University Grants Commission (UGC) celebrated its 60th
foundation day on Dec 28th. On the eve of the Diamond Jubilee celebration
Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh in his speech has stressed on the importance of
raising the standards of research especially the number and quality of the doctoral
programmes. He emphasised the need for the inter-disciplinary approach in research,
which is the corner-stone for excellence in research. Departments should refrain from the culture of
functioning in isolation as individual islands, instead should engage faculty
in inter-disciplinary research. All Indian Universities continue to depend
entirely on the fund allocation from the governments for undertaking research.
Instead Universities should foster greater ties with industry to boost research
and development. While a greater support from industry can lead to better outcomes
in research, industry can utilise the meaningful outcomes of the research for
practical applications. He appreciated the role of UGC as an effective
regulator but believed that real task lies in fresh thinking and in innovative
ways of doing things.
UGC which essentially assumed as role of regulator has to
take up the role of the national think-tank and organise professional, purposeful
discourses that can have close bearing on the higher education system. He
indicated that there is serious shortage of faculty in higher education
institutions which is likely to be more acute with a proposed move for expansion
of centres for learning. He indicated the urgent need for including E for
employability in the UGC’s already existing triad of Expansion, Excellence and
Equity. He lauded the government’s initiative of the Rashtriya Uchchatar
Sikhsha Abhiyan (RUSA) which strengthens the state universities.
The foundation celebrations are marred by some controversial
opinions as one of its ex-chief who refuses to be named opined that UGC has
lost its power and prestige. It was instituted to think about pedagogy,
expansion and inclusion of more children under the ambit of higher education.
But sadly it is now deemed to be a grant giving authority. Usually any regulatory body which functions well
retains its effectiveness and autonomy. But since UGC has outsourced its job of
thinking to the ministry; it has reduced itself to the present state. Presently
it has become more proactive in accrediting status of deemed universities to
innocuous private institutions. He said that it is time to introspect rather
than celebrate since the recommendations of Radha Krishnan report for the
higher education prepared by the scholar president in 1950 are still not
realised. He was hopeful that the prime minister who once held the position of
the chief of UGC might reinvigorate the institution.
The roots of current education system in India can be traced
back to the minutes of the Mount Stuart Elphinstone who stressed the need for
establishing the schools teaching English and European Sciences. Later Lord
Macaulay in 1835 consolidated all the efforts and went ahead with all the
recommendations for introducing the English system of education. Subsequently
Magna Carta of English education articulated the scheme of education from
primary school to the university level and thus universities were set up in
Bombay, Madras, Calcutta and in Allahabad. The Central Advisory Board on Post War
Educational Development in India, also known as Sergeant Report recommended the
formation of University Grants Commission in 1945 to coordinate the activities
of Universities at Aligarh, Banaras and Delhi. In 1947 it was entrusted with the
task of dealing the responsibilities of all the existing universities. After
Independence in 1948, University Education Commission was setup under the
leadership of Dr. Sarvepalli RadhaKrishnan to suggest improvements and
extensions that might be desirable to suit the present, future needs and
aspiration of India. As per his recommendations, University Grants Commission
was reconstituted on the basis of University Grants Committee of UK with full
time chairman and other members appointed from amongst educationists of repute.
In 1952 Union Government has decided that all issues concerned with allocation
of grants from central grants to Universities and other institutes of higher
learning be referred to UGC. Thus, in the year 1953, Dec 28th
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Minister of Education, Natural Resources and
Scientific Research formally inaugurated the UGC.
However, UGC was formally established in 1956 by an Act of
the Parliament in 1956 as a statutory body of government of India for
coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education in
India. For effective administration UGC was decentralised by establishing six
regional centres at Pune, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bangalore
with its head office and two bureau offices in Delhi. The mandate of UGC
includes framing regulations on minimum standards of education, serving as
vital link between the Union and State Governments and centres of learning,
advising central and state governments on measures necessary for improvement of
university education, determining and maintaining the standards of teaching,
examination and research in Universities. Accreditation for higher learning
under the aegis of UGC is overseen by 16 autonomous statutory institutions.
Now the future of the UGC is under scanner as the Union
Minister of Education in 2009 has revealed its plans of closing down UGC and
AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) in favour of a higher body
with more sweeping powers. The Higher Education and Research Bill (HE&R)
2011, intends to set up National Commission for Higher Education and Research
(NCHER) for determination, coordination, maintenance and continued enhancement
of standards of education and research. Existing bodies like UGC, AICTE and
Distance Education Council (DEC) will be subsumed under it. Those agencies
involved in medicine and law are exempt from this merger. Central Advisory
Board of Education (CABE) discussed HE&R Bill which seeks to establish a
national over-arching regulatory body in higher education. CABE decided to ask
state governments about their comments on the same. Governments of Bihar,
Kerala, Punjab, Tamilnadu and West Bengal opposed the setting up of such board.
India’s higher education system is third largest in the World
after the United States and China. UGC is the governing body in charge of the tertiary
education system in our country. It enforces standards, advises government and
coordinates activities between the centre and the state. India’s higher education
system has recorded a fast pace of growth in the past one decade. But more than 90% colleges of higher education
are rated as below average for quality parameters. The congruent reasons for falling standards of tertiary level
education can be attributed to the incoherent regulatory framework and lack of
quality standards with the result even the India has poor reputation for
potential foreign partnerships. Owing to the lax regulatory environment and
driven by market opportunities several institutions are having a free run in offering
various degrees courses. As a result numerous fake institutions which lack
proper accreditation are awarding degrees and siphoning off profits. Thus as a
regulatory authority UGC must restore transparency, coherence and confidence in
our higher education system else future generations would fly off to green
pastures for quality higher education.
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