Not so Deemed universities afterall…
The recent decision by the Human Resource Ministry of the Government of India to de-recognise 44 “Deemed to be” Universities came as a shock for everyone, let alone the 200,000 students directly affected by it.
Most of these now ‘doomed’ universities are run by private business men and politicians like money making machines rather than educational institutions. However, so as not to jeopardize the lives of the affected students, the government has allowed to institutes to revert back to their pre- deemed university status as affiliate colleges of the respective state universities.
In my opinion, the government is on the right track in its goal of educational reforms in India. During Arjun Singh’s tenure as the HRD minister, the deemed university status was virtually up for grabs with anybody having sufficient cash and connections able to acquire one for his/her institution.
However, I find this entire procedure of granting the deemed university status somewhat flawed and useless. Instead of doling out this half baked status the Government should start using mandatory and very strict accredition process and grant those institutions that are fit to be one, full university status.
Many of these institutions face severe shortages of faculty. India produces 300,000 engineers and many more science graduates each year. Most of these people go to the private sector in hopes of earning huge salaries and having a secured life there after. The incentives are the huge pay packages here. Educational institutions also should start paying out salaries equivalent to the private sector to attract the best of the lot. However noble and satisfying the job of teaching may be, those days where the school teacher used to teach for peanuts has long gone. In today’s world, money matters.
Another important factor plaguing Indian education system is the lack of research in relevant and cutting edge topics. Even the IITs and IIMs have a tough time in getting their hold in the international research arena. Due to some unexplained reason, Indian universities always fall into “teaching universities” syndrome as distinct from the “research universities” such as Harvard or LSE or MIT. To attract the best minds, money along with research infrastructure is important…
The HRD Ministry has taken a small but right step in the proper direction… However, It has still a long way to g … Keep marching…
