 "Students' Corner")
Dear Students,
LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think IITs should devise strategies to better their financial condition so that their dependence on government grant reduces?
BEST RESPONSE
Funding for IITs has never been a problem especially for research projects. The government and the private sector have been generous in extending financial assistance when required. IITs should concentrate on R&D activities and ensure that they apply for more patents and contribute in breakthrough innovation. IITs' global rankings are relatively low and hence more efforts should go into building the academic capability and innovation. Financial strategy improvement should not come at the cost of innovation and research. Once they prove their mettle funds will chase them rather than having IITs to do the job.
OTHER RESPONSES
IITs should deploy some strategies in their institutions in order to better of their financial conditions and ease their dependence on government grants. They should expand their franchise in other parts of India so that more and more deserving students get to study in their dream institute. In return, the institute will be getting the appropriate finance in form of their structured fees and also side by side they can also take the help of their alumni who all have achieved a lot while studying out in their respective IIT institute.
IITs may devise strategies to better their financial condition so that their dependence on government grants reduces. IITs may increase fees to a certain extent. IITs may reduce their costs. IITs may provide candidates for companies who intend to hire good candidates and may in turn get grants from the industry.
Financial autonomy would ensure greater accountability in resource allocation resulting in optimized expenditure and greater efficiency. This would also result in lesser government intervention in IITs. Social media and crowd sourcing can be used for devising financial strategies by engaging with stakeholders. Universities around the world are employing cutting edge marketing tools and strategies to attract international students and diversify the countries that they can reach out to, as additional measures to counteract depleting government funds. I believe IIT should also start decreasing its dependence on govt. funds by employing best practices of international higher education industry.
IITs should devise strategies to better their financial condition, so that their dependence on government grants reduces,it will enable them to enjoy greater autonomy which will further help in avoiding any type of government interference in it"s functioning and subsequently deleting red tapism and bureaucracy.Increasing the fees by a nominal margin can play a great role in strengthening it's financial condition.
IITs should devise strategies to better their financial condition as dependence on government grant alone is resulting into serious issues such as lack of proper infrastructure and acute shortage of faculty. In 8 newly instituted IITs faculty shortage is as high as 60% compromising on the quality of education. Being funded by government IITs have to adhere to regulations and curbs in investment which puts them at a clear disadvantage compared to world’s top universities .It is imperative that onus of quality education is shared by students in form of higher fees and alumni in form of corporate tie ups.
IITs are the premiere technological institutes of this country set up by a special act of the Parliament and it becomes the duty of the state to ensure sufficient funds for proper functioning of them, having said that the IITs can take example from the IIMs to generate more revenues by introducing corporate training programs, doing feasibility surveys. Also IITs can provide technological assistance to government projects such as UIDAI so that the funds given by the govt. to IITs do not seem a burden on state exchequer.
IIT should do strategies better for their financial condition. Even so when when the IITs hiked the fees this year. Despite that, the government has been granting funds to IITs.
At IITs, much of the expenses are met through grants from MHRD. This has induced an open invitation for greater political interference and erosion of autonomy. Moreover, the government’s decisions in the past few years concerning the IITs have not been very encouraging. Hence, looking at this scenario, reducing dependence on government is the solution. IITs should bank on endowments, consultancy and executive development programs for a steady revenue stream. Also, they must establish a broader linkage with the industry, eyeing for corporate funding for their research projects.
The grants made available by government have been the only source for successful running of IITs. It is certainly true that IITs are majorly dependent on the government funds. By being a government run institute it has full right to seek financial help. But as a matter of being self sufficient, it would be a good notion if IITs could devise new modes for sourcing their funds. In this scenario, alumni can help a great deal by making a collaborative effort to strengthen the financial standing of the IITs. Such measures can help IITs evolve among the world leading institutes.
For IITs to be financially independent, a bouquet of financial instruments needs to be put in place. The industry should understand what IITs do for them. On their part, IITs should recover the full operational cost of education through fee and not take any aid from government's non-plan budget. They should be run by boards – totally independent of the ministry — with rules drafted by them. Boards should finalize management and salary structure, rules for recruitment, fee and expenditure.
With close to 80 per cent funding from government, the matter at hand is that the autonomy is compromised. Basically, over dependence on the government grants coupled with the gap between the cost incurred and the tuition fees collected is the major concern of the IITs. Prominent universities across the world have financial autonomy and IITs must follow suit. Increased tuition fees but with discretion, persuasion of alumnus for donations etc along with lessened government funding necessary for the operating costs will form a healthy mix.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Do you think education institutions should be kept out of service tax purview?
Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.
LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think IITs should devise strategies to better their financial condition so that their dependence on government grant reduces?
BEST RESPONSE
Funding for IITs has never been a problem especially for research projects. The government and the private sector have been generous in extending financial assistance when required. IITs should concentrate on R&D activities and ensure that they apply for more patents and contribute in breakthrough innovation. IITs' global rankings are relatively low and hence more efforts should go into building the academic capability and innovation. Financial strategy improvement should not come at the cost of innovation and research. Once they prove their mettle funds will chase them rather than having IITs to do the job.
