Addressing a seminar on 'Higher Education: Affirmative Action and Skill Gaps' at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor said a draft bill to create such an authority in higher education is in the offing.
Tharoor said that there is a need to establish a body with statutory authority to prescribe academic standards, norms of accreditation and mechanisms of financing and governance of institutions, an ORF release said.
Such a body will enhance the endeavour to promote credible standards of higher education and research in the country, he said.
Tharoor also observed that due to lack of a centralised policy or regime in the country, some of the foreign institutions are resorting to various malpractices to attract students, especially in the smaller towns and cities.
"To check this, the government has introduced a bill with proposals to regulate the entry and operation of foreign educational institutions," the Minister noted, according to the release.
He emphasised on the need to turn the country's huge demographic advantage into fruitful ways to take the country into the group of major developed economies.
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The Minister warned that "if we went wrong in this mission, it would lead to frustration among the bulging youth, which would be calamitous for the country.
"The Maoists are a clear reflection of what happens when young men feel that they have no stake and no opportunities in the society," he said.