Ease regulations in higher studies field, says Ficci survey

The government should take steps to simplify the regulatory environment to ensure growth in the higher education sector, said a survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The survey called "Developing nn understanding of private higher education in India: A Stakeholder Perspective" said a single-window approval system, certainty in policies and effective monitoring and accreditation were required to boost growth in the sector.

Most stakeholders perceived that the government had not done enough to effectively regulate the public and private higher education institutions to overcome quality and access issues, it said.

The survey was carried out between December 2005 and January 2006, covering over 4,000 respondents across 11 cities comprising students, parents, faculty members, recruiters and promoters.

The survey revealed that the promoters of self-financing private higher education institutes recognised the need for meeting regulatory requirements and getting affiliation and recognition.

The prime challenge perceived by them was the uncertainty and the complexity of government regulatory environment, whereas, the least-challenging issue was financing the institute, it added.

Most of the respondents supported a single-window clearance system as multiplicity of regulating agencies like the University Grant Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Medical Council of India and the Central Council of Indian Medicine lead to duplication of procedures, causing immense loss of time and resources.

The survey showed that large number of students and recruiters sought government intervention in monitoring and accreditation of private higher education institutes.

As much as 70 per cent of students of private institutes were of the view that government was not monitoring enough, while 87 per cent of the faculty sought a government role in accreditation.

According to the survey, the growth of the Indian higher education sector in the last decade had increasingly shown a trend towards hiking private sector participation.

"With the outlay of government funding mostly targeted to develop a few institutes of excellence, the role of the private sector would only increase. However, some of the practices in the private intuitions said unregulated privatisation of the higher education sector was, perhaps, not a desirable solution," it pointed out.