Privatization of Higher education in India free essay sample

S. Divya Abirami Our university system is, in many parts, in a state of disrepair In almost half the districts in the country, higher education enrolments are abysmally low, almost two-third of our universities and 90 per cent of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters I am concerned that in many states university appointments, including that of vice-chancellors, have been politicised and have become subject to caste and communal considerations, there are complaints of favouritism and corruption. – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 20071 Abstract At the eve of liberalization, globalization and privatization, many changes are taking place in different spheres of Indian socio-economic life. These changes have affected all the sectors including education. Education is such a factor which affects all other sectors. So, it is important to observe the changes in education. Because of new economic policy privatization is welcome in India and also in education. Now private educational institutions are increasing day by day. This paper gives an overview of state of higher education system in India highlights the need for private sector to step up in the field of higher education. This paper would throw light upon whether privatization of higher education is a boon or bane to the Indian educational system . It is also argued in the paper that privatization of higher education can be applied to improve the education system in all but with the regular control of some regulating authorities. Keywords: Higher Education, liberalization, globalization, Privatization. Introduction: â€Å"Education is the true alchemy that can bring India its next golden age† The President of India Shri Pranab Mukerjee. Education is milestone of every type of development. Education is something that is very helpful in developing a country. Education is the most vital input for the growth and prosperity of a nation. It has the power to transform human beings into human resources. Education being one of the indicators of Human development index of a country decides the status of a nation globally. Raising ones country’s status solely depends on the education that the youth of the country acquires. Development is possible only when the population of educated, skilled citizens in a country increases. So it can be said that, apart from school education higher education is the main instrument for development and transformation. The higher education system in India has grown in a remarkable way, particularly in the post-independence period, to become one of the largest systems of its kind in the world. However, the system has many issues of concern at present, like the unwieldy affiliating system, inflexible academic structure, eroding autonomy of academic institutions, the low level of public funding, dysfunctional regulatory environment, the accreditation system that has low coverage and no consequences, absence of incentives for performing well, and the unjust public funding policies. In spite of being affected with these issues of concern India’s higher education system is able to express itself as the world’s third largest system in term of students next to China and USA. This rapid growth of India in educational sector in the past decade is the result of private sector initiatives. Private initiative in higher education is not a new phenomenon. It has become a global phenomenon. Though there are lot of debates on some of them being substandard and exploitative, it is their effort that has raised the status of Indian educational system high in global level. In a world which has become more commercialised and privatized, state run institutions are not the order of the day. This paper is intended to answer the question why higher education should be privatized? And is privatizing higher education a boon or bane? State of higher education in India: A well Developed and equitable system of higher education that promotes quality learning as a consequences of both teaching and research is central for success in the emerging knowledge economy. So it is the responsibility of the government to provide higher education accessible to all. But at present our education system is facing certain major problems such as growing importance of knowledge based economy, advent of new technologies, decline in public trust in public sector, chance in public attitude towards education and insufficient funding. To cope up with these issues, government of India has to resort to privatization of higher education. The main governing body at the tertiary level is the University Grants Commission (India), which enforces its standards, advises the government, and helps coordinate between the centre and the state. Starting with 1950-51, there were only 263000 students in all disciplines in 750 colleges affiliated to 30 universities. Has now grown to 574 universities and university level institutions 286 State, 111 State Private, 44 Central, 129 Deemed universities and four institutions established under State Legislature Act between the years 2011-2012 (composed of general universities; science and technical universities; open universities; agricultural universities; women’s universities; language universities and medical universities). Source: University Grants Commission It is important to quote that Indias higher education system is the worlds third largest in terms of students, next to China and the United States. And according to UGC Survey India’s gross enrolment ratio2 (GER) in higher education is just around 18 per cent compared to China’s 30 per cent, the US’s 83 per cent and South Korea’s 91 per cent. According to National Knowledge Commission (NKC, 2006) in its evaluation of the state of higher education in India concludes that the proportion of population in 18-24 age groups which enters higher education is just about 7% which is around one-half of the Asian coverage. Also it cites various reasons for this situation such ad sub-standard quality of education, absence of top notch faculty, poor utilization and crumbling infrastructure, inadequate funding of institutions and excessive political interference. Still India has achieved a good growth in higher education. Need for privatization: Education is universally recognized as an important investment in building human capital. It is a key to technical innovation and economic growth. Providing education to one and all has been one of the primary duties of the government. But there is a wave of privatization of education in our country. Actually government has diverted its focus from higher education to primary education and urged private sector to enter this sector which is termed as privatization of higher education. As economic reforms were introduced in India in 1991, these reform packages imposed a heavy compression on public budgets on the education sector, more specifically on higher education. Government has trickled down its expenditure on higher education in particular. Hence the public expenditure on higher education in India is very low at 0. 6% of the GDP, compared to 2. 