The proposal to convert Khalsa College, Amritsar, into a private university has raised some interesting issues: a debate on allowing the private sector to go full steam into education (job insecurity for faculty, high fees for students, turning it into a commercial venture, etc.) and the politicisation of what is essentially an academic exercise. But the outcome of this controversy is bound to have an impact on the future thinking on education in Punjab in more than one sense.
First, a university of course is more privileged than a college having its own decision-making power and taking academics to its highest level i.e. research. Colleges do a fantastic job the world over in the sphere of academics but they are stepping stones to the next highest level of development and major breakthroughs the world over come from fantastic universities which have developed over the years.
Colleges get stuck up in an academic exercise and remain the apron strings of the universities they are affiliated with and so have little scope for innovation or further development on their own. Some top colleges in North India like DAV colleges and Khalsa College can become universities any day they choose to because of their infrastructure and capabilities. That they have not chosen to become till now is actually quite intriguing, especially when little known entities have become big players over the years and have established universities. This leads to the next question: Commercialisation of education by private universities.
Yes, it’s true some of the private players may not be following the rules of the game now but one good thing about a private enterprise is that it has to survive competition. If a university is overcharging and services and training are not commensurate with that and there is a level-playing field for other players, the dynamics of the system will be more than self-corrective. So over the years things will undergo a change and that is apparent from private universities like Thapar at Patiala.
A more important aspect which needs to be addressed is that the government is simply not geared up to create the massive educational infrastructure required for the country and private players have to fill the gap, with some estimates suggesting we would require about 1,500 universities in the years to come to fulfil the educational requirements of the country way up from the current 350 or so!
The future will be of smart education which is tailor-made and creates employable manpower and this will entail a flexibility in the educational system, making it possible to take courses across the streams and carry forward credits from one discipline to another. For example, a candidate who has had a break in education due to some reasons will have a choice to complete his degree in another complimentary discipline he wishes to and can be allowed to carry the credits earned earlier and shorten his course work.
Similarly, many new courses which are a lot more inter-disciplinary like biomedical engineering, nano sciences, bioinformatics, etc can be started early by a system which is more flexible and not caught up in rules and regulations and the bureaucratic red tape by entering into strategic alliances with foreign partners rapidly. So possibilities are immense in the private sector. These systems have to outsmart competition and aggressively offer courses which have employment potential, but since the fees will be higher than public universities they may have to tie up with banks for extending extensive loans to students who cannot afford the fees but see an employment potential at the end of the course.
Another benefit which can be reaped in the long term is NRIs contributing extensively to the corpus of such universities and the Punjabi diaspora spearheading academic and research initiatives in foreign universities coming back home. After all, Dr MS Kang of PAU did come back to his alma mater. Had the canvas been a little bigger, perhaps his achievements could have been much wider, although he has contributed significantly even now. But it’s an indication of what future can be.
So privatisation has its own good points if allowed to proliferate and give competition to public sector universities which will not be phased out in any case. A healthy competition between the two will be good for students and even better for the faculty because of wide choices available and market forces recognising their talent.
In the Khalsa College controversy from what one makes out from news reports is that not sufficient understanding is being created in the people concerned, mainly the current faculty, about the university system benefits and the chief reason for their opposition maybe the possible loss of job security, crass commercialization, etc. Maybe the management of Khalsa College can go a bit slow on the process and assure full support to the faculty without looking intimidating.
Not only education, the process of privatisation needs to encompass the entire state and the government should concentrate on creating a level-playing filed, passing legislation for ensuring fairness, maintaining law and order and ensuring successful implementation of policies. Punjab has been held back for long now by an overemphasis on agriculture as a means of sustenance for the population; let the era of corporate farming, development of cash crops, privatization of agencies like Markfed and Verka set in for the great Punajbi spirit to blow the cork. We may not have had Sachin Tendulkars (read Dhirubhai), but we do produce Kapil Dev, Gambhir, Kohli, Bhajji, Yuvi and that’s a very fine batting list of entrepreneurs and NRIs waiting for opportune moments to invest heavily back home and take the state back to where it always was, the numero uno, be it in education, enterprise or good living.
