Mismanaging Higher Education

In its previous term the UPA government took a giant step to promote higher education in the country. The decision was prompted by the serious thinking that the country had acute shortage of graduates both in professional and traditional subjects. The central government, therefore, decided to set up more IITs and central universities in various parts of the country. And the HRD ministry has been given adequate funds to meet the financial requirements in this regard.

But it is indeed a flawed thinking that increasing the number of universities and IITs would improve the higher education situation in the country. More universities might increase the number of graduates but would not necessarily ensure a higher quality of education. We need to realize that higher education sector is as much riddled with corruption as any other walk of our collective life. Unless and until corruption is cleansed from higher education, the country should not expect any improvement in this vital sector.

A great Urdu poet has figuratively described the peculiar dilemma as well as the disease our higher education management is suffering from. He says:

Meer Kiya Khoob Hain Beemar Huai Jiske Sabab

Usi Attar Ke Laund-e-se Dawa Lete Hain.

Meer (the poet) is wonderfully naïve to take medicine.

From the (fair) boy who caused disease to him.

This exactly is the case of our central government. Its diagnosis of the ailment that higher education is suffering from was right but the agency chosen for providing medical treatment is none other than the bastion of corruption, the University Grants Commission.

The UGC is a pale shadow of what it was originally conceived to be. Its sole purpose was to promote and ensure quality higher education all across the country which it has failed to achieve. The UGC is full of officers who are incapable of seeing beyond their noses. They misuse their high position of being officer in this funding agency to secure lucrative appointments for their Kith and Kin in central/deemed universities and colleges. Deemed universities, especially the ones managed by the minorities, are particularly vulnerable to the manipulative individuals occupying high positions in the UGC. These disgraceful men go to any extent to benefit their near and dear ones and in the process damage the country’s educational system beyond recovery. The new UGC guidelines for the teachers is the latest example of manipulating institutional mechanism to favour one’s Kith and Kin. Otherwise, how can one justify it that an assistant professor will take 12 years to be promoted to the level of associate professor who will take only three years to become a professor. Can the UGC explain as to how the poor fellow will met all the high requirements in just three years time to reach the level of a professor. Obviously the UGC has framed the new guidelines to favour those who have been appointed readers/associate professors, legally or illegally, after September 2008.

The office of the Vice Chancellor is the centre of gravity in a university system. The Vice Chancellor has enormous power and becomes more powerful if he/she finds a patron in the UGC or HRD ministry. There are examples where such well-placed Vice Chancellors have done smart things for the institutions they head/headed. But most Vice Chancellors lack vision and leadership quality and mismanage the affairs of institutions they lead. They make and break promises at will and indulge in wrongful practices with full cooperation of the UGC. The Constitution says that everyone is equal before law but Vice Chancellors and the UGC ensure that some are more equal than others. As a result merit suffers and mediocrity flourishes in our universities. The ones who excel in academic publications are subjected to harassment, denied due promotion and tormented in many other ways. Promotions and rewards are accorded to those who are never seen reading a book and yet have authored over a dozen books. Our Vice Chancellors and the UGC never enquire as to how such miracles happen. Instead our Vice Chancellors are cajoled by the UGC to make appointments of its choice even if it involves breaking the rules. Mediocres are not only appointed but they are also given additional increments and rewarded with other favours. With such a sorry state of affairs prevailing in universities and UGC, how can we expect that merit and academic excellence would triumph over favouritism and nepotism?

It would be really appropriate to take stock of the performance of senior academics in our universities. Professors matter a lot in a university system as they are members of decision-making bodies and also occupy senior administrative positions. What prevents them from discharging their such duties as creating an atmosphere of democratic functioning in various bodies of universities. It is sad to note that, while a good number of academics are busy with their routine works of teaching and research, a great majority is more than eager to secure administrative positions. They help Vice Chancellors in breaking rules in order to curry favour with them. They clamour to grab high offices, not to serve some noble cause but to fulfill their base desires.

As can be imagined, the situation is very bad indeed. The central government seems to have a sense of corruption in the UGC and universities but does not appear to fully realize the dangers involved. It is just not enough to dismantle the notoriously inept and corrupt UGC and set up a Higher Education Commission in its place. The most important thing is to provide it with a clean and inspiring leadership which has integrity, vision, clarity of thought and, above all, believes in democratic functioning of academic institutions.

[June, 2010]