How UGC is unfit to decide higher education policies

It is axiomatic that development is dependent on higher education. But the funding of universities and colleges is grossly inefficient and skewed. Central universities like Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University, Hyderabad Central University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aligarh Muslim University, Manipur University and North East Hill University, among others, are relatively well funded. But not so the others excluding the IITs, IIMs, elite medical colleges, and so on. Funding is tight, and expenses are rising.

In this atmosphere the venerable University Grants Commission (UGC), which is staffed by largely academic bureaucrats and other bureaucrats from other streams, is ill suited to decide policies for higher education. Further, they are strongly influenced by the ministry of human resource development (MHRD). One example will suffice. Over the years, as the importance of international affairs increased, a number of universities beefed up their MA Political Science degrees with courses in international relations. Some principals from non-central universities objected stating that the National Eligibility Test (NET) examination for Political Science, should be separate from a NET examination for students who have studied MA Political Science with several international relations courses, as they in their colleges and universities did not teach, or want to teach, international relations/studies. A classic case of better being the enemy of good.

The UGC, based on archaic notions of Political Science, set up separate NET examinations for the two streams of MA Political Science, which are necessary to be eligible for a lecturer's post. NET funds for fellowships are also inadequate. Those students who passed the NET examination also got a handsome fellowship, termed the Junior Research Fellowship for Rs 12,000 for two years, and then Rs 14,000 for the remaining tenure of the PhD. A large number of MPhil and PhD students depended on non-NET fellowships of Rs 5,000 increased in later stages of PhD research to Rs 8,000. The latter non-NET fellowship was substantially less than the NET fellowship.

For reasons best known to the UGC and MHRD, they decided to withdraw the non-NET fellowships. The students of the central universities, especially Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Jawaharlal Nehru University, took to the streets. Their demands included non-NET fellowships for all universities, not just the central universities. They demonstrated in front of the UGC for days, and faced action from the Delhi Police.

Finally, better sense prevailed. HRD minister Smriti Irani reinstated the non-NET fellowships, though she did not increase their amount as the students wanted, or universalise the non-NET fellowships to universities throughout the country. Apparently, Irani is not aware of the importance of higher education, because of her slender experience in that field. But her politics is solid. According to the ABVP, a student group of the RSS/BJP, she congratulated only them on this victory. The economists with the BJP, not to speak of the rest, should reconsider the funding and modernisation of higher education if they want to prioritise  much more skills, necessary to "Make in India".