Page 14 - EW February 2023

Education News

DELHI Parliament by the opposition (es-
Belated red carpet rollout pecially BJP) killed it until the term

of the Lok Sabha ended. Therefore
this time round, instead of enacting
legislation which could be torpedoed
in Parliament, the BJP government
has invoked s.12 and s.26 of the
University Grants Commission Act,
1956, which confers wide powers
on the commission to “advance the
cause of higher education in India”,
and maintain “minimum standards
of instruction for the grant of any
degree by any university”.
According to BJP insiders in
Delhi, the major factor which has
prompted the BJP about-turn is
that with reputed Western universi-
ties having established campuses in
China, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia,
and Qatar, these countries have
emerged as international education
UGC HQ, Delhi: foreign universities green light hubs attracting students from several
countries, including India. On the
ith the university grants was introduced in the Rajya Sabha other hand, the inflow of foreign
Commission (UGC) — the in 1995 by the Narasimha Rao-led students into India has remained
Wapex-level body that regu- Congress government in its last year unimpressive at under 75,000 for the
lates higher education countrywide in office, and it lapsed when the past two decades. Moreover, with the
— releasing its draft UGC (Setting government’s term ended. In 2007, latest AISHE (All India Survey on
up and Operation of Campuses of a Foreign Educational Institutions Higher Education) Report indicating
Foreign Higher Educational Institu- (Regulation of Entry, Operation, that against the target of 50 percent
tions in India) Regulations, 2023 Maintenance of Quality and Preven- youth in the 18-24 age group in
on January 5, India moved closer to tion of Commercialisation) Bill, 2007 higher education by 2035, the cur-
permitting foreign higher education was approved by the Union cabinet rent GER (gross enrolment ratio) is
institutions (FHEIs) to establish of the Congress-led UPA government only 27.3 percent, additional capacity
campuses on Indian soil. Although which swept to power at the Centre has to be created in higher educa-
finalisation of the regulations is in General Election 2004. How- tion. FHEIs establishing campuses
pending, to all intent and purposes ever, the Bill was strongly opposed in India will boost capacity, raise
this historic liberalisation of Indian by the CPM (Communist Party of standards and most importantly
academia — a tightly closed shop India-Marxist) whose 66 MPs were diminish the outflow of Indian youth
until dawn of the new millennium supporting the UPA coalition of that into universities abroad.
— is done and dusted. Ironically, the time and it wasn’t tabled in Parlia- “The invitation to foreign uni-
ruling BJP government at the Centre, ment. versities is esse4ntially driven by
and particularly its ideological men- Another Foreign Educational the compulsion to stem the huge
tor organisation, the Rashtriya Sway- Institutions (Regulation of Entry and annual foreign exchange outflow
amsevak Sangh (RSS) had all along Operations) Bill, 2010 was presented ($10 billion) to pay for the educa-
vociferously opposed the entry of to Parliament in 2010, but was ve- tion of youth going abroad for higher
FHEIs into India since the proposal hemently opposed by the BJP which education. The initiative to invite the
was initiated in the 1990s. made common cause with left-wing world’s best universities to engage
First mooted shortly after the communists, and was referred to the with Indian students within the
historic Union Budget of 1991 which Parliamentary Standing Commit- country is overdue,” says Meeta
dismantled Soviet-inspired licence- tee. Finally the Bill was introduced Sengupta, an IIM-Ahmedabad
permit-quota raj in Indian industry, on January 13, 2013 by then Union alumna and a Delhi-based education
this initiative has had a chequered HRD (education) minister Kapil advisor.
history. The first Bill to this effect Sibal, but prolonged disruption of Unsurprisingly, the entry of

14 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2023