New edu agency uncouples funding and regulation

Updated on: Monday, May 24, 2010

New Delhi: As part of its ongoing drive to overhaul the higher education sector and increase the quality of its universities, India's education ministry under Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal is planning to create a new inter-university funding agency. But the agency has been stripped of any regulatory powers, reports University World News

This will mean the separation of financing and regulation of higher education institutions. At present, the University Grants Commission is responsible for both funding and regulating universities and has controversially linked the two in numerous cases, threatening funding cuts if a university did not follow the commission's diktat.

The proposed changes are being drawn up after criticism that the commission used its funding powers to force regulations on universities. The UGC argues its power over funding allows it greater clout in maintaining standards in universities that may otherwise not adhere to norms.

The plan for the new funding agency has been incorporated in the ministry's latest draft legislation for the National Commission for Higher Education and Research. That commission will take over the regulatory powers of the UGC and other regulators by 2011.

As with the UGC at present, the new inter-university funding agency will fully fund central universities and also provide grants to state universities. It will also have one member from the national commission but will function completely independent of the new regulator, uncoupling funding and regulatory responsibilities for the first time.

"The NCHER will take care of all regulatory tasks. The inter-university financing agency will be in charge of funding varsities and monitoring their expenditure," a government official said on conditions of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media.

An initial draft of the NCHER bill proposed to endow it with university funding powers along with the responsibility of maintaining academic standards as is the case with the UGC.

But nation-wide consultations on the bill held by an education ministry expert panel revealed many stakeholders were opposed to giving the new body dual responsibility. Critics argued that would simply repeat the flaws that afflict the UGC.

"The present system that is being followed by the UGC has not proved to be effective. Regulation should be more of guiding and accountability rather than suffocating the autonomy of the universities," said Professor BB Bhattacharya, Vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

"The role of the NCHER should be to guide universities on education policy, performance, global trends and academic standards. The funding should be handled by a separate agency," said Bhattacharya.

A conference of vice-chancellors of all central universities held last month also recommended setting up a separate funding agency for universities. The National Knowledge Commission, a think tank on education, has also welcomed the move.

New edu agency uncouples funding and regulation

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