Page 34 - EW June 2021 Low Res

Cover Story

“The emergence of globally bench- Quite clearly new genre capital-in-
marked private universities in the new tensive, globally benchmarked private
millennium is a very positive develop- universities, whose promoters have
ment for Indian education. For one, tapped the Indian diaspora and the
they are not a burden on taxpayers. world for highly-experienced profes-
Secondly, their relatively high tuition sional faculty, offer hope of radical up-
fees motivate students to study dili- gradation and revival of India’s crum-
gently to get a return on investment, bling higher education system. With
unlike government HEIs where the their rigorous undergrad programmes
majority of students who pay nominal and continuous research and innova-
fees tend to have a frivolous attitude tion philosophies, for the first time in
towards academic education. More- the history of Indian academia, they
over managements and faculty of pri- offer school and junior college leav-
vate universities are more accountable ers high-quality globally comparable
to their promoters and parents com- undergrad, postgrad and professional
munities than of impersonal govern- education at a fraction of the price tags
ment funded HEIs. The opposition of Western and Commonwealth uni-
of Left intellectuals to private HEIs Seetharamu: positive development versities.
is because they are not obliged to re- Hence the decision of your edi-
serve quotas for SCs and STs (sched- tance,” says Dr. A. S. Seetharamu, tors to rank the country’s best private
uled castes and scheduled tribes). My former professor of education at the and public universities separately. We
advice to private universities is to Institute of Social & Economic Change believe that our league tables will aid
provide full scholarships to SC and (ISEC), Bengaluru and currently edu- and enable school and college leavers
ST students who pass their entrance cation adviser to the Karnataka state to select HEIs best in sync with their
exams. This will win them full accep- government. budgets, aptitudes and aspirations.

34 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2021