Skip to main content

Move to centralise, commercialise, privatise and communalise higher education

By Prakash N. Shah, Hemantkumar Shah,  Dr. Kanu Khadadiya* 
The Draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025 was circulated by the UGC on 6 January 2025. After detailed study of the ‘Draft UGC Regulations, 2025’, with deep concern and pain, AISEC would like to make statements which include the following:
Whole Draft UGC Regulations 2025 is completely based on ‘National Credit Framework (NCrF)’. This NCrF is not yet debated and validated either in both the houses of Parliament or in various legislative assemblies of states across country.  It is just a draft prepared by an ‘appointed high level committee’.  As enunciated by constitution, our country is a union of states and education is essentially subject matter of both centre and states.
Clause 1.6 states as follows,
"All HEIs shall, as soon as possible, but not later than six months of the coming into force of these regulations, take effective steps to amend their statutes, ordinances, or other statutory provisions governing it to bring the same in accordance with these regulations."
Is it not an open intervention and infringement on the autonomy of states and HEI? This clause shall be removed.
Clause 10.0: There are two critical aspects in it, one is about the criteria of eligibility of Vice- Chancellor post and the second is about the procedure for formation of search cum selection committee for appointing Vice- Chancellors.
Hitherto, professors having long experience of above 10 years is the basic criteria of eligibility of Vice-Chancellor post. Draft Regulations 2025 of UGC says as follows,
"… (i) a Professor in an HEI or (ii) at a senior level in reputed research or academic administrative organizations or (iii)at a senior level in industry, public administration, public policy and/or public sector undertakings, with a proven track record of significant academic or scholarly contributions, shall be eligible to be appointed as Vice-Chancellor."
This is a very dangerous move as bureaucratic approach will kill the spirit of academics. Therefore, eminent academicians only should be considered for the post of Vice-Chancellor.
The second is about the Search cum Selection Committee. Draft Regulations 2025 of UGC says as follows,
"… The following shall be the constitution of the Search cum Selection Committee. 
a) a nominee of the Visitor/Chancellor, who shall be the Chairperson of the Search cum Selection Committee. 
b) a nominee of the Chairman, University Grants Commission. 
c) a nominee of the apex body of the university such as Syndicate/Senate/Executive Council / Board of Management/ Equivalent Body of the University."
This means that Clause 10.0 gives the supreme power at the hands of the central government while selecting Vice-Chancellors. If these UGC regulations come into practise, then this will pave the way for all out Centralisation, Commercialisation, Privatisation and Communalisation of Higher Education. Therefore, Clause 10 has to be completely dropped.
Clause 11.0: Clause 11.0 of Draft Regulations 2025 goes as follows,
"…If any HEI violates the provisions of these regulations, the Commission shall constitute an enquiry committee to look into the violations.  If the violations are established by the enquiry committee set up by the Commission, the HEI shall be:
(a) Debarred from participating in UGC schemes.
(b) Debarred from offering degree programmes.
(c) Debarred from offering ODL and online mode programmes.
(d) Removed from the list of HEIs maintained under Sections 2(f) and 12B of UGC Act 1956. 
The HEI shall be subjected to one or more of the above actions. Further, UGC may take additional punitive actions as per the decision of the Commission on a case-to-case basis."
This is rather a very autocratic provision and also derogatory for an HEI’s/universities. It is tantamount to real violation and infringement on freedom and democracy of HEI/universities. Therefore, this clause is to be dropped.
Clause 8.0: Clause 8.0 deals about contractual appointment of teachers. Clause 8.0 of Draft Regulations 2025 goes as follows,
Draft Regulations 2025 doesn’t utter a single word about long services rendered by Guest Lecturers and doesn’t show any concern on them. It just legalizes it. Contractual appointees would be subjected to the pressure of the authority of the HEIs and so to say the party in power.  They would be converted into pawns at the hands of the power that be for their renewal. This would vitiate the democratic atmosphere of the campus. Therefore, this clause is to be dropped and instead UGC should insist the regularisation of teachers with immediate effect and also should arrange and provide sufficient financial grant with immediate effect.
Clauses 3.2 & 3.3: Clauses 3.2 & 3.3 would allow recruitment of teachers in disciplines/subjects of their PhD or NET/SET irrespective of their disciplines/subjects in UG & PG. Rather this will help further commercialisation of higher education and bring down whatever standard is still prevailing in higher education. This clause shall be dropped.
Clause 4.1: Clause 4.1 undermines a PG degree and makes it virtually redundant. This would also seriously hamper teaching and research. Therefore, this clause is to be dropped.
 Clause 9.0: Clause 9.0 recommends creation of “Professor of Practice,” a position designed more to serve corporate interests than academy. This would ultimately lower the standard of teaching and marginalize pedagogical excellence. Therefore, to maintain standard academicians only shall be recruited as Professors. Therefore, this clause is to be dropped.
Clauses 3.8 gives emphasis on the parameters like industry-oriented or sponsored research, high-impact publications, consultancy, student internships or project supervision, Indian Knowledge system (IKS), digital content creation for MOOCs, startups etc. for recruitment of teachers. These would largely promote saffronization, privatization and commercialization of education. Therefore, this clause is to be dropped.
The fact is above all should be left to the wisdom of the respective state and Universities/HEI’s and there is no need of UGC to laydown regulations in these domains.
---
*With All-India Save Education Committee (AISEC)

Comments

  1. Pradeep MohapatraJanuary 25, 2025

    Congratulations Gujarat Chapter of the AISEC for the right and timely step taken! Very inspiring for all of us too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

NOTE: While there is no bar on viewpoint, comments containing hateful or abusive language will not be published and will be marked spam. -- Editor

TRENDING

Defeat of martial law: Has the decisive moment for change come in South Korea?

