A few basic questions disturb our minds whenever we think of allowing foreign universities in India. What kind of higher education do we expect from the universities of foreign countries, where people are failing in their own personal lives, and their social and economic systems are facing serious crises? Why don’t we make the required changes in the higher education system with our own resources and inputs, when we have the necessary background and fundamentals with us?
( Swadeshi Patrika, New Delhi, June 2010)
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