Mr. Rahul Bajaj is absolutely right in fighting for full autonomy and independence fo IIMs. The Regulatory Authority to monitor and control all business schools, including all Non-IIM schools should be 100 0er cent independent like the Chief Election Commissioner or India. The AICTE should be should be abolished immediately as they are allowing all types of low quality schools with very poor infrastructure and low-paid faculty without industry experience etc. As per AICTE standards, a B.School should have half acre land in a metropolitan city and 1 acre outside such cities. Nearly 90% of B-Schools are being run with practically no land at all except the building in which they opeate. All these are leading to high corrupt practices. The way final exams, thesis-defending oral interviews, and the very quality and originality of thesis rtesearch are all of very low quality. Yet over 60 to 70 students get MBA degrees and lots of OP.Hds are also emerging on the scene. Now AICTE is coming with announcements of disallowing B-Schools having foreign university affiliations under the pretext that accredition of the foreign universities are under cloud. On waht basis,,AICTE comes to such conclusions. Here, They are allowing all third rate B. Schools affiliated to Indian universities and no check is made on the quality of infrastructure of thesew B- Schools. Is this not a double sdided hypocracy? A new Independent Regulatory Authority to monitor and control the quality of Business and Management Education is needed immediately.
All these efforts are to keep India a perennially backward country. Everyone knows that full autonomy and lack of govt. interference (and heavy investment)is the answer for India's education woes. An independent agency for monitoring is also the need of the hour. The clamor on Reservation will vanish when there is higher education accessible to all who need/want it. The universities should be allowed to compete for talent (like the Ivy leagues, Caltech, Stanford and the likes do). Withe Govt. "HELP" our IITs (yes IITS!) and universities will remain institutes that churn out graduates with archaic skills. God only knows what is Arjun Singh's mind!!!
IIMs and IITs became centres of excellence and world class institutions due to govt funding and nurturing over the years. The corporate class has always reaped the benefits from these institutions. Why dont they put the money where their mouth is and build a chain of "IIMs" on their own!
Both Bajaj and Nilekani are right. Can you guys tell what is the contribution of HRD ministry to this country? This ministry is as unfertile as the minister. The government should immediately get out of business and leave it to private players. They are already doing a good job in school education (though there are many black sheeps too) but at least the useless ministers like Arjun Singh would be better deployed. Why can't anyone file a suit in the Indian courts? SN Singh, California.
RE:The Bitter TRuth
by RaghuDeep Bethapudi on Apr 27, 2007 04:30 AM Permalink
let me tell you something my frnd ...
i am not against any caste and religion ... but wat i have observed as an undergrad in IIT was that 1. never ever did the 15% qouta for the SC and 7.5% ST quota got filled 2. majority of the guys who made it into iit thru reservation were not deprived or downtroden guys but they pretty rich (some were richer than most ppl in india) 3. these guys never really studied well either ... there were some guys who did a good job and i pretty sure they wud have done without reservation either ... and they again look for jobs in govt companies where they get reservation ... so the system is not helping them ... ppl who really need reservation if at all it is there do not know wat IIT or IIM is ... thats the sad part ...
now the worst part would be this --- with 40 students in a branch 15 are serious abt there acads and commited towards working ... (out of the 25 guys, may be 15 are very intellegent but they just donot like the branch - they go for CAT or management jobs) ... so now imagine wat might happen if u have 50% reservation ...
RE:REQUEST
by d on Apr 26, 2007 07:06 PM Permalink
Try writing to the RBI governor. Get his e mail ID from www.RBI.org.in. Do something positive. File a case in the High court. Don't whine like a kid.
Why doesn't India Inc set up few Institutes funded by some big corporations..After all they are going to benefit from it.. It time to put there best foot forward. I still don't understand why government charge just around 2 lakhs Rs and spend much more than on every student graduating from these institutes. I am sure very few of them join the government. Most of us are against reservation but we keep forgetting that government have job to uplift all sections of the society. We have in the past built steel plant, refineries, coal mines etc mostly on the mineral rich land of tribes have displaced them from their original land and we don't even want to give them little reservation in the institutes that are built on their money. Government should have full control over these institutes at the same time more ISB and future Harvard and Stanford should come up in the country where student can get best education.
RE:No more subsidy on higher education!!
by RaghuDeep Bethapudi on Apr 27, 2007 04:19 AM Permalink
In the US all top institutions have proper funding from big companies private, public etc ... i have studied in IITM and i know that no company comes to IIT for any research ... they don come for some consulatancy but thats not why a university is ... its research ... so ppl like bajaj have to come for better products to the departments like mechanical engineering (automotives) and other guys for some other branches ... they shud fund the projects and students shud get chance to carry out RESEARCH ... indian system is not that good ... IITs are only popular bcoz they get extremely good students (through JEE) ... and a university in the US earns reputation through the PhD students ... government shud not have any control over these ppl ... these r centres of knowledge not power or politics ... but at the same time ppl like bajaj or any other tycoons of india do not earn the right to say anything ... bcoz ppl like them paly the most important part in universities and they go for foreign guys for betterment in technology ... I study in US (doing phd) and i know that the kind of students we get in IITs or IIMs are far far far sharper than ppl here ... but univs here are more popular bcoz they have the money, autonomy and facilties ...
No University or Educational Institute can run on its own. It has to depend on Govt Grants, Charity from the public and of course the fees and consulting. None of these means are by themselves alone, adequate to ensure that the institution is run at the highest standards of quality. Every institution has a charter and a constitution which regulates what is legitimately its province and more importantly what is not. The Educational Institutions have to be self regulating and like the judiciary do not need an external regulator. Transgression of its charter can be a subject of review by the constitutional authority such as a specially appointed educational tribunal. It already exists in the UGC whose powers could be expanded to cover such lapses. We do not need any more bureucratic or political regulators to oversee the working additionally. We have them now for all kinds of regulatory functions. We have to avoid this penchant to set up regulatory mechanisms at the drop of a hat. As it is there are Ministries, Departments, Commissions, Councils, and committees of all hues. These have become the pleasant sinecures for all kinds of retired powerful people. We don't need more of them. Hence Autonomy -Yes: Regulation-NO any takers?
RE:Regulation and Autonomy
by jitesh agrawal on Apr 26, 2007 02:41 PM Permalink
This is true only to an extent. As it's been in news that IIMs take only .7% of the students though around 5-10% are good students. This is only becz. of less institutions and lack of autonomy. If complete autonomy is provided then it can surely be of much help as they would not be under any pressure such as of huge reservation.
Also, inviting foreign univ. to set up branches here would definitely help India in the long run. As deserving students will get their due. And most importantly they do not need to leave their country just because of lack of education facilities. Because nowadays many people deserving people are not getting their due becz. of lack of good institutes. That's why they are forced to look abroad for higher education. And once a person is abroad you know how difficult is to leave "dollar" or "pound" earnings.
The dirty politicians have decided to ensure these institutions no more remain as premier institutions. So far only the best could get in Now with dilution of admission standards the not so good also will get in . What next?pass an ordinance that these students getting in on quota need to get only 10 or 15 marks to qualify for the degree .Already TamilNadu is famous for such things . A forward caste will not get admission even if he gets 97% but a backward need to get only 35%.How can they survive the course .God help this country. Unless radical political changes occur we are heading for dooms day rapidly.The least our politicians can do is to keep away from education when they have more lucrative avenues to think of.
The premier institutions are bound to lose their recognition and reputation by allowing the quota system when standard of students getting admitted will be diluted and that is bound to result in students coming out with lower capability ie that is those who get in on quota. These institutions hitherto got the best in the country.What do the politicians think?with admission the students getting in on quota will be able to manage to get thro?Then the process of passing these students will commence by modifying that such students need to get only 10 marks to qualify for a degree.Finally IIM's and IIT's will be redused to the levels of all such quota colleges.I wish there is some way by which Politicians should keep of such institutions though they cannot be kept out of education altogether.I am also unable to understand why they intrude in such matters when they more lucrative avenues .The solution is to have more private colleges with stringent selection ie only merit and nothing else.
