'Universities will raise standards'

The Union Cabinet on Monday approved The Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, which allows the foreign universities to set up campuses in India and offer degrees. This has paved the way for the introduction of the Bill in the Parliament. Express spoke to a few academicians in the city to know their reactions.

All the academicians were of the opinion that if foreign universities were allowed to set up campuses in India, Indian colleges would have to pull up their socks and raise their standards.

“I personally welcome this Bill. India has a shortage of universities and lacks good educational infrastructure. This will bring a sense of competition,” said MS Thimmappa, former vice-chancellor of Bangalore University.

K R Venugopal, Principal, University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering, said, “The foreign universities come with a huge amount. Their education standard is higher than ours. If we want to catch up with them, there is a need to improve higher education. We need to improve everything, including delay in announcement of results, recruiting staff, lessen corruption, good infrastructure and much more.” “There are deemed, private and now the foreign universities, which is a big challenge to any Indian university. This is high time that there is a need for reformation in higher education sector,” said MK Sridhar, executive director, Karanataka State Knowledge Commission.

A senior academician of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) appreciated that the Bill would enable Indian students to avail foreign education in their own land. Sharing similar view, Sridhar said, “Every year, on an average, 1.6 lakh students from India go abroad to study in various foreign universities.

Setting up here in India will reduce their living expense.” Though all largely welcomed the proposal, they had a few apprehensions as well. Thimmappa said that the regulatory structure of the universities needed to be looked upon. However, he hoped that other upcoming educationrelated Bills - Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill; Educational Tribunal Bill; Accreditation Bill — would address the issue.

The senior academician from IISc said that the government must ensure that the cost of education does not increase.

“The case of deemed universities shouldn’t get repeated,” he said.

Venugopal and Sridhar spoke about the caution that Indian institutions needed to take once the foreign universities arrived. Venugopal was apprehensive that these universities with large funds might attract good teachers from Indian institutions, which would result in further dilution of their standards.

Source: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=%E2%80%98Foreign+Universities+will+raise+standards&artid=l3oRk|zA|Y0=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO=