New Delhi:
All is not well in the campuses of India's top colleges. The Centre through the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is working on a plan to give greater autonomy to select colleges across the country. These include Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Lady Sri Ram College (LSR), St Stephens in Delhi, St Xavier's in Mumbai and Chennai's Loyola College.
The proposal could involve allowing the elite colleges to become deemed universities, freeing them to design their own courses, structure and also greater autonomy in gathering external funds.
Most of these colleges get substantial funding from the Centre's University Grants commission (UGC), which in turn exercises substantial control over them. The latest HRD move hopes to provide the funds but reduce control, thereby allowing greater freedom to these colleges.
But it's not going to be easy. The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA), one of the biggest unions for Delhi University teachers has been vehemently opposed to this. "This is the government's way of privatising education, passing costs to students and destroying teacher unions" says Professor Rajeev Konwar, a DU teacher and member of DUTA.
He adds that the association will protest any move in this direction. "The government must talk to all stakeholders and take our views before deciding anything."
Loyola College in Chennai also slated for greater autonomy adds that they would prefer being part of the existing university framework if the move towards greater autonomy puts pressure on them to tap external funds, or pass on the burden to students in the form of higher fees. A majority of their funding comes from the UGC.
While there is still work that needs to be done towards greater autonomy, the Centre feels that higher education in the country is lagging behind. Not one of India's colleges or universities figure in the list of top 200 educational institutes across the world.
And while everyone agrees that there is an urgent need to revamp higher education, consensus on how to do so eludes the stakeholders.