UGC steps up quality campaign

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What is your view regarding the emergence of private education in India?</span><br /><br />In fact, I will say that private education cannot be ignored anymore. Private education is not at all an ill-founded concept. A healthy and competitive structure which will address issues of the socio-economic aspirations of people as well as balance various aspects for an emerging society like India is always welcome by us.Private education has to take cognisance of the societal needs and aspirations of the people in a holistic way; this is an enormous task; the real issue begins here and I want to stress that apart from UGC, it is the duty of the central and the state governments to create an enabling structure and a larger debate on the role of private education is needed. UGC and FICCI conference held recently, in fact was a step in this direction.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What is the current status with regard to the many private universities vis-a-vis UGC?</span><br /><br />The universities formed by the state Act are perfectly legal, no doubt about it. UGC has no role in their creation, but proper operative and legal mechanisms need to be in place to provide quality in education and to provide relevant education. What has been our constant worry is that such universities should not be created with no regard for quality and other factors. In fact, the state of Chattisgarh, which had at one time, 97 such universities has now derecognised 60 of them; the functioning of the remaining 37 are being further looked into. UGC, on its part has carried on an inspection and sent the report to the Chattisgarh Government; in fact, Chattisgarh is coming up with its regulatory authority for such universities.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">With regard to quality, what is the present scenario regarding accreditation of universities by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)?</span><br /><br />NAAC''s process of assessment and accreditation has been accepted quite well by the various universities across India as well as by society; in fact, 60 per cent to 70 per cent universities have been covered. NAAC has got Global Credibility Stamp by the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) - a UNESCO-supported body, of which India is a member. However, enormous backlog exists, as far as colleges are concerned.<br /><br />We need to bring these colleges under the purview of NAAC through the use of technology. As a part of this exercise, we will be encouraging them to do a self-study and send it to us; with the use of a new software, which is being developed presently, NAAC experts will be able to pinpoint where the respective colleges stand in terms of quality, infrastructure, faculty and other parameters, just by analysing the data sent to them. Through this process, we will be able to cover an increasing number of colleges and this will be a sort of revolution.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Is anything being done to regulate the entry of foreign universities into India?</span><br /><br />This is being already done at the government level and we are a party to it as well; AICTE has a stake in it too. I think, soon we will have policy-level guidelines related to foreign universities which are functioning and wanting to function in India. But, one thing is clear; these foreign universities should subject themselves to the assessment and accreditation processes of the countries they belong to and must publicise this information, before they operate in India.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What are the other initiatives you are taking for the future?</span><br /><br />We have recently signed an MoU with Intel Corporation; they will be supporting UGC to set up 50 wireless campuses, from the already existing campuses, all over India. We are setting up an ''Innovation Centre'' for the study, research and use of technology for educational purposes, from a futuristic point of view, very soon. And IBM has indicated that it wants to be a part of the e-content creation for us. With regard to vocationalisation of education, which has taken roots in most of the colleges and universities, the position is that NASSCOM and Department of Science and Technology (DST) are collaborating with us to set up an ''Entrepreneurship Development Cell'' , which will enable us to teach and train students about the ever-enlarging service sector - namely BPOs, in campuses throughout India. All this will be a reality, hopefully in 2005.</div> </div>