By Steven Lee  Late at night on December 3, soldiers stormed into South Korea’s National Assembly in armored vehicles and combat helicopters. Assembly staff desperately blocked their assault with fire extinguishers and barricades. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol had just declared martial law to “ eliminate ‘anti-state’ forces .”

70,000 migrants, sold on Canadian dream, face uncertain future: Canada reinvents the xenophobic wheel

By Saurav Sarkar*  Bikram Singh is running out of time on his post-study work visa in Canada. Singh is one of about 70,000 migrants who were sold on the Canadian dream of eventually making the country their home but now face an uncertain future with their work permits set to expire by December 2024. They came from places like India, China, and the Philippines, and sold their land and belongings in their home countries, took out loans, or made other enormous commitments to get themselves to Canada.

EVMs: Govt must prove beyond reasonable doubt it's upholding mandate for free, fair polls

By Jerald D’souza  With the growth of India’s population, concerns about electoral fraud associated with ballot papers, also began to escalate. In 1989, the People’s Representation Act was amended to enable EVMs to prevent electoral fraud. In 1998, EVMs made their debut during legislative assembly elections and for the first time for general elections in 2004. However, criticisms against the EVMs and questions about their integrity have been raised by political parties, civil society and the general population. On 2 February 2024, there was a noteworthy demonstration of dissent where numerous individuals, including Ambedkarite advocates, legal professionals, and other members of civil society  convened at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar demanding the prohibition of EVMs. In 2024, the Supreme court had slapped down a petition to return to paper ballots on the basis that machines give “absolutely accurate results” unless human bias maligns them. The court stated that it was open to testi...

This Indian British Marxist blamed USSR's collapse in 1991 on Khrushchev's 'revisionism'

By Harsh Thakor*  Harpal Singh Brar, British Indian Marxist scholar and communist leader, has passed away in Chandigarh. He was 85. He was a lifelong supporter of socialism, Marxism, and the working class. He will be remembered among British Communists.

A groundbreaking non-violent approach: Maharishi’s invincible defense technology

By MajGen (R) Kulwant Singh, Col (R) SP Bakshi, Col (R) Jitendra Jung Karki, LtCol (R) Gunter Chassé & Dr David Leffler*  In today’s turbulent world, achieving lasting peace and ensuring national security are more urgent than ever. Traditional defense methods focus on advanced weapons, military strategies, and tactics, but a groundbreaking approach offers a new non-violent and holistic solution: Maharishi’s Invincible Defense Technology (IDT). 

Chalapathi's death in encounter suggests Maoists' inability to establish broader mass support

By Harsh Thakor* The Maoist movement experienced a significant loss during the Ramagudem encounter on January 21, with the death of Chalapathi (Pratap), a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist). His death, along with 15 others, marks a major setback for the movement. Reports suggest that his location was revealed to security forces through a selfie with his wife.

Why do we mostly resist and refrain from communicating on sanitation topic?

By Nikhil Kumar, Mansee Bal Bhargava* According to UN SDG Progress report (2022), at the present moment no targets for SDG 6 are expected to be met by 2030. In 2022, 2.2 billion people had no access to safe drinking water and 3.5 million lacked safe sanitation. Approximately 50% of the world’s population was reported to have been under resourced in enough water for part of the year and a quarter of that population was living under “extremely high” water stress. Add to it, droughts have affected over 1.4 billion people between 2002 and 2021.

CCG raises concerns over Indian State of Forest Report 2023 in open letter to environment minister

By A Representative  The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), a collective of former civil servants, has expressed serious concerns over the Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023 in an open letter to the Union Minister for Environment, Forests & Climate Change. The group has criticized the report's delayed release, flawed methodology, and misleading claims regarding the state of India's forests.

Govt of India asked to work for release of 217 Indian fishermen detained in Pakistan since 2021

By A Representative  Members of the fishing communities from Gujarat and Diu, Union Territory, held a press conference in Ahmedabad, urging the Union Government to take proactive measures to secure the release of Indian fishermen currently detained in Pakistan. Presently, 217 Indian fishermen, mostly from Gujarat and Diu, are held in Pakistan’s Malir Jail. Of these, 53 have been incarcerated since 2021 and 130 since 2022.

Operation Kagar represents Indian state's intensified attempt to extinguish Maoism: Resistance continues

By Harsh Thakor Operation Kagar represents the Indian state's intensified attempt to extinguish Maoism, which claims to embody the struggles and aspirations of Adivasis. Criminalized by the state, the Maoists have been portrayed as a threat, with Operation Kagar deploying strategies that jeopardize their activities. This operation weaves together economic, cultural, and political motives, allegedly with drone attacks on Adivasi homes.