The Centre’s new draft regulations allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India. But the teachers’ associations have completely opposed this new draft of regulations by the Centre. According to the teachers’ associations, the setting up of foreign campuses in India will convert the educational institutions here into commercial enterprises.
The Draft
It was last week when the University Grants Commission (UGC) announced the draft regulations for ‘Setting up and Operations of Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India’.
According to the draft, it will be for the first time that foreign universities will be allowed to set up their campuses in India. The universities will also be allowed to make decisions regarding the process of admissions, the fee structures and the repatriation of their funds.
Different Satements, One Opinion
The Statement by AADTA
The Academic for Action and Development Delhi Teachers’ Association (AADTA), AAP’s teachers’ wing, claimed in a statement that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has implemented this big step of allowance for foreign universities just for the welfare of the coaching institutions. According to them, all this is not being done for any sort of students’ welfare.
“The social justice concerns have been totally ignored which is very important in our context where higher education is very effective means for social change,” the AADTA said in a statement.
The teachers’ associations also questioned UGC that if any foreign institution fails in its promises and operations, then how will the UGC take care of the students studying in these institutions?
The statement also said that the draft regulations have no provision for any kind of reservation. There is no provision for caste, women, economic conditions, minorities, armed forces, physical disability or Kashmiri migrants.
The statement also alleged that there is no clarity from the UGC about how will they do the monitoring of operations by campuses of foreign higher educational institutions in India.
The Statement by DTF
The Democratic Teachers’ Federation (DTF) said that this move of the Centre must be opposed otherwise the next logical step of any such policy will allow explicit profit-making in the higher education system.
According to DTF, the government is peddling false dreams of an Ivy League education at affordable costs. But the actual reality is that all these foreign institutions will not be controlled in terms of curriculum, salaries of teachers or fee structure. They will provide education at a cost that will be unaffordable for the majority of the Indian population.
“This will no doubt increase the cost of education in these institutions. Besides, the content of the education provided in these institutes will work to attenuate the quest for democratic policy autonomy in the country,” said DTF.