First, a university of course is more privileged than a college having its own decision-making power and taking academics to its highest level i.e. research. Colleges do a fantastic job the world over in the sphere of academics but they are stepping stones to the next highest level of development and major breakthroughs the world over come from fantastic universities which have developed over the years.
Colleges get stuck up in an academic exercise and remain the apron strings of the universities they are affiliated with and so have little scope for innovation or further development on their own. Some top colleges in North India like DAV colleges and Khalsa College can become universities any day they choose to because of their infrastructure and capabilities. That they have not chosen to become till now is actually quite intriguing, especially when little known entities have become big players over the years and have established universities. This leads to the next question: Commercialisation of education by private universities.
Yes, it’s true some of the private players may not be following the rules of the game now but one good thing about a private enterprise is that it has to survive competition. If a university is overcharging and services and training are not commensurate with that and there is a level-playing field for other players, the dynamics of the system will be more than self-corrective. So over the years things will undergo a change and that is apparent from private universities like Thapar at Patiala.
A more important aspect which needs to be addressed is that the government is simply not geared up to create the massive educational infrastructure required for the country and private players have to fill the gap, with some estimates suggesting we would require about 1,500 universities in the years to come to fulfil the educational requirements of the country way up from the current 350 or so!
The future will be of smart education which is tailor-made and creates employable manpower and this will entail a flexibility in the educational system, making it possible to take courses across the streams and carry forward credits from one discipline to another. For example, a candidate who has had a break in education due to some reasons will have a choice to complete his degree in another complimentary discipline he wishes to and can be allowed to carry the credits earned earlier and shorten his course work.
Similarly, many new courses which are a lot more inter-disciplinary like biomedical engineering, nano sciences, bioinformatics, etc can be started early by a system which is more flexible and not caught up in rules and regulations and the bureaucratic red tape by entering into strategic alliances with foreign partners rapidly. So possibilities are immense in the private sector. These systems have to outsmart competition and aggressively offer courses which have employment potential, but since the fees will be higher than public universities they may have to tie up with banks for extending extensive loans to students who cannot afford the fees but see an employment potential at the end of the course.
Another benefit which can be reaped in the long term is NRIs contributing extensively to the corpus of such universities and the Punjabi diaspora spearheading academic and research initiatives in foreign universities coming back home. After all, Dr MS Kang of PAU did come back to his alma mater. Had the canvas been a little bigger, perhaps his achievements could have been much wider, although he has contributed significantly even now. But it’s an indication of what future can be.
So privatisation has its own good points if allowed to proliferate and give competition to public sector universities which will not be phased out in any case. A healthy competition between the two will be good for students and even better for the faculty because of wide choices available and market forces recognising their talent.
In the Khalsa College controversy from what one makes out from news reports is that not sufficient understanding is being created in the people concerned, mainly the current faculty, about the university system benefits and the chief reason for their opposition maybe the possible loss of job security, crass commercialization, etc. Maybe the management of Khalsa College can go a bit slow on the process and assure full support to the faculty without looking intimidating.
Not only education, the process of privatisation needs to encompass the entire state and the government should concentrate on creating a level-playing filed, passing legislation for ensuring fairness, maintaining law and order and ensuring successful implementation of policies. Punjab has been held back for long now by an overemphasis on agriculture as a means of sustenance for the population; let the era of corporate farming, development of cash crops, privatization of agencies like Markfed and Verka set in for the great Punajbi spirit to blow the cork. We may not have had Sachin Tendulkars (read Dhirubhai), but we do produce Kapil Dev, Gambhir, Kohli, Bhajji, Yuvi and that’s a very fine batting list of entrepreneurs and NRIs waiting for opportune moments to invest heavily back home and take the state back to where it always was, the numero uno, be it in education, enterprise or good living.
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