7% in the USA. In the tenth five year plan document, it was stated that, â€Å"Since budget resources are limited and such resources as are available, need to be allocated to expand primary education, it is important to recognize that universities must make greater efforts to supplement resources from the government. University fees are very low and in many universities have not been raised in decades. A substantial hike in university fees is essential. † (Government of India, 2001, 2002-07) Higher education has been largely a state funded activity with above three-quarters of the total expenditure being borne by government. (Rani, 2003) But the needs of higher education system have been increasing rapidly so it is being realized by the government that public budgets cannot adequately fund higher education. So, the government has put in measures of hike in student fees, student loans and privatization in justification of availability and mobilization of resources to expand higher education. These measures have made higher education a profitable business for industrialists due to which a large number of private institutions are there at present. Number of Higher Educational Institutions in India (2005-06) Type No. of Higher Education Institutes (2005-06) Public Govt. 9493 Private Aided Unaided 5760 7720 Total 17973 Source: University Grants Commission. From the table, it is observed that most of the growth in the rapidly expanding higher education sector took place in private institutes. These private higher educational institutes are not only meant to meet the growing needs but also to make huge and quick profits. Since 1990’s, budgetary allocations for higher education has decreased. Privatization has declined the needs of financial assistance to higher education sector made by the government. Impact of privatization in higher education: To assess the impact of privatization, many committees were appointed. Punnayya Committee set up by UGC (1993) and Swaminathan Panel constituted by AICTE (1994) has a consensus that one of the major sources of income is the fee from students. They recommended for an increase in fee level and in all kinds of fee and that institutions should raise the fee levels in such a way that at least 15 to 25% of the annual recurring cost per student is recovered from the students in the form of fees and from other sources at the end of ten years. Besides, government of India in its Prime Minister’s Committee on Trade and Industry appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. M. Ambani and Mr. K. Birla to suggest required reforms in education sector. It strongly suggested for full cost recovery from students even in public higher education institutions through hike in fees. They stressed that government should focus on development of primary education only and the responsibility of higher education should be delegated to private sector alone. They also urged the private university bill to be passed and also suggested that user-pay principle be strictly enforced in higher education supplemented by loans and grants to economically and socially backward sections of the society. Apart from the funding, there are a set of objectives privatization programmes are meant to achieve are broad and involved; it has many fundamental that can act together for the enhancement of micro-economic efficiency. Privatization will release the huge amount of capital that is locked up in the higher education sector and the same can be diverted to the primary educational sector where there is a dearth of funds to meet the goal of education for all. Advantages of privatization of higher education: The ways in which privatization of higher education will benefit India’s education system are listed as follows. Privatization enables the government to downsize the administrative machinery. Higher education growth can be secured by privatization. Privatization results in the better management of the educational institutions. Education institutions can work in a liberal way. Quality of education can be enhanced The teachers can be encouraged by making them responsible for the quality of education and the results of examination Curriculum can be modified according to the individual, regional, national and international requirements. Any changes can be made without the fear of interference from the higher officials. Good discipline can be maintained Investment can be made only on the productive courses instead of unproductive courses. Disadvantages of privatization of higher education: Due to privatization of higher education Education has become a business and educational courses being used as a commodity in the market. Caste and creed given more importance in the institutions. Degrees are being given without the basis of merit. Students are losing national feeling and developing regional feeling The poor and downtrodden are not able to avail the educational opportunities Privatization may lead to corruption in the form of donations Recommendations: As every other system privatization of higher education also has its own disadvantages. But considering the disadvantages alone one cannot ignore the process. Privatization if implement with small changes in the structure with the intervention of the government will prove to be effective. In order to overcome the adverse effects of the disadvantages government’s regulatory systems such as NAAC should intervene. Rules and regulations laid on these private institutions should be made stringent. For the people belonging to marginalised sections of the society also to access to private institutions there should be certain amount of seats allocated for them in the private institutions funded by the public sector. Since the not-for-profit model of private education system has failed it purpose, the 12th five year plan has been reported to favour permitting higher education institutions run for profit. But if profit-making were to be allowed, it would lead to the sort of investment in higher education thats needed to meet demand. The need of the hour is to align social objectives with market incentives. While more colleges would mean better access to higher education, competition among colleges would check tuition fees and ensure quality. Secondly, taxes on profits that private colleges would make can fund a large-scale scholarship programme for students from economically and socially weaker sections of society. Conclusion: Due to liberalisation policies of the government the privatization of education has already taken deep roots in our education system and it has reached a stage where it can’t be undone. The major advantage of privatization is the increase in quality of education due to the competition among private institutions. But sometimes there is an also unhealthy competition which shows effect on the students. This is the major disadvantage. Where as in the government institutions such pressure to perform is not there on the students. The government should restrict the permission of private institutions to a certain number because over permission would lead to low quality of teaching especially in professional colleges due to shortage of efficient staff. Privatization helps in lessening the financial burden on the government because it has to provide number of institutions for the growing population and maintain them. Due to the globalization of education the private institutions are providing the curricula and courses for international requirement. Hence I feel that privatization of education is a boon provided there is healthy competions among the institutions. The government should have a say regarding the financial burden they put on the students providing quality education. And also to ensure access to higher education by weaker section of society, government has to increase public expenditure on higher education. On the whole, an improvement in the standards of education could be achieved through a balanced relationship between public and private sector. Although there are many drawbacks of privatization of higher education, it is sure to improve the present educational system. Therefore privatization of higher education is boon to our India’s Educational system.