Make Education Affordable and Accessible to Poor: UGC Chairperson to Private Colleges

Expressing his views on the new education reforms, Chairperson of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Professor Dhirendra Pal Singh pointed that the consequences and benefits of new education reforms could not be seen overnight and the same will be visible in a few years. Granting autonomy to the top performing institutes in the country will play a dominant role in delivering quality education. Apart from delivering quality education, private institutes should play an overridden role in making education affordable and accessible to poor. Private institutes can come up with a different fee mechanism to make education affordable and accessible to poor and meritorious students, he explained.

Professor DP Singh also urged private institutes to set up affordable campuses in remote areas and tribal regions. With an objective to regulate unrest on campuses, higher learning institutes must take positive steps by holding consultations with students, he added.

Adding further, Professor DP Singh revealed that the UGC had approved the regulations and guidelines for granting autonomy to top performing universities and institutes. The autonomy is linked with accountability. Institutes are accountable for innovation, research, administration of functional management, better academic environment and facilitating students for better teaching-learning, he highlighted.

Giving more details about the new UGC regulations, Professor DP Singh explained that the commission is empowered to visit any university or institution at any time and suggest necessary guidelines and provisions.

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Sharing his experiences, Professor DP Singh pointed that he is aware of various problems and challenges faced by universities. During his tenure as Vice Chancellor at Devi Ahilya University,Dr. Hari Singh Gour University and Banaras Hindu University, he had faced and witnessed the major problems of challenges of universities. Apart from universities, colleges too had their own problems, he expressed.

Explaining the problems of state-level universities, Professor DP Singh said that most of the central universities do not face funds crunch as the central government funds them. State-level universities play a major role in India in contributing to the higher education, as the majority of students are enrolled in these varsities. Overall development of higher education, promoting quality and excellence are mostly associated with state-level universities. Therefore, state governments need to give top priority to higher education, he urged.

Citing the current Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of India, Professor DP Singh expressed his satisfaction over the improvement in GER in the last decade. Currently, India is aiming to achieve 30% GER by 2020. Enhancing the educational opportunities, establishing institutes, maintain good quality education, enrolling more female students in higher education institutes and establishing world-class institutes are some of the measures through which India’s GER, as well as, global rankings will be improved, he highlighted.

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Expressing his concern on the poor density of colleges in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, Professor DP Singh mentioned that private institutes and state governments should play a predominant role in setting up institutes in rural and remote areas. Apart from setting up institutes, these states must also give more emphasis to vocational training programmes, he suggested.

Finally, Professor DP Singh appealed the heads of all the universities to have a mechanism of holding consultations with students, students’ councils or unions before taking a major decision related to academics or student-centric issues. The varsities must consider the student’s voices and resolve their problems in a time-bound manner, he concluded.