- RR Mohan Kumar, Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy.
OTHER RESPONSES
IITs should deploy some strategies in their institutions in order to better of their financial conditions and ease their dependence on government grants. They should expand their franchise in other parts of India so that more and more deserving students get to study in their dream institute. In return, the institute will be getting the appropriate finance in form of their structured fees and also side by side they can also take the help of their alumni who all have achieved a lot while studying out in their respective IIT institute.
- Akash Jaiswal, IBS Mumbai.
IITs may devise strategies to better their financial condition so that their dependence on government grants reduces. IITs may increase fees to a certain extent. IITs may reduce their costs. IITs may provide candidates for companies who intend to hire good candidates and may in turn get grants from the industry.
- Rituparna Saha Ray, Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Management Studies, Navi Mumbai.
Financial autonomy would ensure greater accountability in resource allocation resulting in optimized expenditure and greater efficiency. This would also result in lesser government intervention in IITs. Social media and crowd sourcing can be used for devising financial strategies by engaging with stakeholders. Universities around the world are employing cutting edge marketing tools and strategies to attract international students and diversify the countries that they can reach out to, as additional measures to counteract depleting government funds. I believe IIT should also start decreasing its dependence on govt. funds by employing best practices of international higher education industry.
- Rahul Kumar Jha, IMT Ghaziabad.
IITs should devise strategies to better their financial condition, so that their dependence on government grants reduces,it will enable them to enjoy greater autonomy which will further help in avoiding any type of government interference in it"s functioning and subsequently deleting red tapism and bureaucracy.Increasing the fees by a nominal margin can play a great role in strengthening it's financial condition.
- Jatin Kashyap, Post Graduate Government College, Chandigarh.
IITs should devise strategies to better their financial condition as dependence on government grant alone is resulting into serious issues such as lack of proper infrastructure and acute shortage of faculty. In 8 newly instituted IITs faculty shortage is as high as 60% compromising on the quality of education. Being funded by government IITs have to adhere to regulations and curbs in investment which puts them at a clear disadvantage compared to world’s top universities .It is imperative that onus of quality education is shared by students in form of higher fees and alumni in form of corporate tie ups.
- Aakanksha Sharma, IMT Ghaziabad.
IITs are the premiere technological institutes of this country set up by a special act of the Parliament and it becomes the duty of the state to ensure sufficient funds for proper functioning of them, having said that the IITs can take example from the IIMs to generate more revenues by introducing corporate training programs, doing feasibility surveys. Also IITs can provide technological assistance to government projects such as UIDAI so that the funds given by the govt. to IITs do not seem a burden on state exchequer.
- Swar Grover, GNDU, Amritsar.
More From This Section
IIT should do strategies better for their financial condition. Even so when when the IITs hiked the fees this year. Despite that, the government has been granting funds to IITs.
- Twinkle Kande, Gandhinagar Institute of Technology (GIT), Ahmedabad.
At IITs, much of the expenses are met through grants from MHRD. This has induced an open invitation for greater political interference and erosion of autonomy. Moreover, the government’s decisions in the past few years concerning the IITs have not been very encouraging. Hence, looking at this scenario, reducing dependence on government is the solution. IITs should bank on endowments, consultancy and executive development programs for a steady revenue stream. Also, they must establish a broader linkage with the industry, eyeing for corporate funding for their research projects.
- Navjeet Goraya, Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship (XIME).
The grants made available by government have been the only source for successful running of IITs. It is certainly true that IITs are majorly dependent on the government funds. By being a government run institute it has full right to seek financial help. But as a matter of being self sufficient, it would be a good notion if IITs could devise new modes for sourcing their funds. In this scenario, alumni can help a great deal by making a collaborative effort to strengthen the financial standing of the IITs. Such measures can help IITs evolve among the world leading institutes.
- Shivam Chhabra, Integral University, Lucknow.
For IITs to be financially independent, a bouquet of financial instruments needs to be put in place. The industry should understand what IITs do for them. On their part, IITs should recover the full operational cost of education through fee and not take any aid from government's non-plan budget. They should be run by boards – totally independent of the ministry — with rules drafted by them. Boards should finalize management and salary structure, rules for recruitment, fee and expenditure.
- Mohd Avaish, Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bangalore.
With close to 80 per cent funding from government, the matter at hand is that the autonomy is compromised. Basically, over dependence on the government grants coupled with the gap between the cost incurred and the tuition fees collected is the major concern of the IITs. Prominent universities across the world have financial autonomy and IITs must follow suit. Increased tuition fees but with discretion, persuasion of alumnus for donations etc along with lessened government funding necessary for the operating costs will form a healthy mix.
- V Sunil Babu, Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Do you think education institutions should be kept out of service tax purview?
Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.