UGC’S MODEL ACT FOR 21ST CENTURY UNIVERSITIES IN INDIA

 Desperate ‘Act’ For

Commercialisation of Higher Education

Vijender Sharma

IN the backdrop of “advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) and their deep penetration in the higher education sector, globalisation of higher education and entry of foreign universities in the country to be partners of local institutions or to establish independent campuses, … and steady decline in the financial support available from the government, both at the central and the state levels,” the University Grants Commission (UGC) had, in June 2003, appointed an expert committee to conduct a review of the governance, organisation and management of universities in the country and to recommend a Model Act for universities of the 21st century in India, with a view “to prepare the Indian University system for the future.” The committee consisted of Professor B S Sonde, former VC, Goa University as convenor, along with Professor Ram Takwale (former VC, IGNOU), Professor A Gnanam (former VC, Pondicherry University) and Professor G D Sharma (senior fellow, NIEPA) as members and Dr (Mrs) Pankaj Mittal (joint secretary, UGC) as secretary.

GROUND FOR SUSPICION

The committee prepared a Concept Paper in October 2003 entitled “Towards Formulation of Model Act for Universities of the 21st Century in India.” While Part I of the paper is entitled ‘Towards Guidelines for a Model Act,’ Part II of the paper is a questionnaire seeking responses from various stake holders of the university system in the country, including schools/departments/colleges, faculty/staff/students/alumni associations, central/state government departments, educational trusts, employers and parents, to individually/collectively respond to the questionnaire so that the their responses could be used for the formulation of a Model Act.

Since the time the BJP-led NDA government came to power at the centre, many decisions have been taken by the government and the UGC which have crippled the system of higher education in the country. On none of the issues, the central government or any of its agencies including the UGC had any debate or discussion with the academia or any stakeholders: students, parents, and people at large. All decisions were imposed by notifications and circulars. The minister for human resource development has not given even a single second’s time since 1998 to the Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Associations (FEDCUTA) and All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) to discuss any of the issues or their concerns and demands. The fact that this is the first time that all concerned have been called upon to respond to the questionnaire so that the responses “could be used for the formulation of a Model Act” gives rise to the suspicion about the intention of the central government. The contents of the Concept Paper and telegraphically worded leading questions in the questionnaire, which have to be answered in Yes or No, confirm the suspicion that this is a desperate act of the government towards all round commercialisation of higher education in India.

THE CONCEPT PAPER

The Concept Paper notes: “Indian universities, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, have been performing many additional functions now a days, e.g., undertaking sponsored R&D and continuing education, providing knowledge-based advice and consultancy, preparation/publication of educational material like books/study reports/research papers and extending services to society. Of late, the worldwide   advances, particularly in new information and communication technologies (ICT), are greatly influencing the university system in the country. However, major issues like size, access, equity, relevance, quality and resource constraints continue to dominate the working of Indian universities.” Since the “Universities are becoming complex institutions,” an appropriate strategy needs to be adopted “for their governance, organisation and management.” Therefore, the Acts of Indian universities should be changed “to bring in some uniformity in the working of universities” through a Model Act framework, so that there is a “smooth transition from the earlier teacher centric focus to the required learner centric educational processes and activities,” and so that the universities accept “the challenges of globalisation to offer high quality education and other services in a competitive manner.” The new Act of universities would be “flexible and responsive to rapid changes taking place in the society (Read: market ---- author).” According to the paper, the new common Act for all the universities would help the universities to benefit from the ICT revolution and to “become competitive nationally and internationally” and help “India to become a Knowledge Super Power by the year 2020.”

The UGC expects that “early adoption of this Model Act by universities in the country will enable them to meet the X Plan Vision and Strategy of UGC and to keep pace with the worldwide changes taking place so rapidly in higher education and research.” This Vision and Strategy of the UGC is to prepare the universities and institutions of higher education for privatisation and commercialisation, and to make them financially self-sufficient and respond to the market. This X Plan document clearly states, “In a way, India has partially privatised the higher education by initiating non-grantable teaching programmes and dual fees structure for professional subjects.”

In the proposed new structure, the UGC would have increased role in order to “provide advice/guidance to ensure the quality/standard of higher education.” It is stated that the success of a university depends not only on the Act, but also on its personnel, their sense of dedication, discipline and responsibility, and the traditions/conventions they establish. Therefore, the teachers are being called upon to revisit the governance of universities and the content of university education “as the content and teaching methodology have to keep pace with the explosive growth of knowledge.”

The conventional universities form a significant segment of the university system in India at present. They have a long standing, with most of them being multi-faculty institutions engaged in general education in faculties like arts, science and commerce. They have been suffering because of their reduced funding over the last several years. However, this is being conceded by the UGC for the first time. “While, university funding by central/state governments has been a well-established tradition in the country,” the Concept Paper points out, “this practice is steadily declining nowadays.” The setting up of professional universities (e.g., technical, medical, law) and deemed universities (by private/joint sector), the paper notes, “is relatively new in the country, with the latter category expanding rapidly in recent years. However, private universities and virtual universities are of very recent origin, and they are only at a few locations at present. But, due to the commercial nature of their activities, their number and nationwide spread are likely to increase in the coming years. Foreign universities in the country are yet very few in number, being mostly located in bigger cities. But, with the globalisation of higher education and increased emphasis being laid by them on professional courses, it is expected that this category will also expand rapidly in the coming years.” In this era of rapid commercialisation of higher education, “so far, only a small segment of the university system has exhibited its readiness to meet the challenges of the 21st century. This makes it necessary to look into this issue from all angles and correct the situation urgently, for all the universities in the country to become universities of the 21st century.” This “correct the situation” means that the universities would be forced to change their character, which the university community has established in last several decades, and respond to the market rather than the needs of the people at large.

COMMERCIAL AND CORPORATE CULTURES

The academic units like faculties, departments, colleges, schools are generally academic in their approach, but the central administration manned by officials may not be so. It is likely to be of the bureaucratic type. Sometimes, the paper points out, “this can result in difficulties, as academic decisions being based on committees’ deliberations may not be always easy and practical for implementation by the concerned officials. In such situations, it is only the wisdom and positive approach of senior academics in the university hierarchy that can come to the rescue of the system.” What is being suggested is that the collective functioning through committees should be replaced by the so called “wisdom and positive approach of senior academics.”

With the universities being forced to take many additional functions in order to raise funds, the paper points out that “two new cultures have now come up, viz., commercial culture and corporate culture. The former culture is useful to support activities like continuing education, testing and consultancy, distance education and publication/distribution of course material, which are important for revenue generation and time bound work. On the other hand, the latter culture emphasises the leadership role provided by senior academics/officials and the top-down planning and monitoring practices which may be introduced by them in the functioning of the university.” The distance and continuing education, which cater to the needs of the disadvantaged sections of the society, has been declared to be a commercial activity. And instead of democratic and collective governance of the universities by the university community, corporate culture is sought to be introduced with so called senior academics rescuing the system. Who would these so-called senior academics be? Undeserving careerists and failed teachers who are found in abundance and out to help the government to implement its anti-people agenda for some gratification.

Learning is a personalised process, not dependent on technology, whereas education is a social process dependent on interactions between learners and teachers, which may make use of tools and technologies. As a result, education has to keep pace with the worldwide changes and ongoing ICT revolution. With the changing society, the teaching-learning process must also change. Therefore, teachers and academic communities have been called upon to play a central role. “This can be done under the framework of the University Act, with built-in flexibility to introduce changes as and when necessary in response to its changing needs (of the market --- author).”

(To Be Continued)