UGC chief to pvt
colleges: Make edu accessible to poor
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Newly appointed UGC chairperson Prof Dhirendra Pal Singh has urged private educational institutions to
set up campuses in remote areas to make quality education available to the
masses. In an interview to TOI’s Manash Pratim Gohain , Prof Singh said the fruits of reforms in higher education like
autonomy will be visible in a few years. Excerpts:
› The government is introducing a number of
polices — graded autonomy to universities and autonomous status to colleges.
What is the idea behind this?
The idea of greater autonomy for central, state and deemed
universities and other regulations relating to autonomy of colleges is to give
functional independence within the regulatory framework to those institutions
which have been consecutively acquiring higher grades of NAAC. They should be
given the freedom with regard to their curriculum, courses and other
innovations. These regulations have been passed by the Commission and is being
forward to the ministry of HRD for concurrence.
› Where
are the checks?
UGC has the authority that it can any time make a visit to any
institution and suggest whatever is required in terms of the fulfilment of the
provisions which are there in the regulations.
› There
is a fear of education becoming unaffordable to a certain section of the
society?
The guiding principles of the government and UGC is access,
equity, affordability and accountability for higher education. Affordability is
one thing each institution should look into and how it can be through
differential fee mechanism for poor and meritorious students. My appeal to the
private institutions is that they should also think about this and have some
mechanism of their own so as to make higher education accessible to the poor.
› After
serving as vice chancellor of three universities and director of NAAC, how do
you see your role as UGC chairman?
After serving as VC of BHU (Varanasi), Dr Hari Singh Gour
University (Sagar) and Devi Ahilya University (Indore) and director of NAAC, I
am aware of the various problems and challenges faced by the universities. I am
aware of the expectations not only of the universities but also of the
40,000-odd colleges and 4 crores students. I will always have an eye on
students, particularly the poorest of the poor. The issues are different
because central universities are centrally-funded and so there is no resource
crunch. But the major contribution in higher education comes from state
universities – be it the government or private universities. Largest chunk of
the students are enrolled there. So we have to also focus on how state-run
universities could contribute to the development of higher education.
› We are
aiming at 30% Gross Enrolment Ratio by 2020, but the growth has been slow of
late?
The GER picked up in the last decade ... the target is that by
2020 it should be 30%. In comparison to developed countries, it is less but we
are progressing. The issues are linked – expansion is one thing, but then again
the challenge is how to maintain quality. There is also the question of global
competitiveness and rankings. That’s why the government is thinking in both
directions. At one level, we are going to increase GER with required expansion,
as well as looking at the equity aspect of reaching out to the marginalized
groups and enrolment of women. Then there are other issues like how to build
worldclass institutions.
Source | Times of India | 11th January 2018
Regards
Prof. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library &
Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
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