In order to attract private investment in higher education, the government should allocate land free of cost for 999 years to set up educational institutions, a plan panel committee headed by NR Narayana Murthy has suggested.
A national convention on Higher Education on Monday denounced the three bills introduced by the government for the control of private institutions and universities, as “draconian.”
It seems imminent, a whole lot of private universities are coming up in the state and are bound to knock traditional universities down a notch (or two) with their breakthrough numbers.
In a previous op-ed (India fails test of 'knowledge economy', Asia Times Online, November 30, 2012), I drew attention to what can be called a "research deficit" in India's higher education. In it, I mentioned a study by Thomson Reuters according to which India produced only 3.5% of the global research output in 2010 and its contribution in most disciplines - including mathematics and computer science - was lower than its overall average.
Will the 13 proposed private universities do what the professional colleges did for Karnataka? Both the government and the academics vouch for the need to have private sector participation in higher education and welcome the state legislature's nod to have 13 new private universities in the state. Presently, the state has two private varsities, the Alliance University and Azim Premji University.
The bill seeking to set up six private universities in the State would pave the way for enhancing the quality of higher education, Higher Education Minister C T Ravi has said.