Respected Readers
On 18 July 2018, I was the part of the Interactive meeting on Draft of Higher Education Commission Act of India. This act may be called The Higher Education Commission of India Act 2018(Repeal of University Grant Commission Act 1956).
In the current scenario, the University Grant Commission is the sole body for the quality assurance as well as funding to the Universities and Eminent institute of INDIA. There are some issues that I experienced during the session and its necessities to develop a new policy for enhancing the standard of Higher Education in INDIA.
Rot & putridity in the Higher Education sector in India.
Deteriorating & day by day decay of the Quality of Institutions
Grants being dispersed without proper quality checks.
Huge extent of corruption and Manipulation involved in the inspection of colleges and Universities by different councils and other higher educational bodies which lead to giving the number of bogus institutes to the country.
No power to shut down bogus /fake colleges and Universities.
In Present Era, most of the scholars who have completed their Graduation and Post Graduation ( Masters) from Self Financed Institute/ Private Universities / Government Universities and Institution (Excluding of Institute of National importance) are either unemployed or not satisfied form their current employment status. The Business world & Industry speaks that they are not skilled or capable up to that level where they can satisfy or meet up with the current requirement of the Industry. There are so much statistics available over the Internet /newspapers and in the magazines which predict about the level of unemployment of youth. In the last two month, I have attended so many conferences and meetings, and these above-written facts and statements about unemployment were frequently narrated or used by various speakers, Ministers and Politicians up to the highest level of concern. In the Stakeholders meeting on HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION ACT 2018, I came two know several facts but still plenty of other important things are needed to be evaluated precisely. During my Study in IIT Delhi, my professors had narrated so many times that problem identification most crucial step while developing a model or solution for a particular problem.
In that context, I am trying to find out some insight through which we come up with the validate suggestion or model that I will send to the Ministry of HRD, India.
Here are the key contrasts between the proposed Higher Education Commission of India from the present University Grants Commission:
UGC: It disburses grants to Central institutions out of its funds
HECI: It will not have any financial powers. The funding will be taken care by Union HRD Ministry.
UGC: It is mandated to promote and coordinate university education and determine and maintain standards of teaching, examination and research.
UGC: To assess financial needs or standards of teaching in an institution, UGC conducts periodic inspections
HECI: It will specify standards for grant of authorisation to a university of higher educational institution to commence its academic opeartions.
HECI: No inspections. The body will prescribe norms on academic performance by higher educational institutions.Action on bogus institutions
UGC: Affiliations of colleges to universities can be terminated for contravention of its regulations. It can withhold grants to universities for violations of its regulations. It occasionally publishes lists of bogus institutions.
HECI: It will be empowered to penalise or even shut down sub-standard institutions without affecting students' interests. If the management of the institution does not comply with the penalties, they can land in jail for up to three years.
UGC: Has a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, and 10 members appointed by the Central government, some ex-officia members and some from academia, industry. The Chairman's retirement age is 65 and has a term of 5 years, with an extension of additional 5 years.
HECI: It shall comprise a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson, and 12 members to be appointed by the Centre, including educationists and a member of the industry. The Chairperson's retirement age is 70, will hold office for five years.
UGC: In case of any dispute between the Centre and the UGC on policy, the Centre prevails.
HECI: The Centre prevails in case of any dispute between the Centre and the HECI on policy.
Regular staff
The UGC appoints its own staff. The same will apply to the HECI as well. The present staff of UGC will be re-trained to work on fully digital mode — without physical files — at HECI.
