The Indian government (read Cabinet) has cleared the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, which will now be tabled in Parliament. Although it is still a long way before we see campuses of foreign universities in India, heated debate is on over the merits of the entry of foreign universities. They key questions are:
1. Will this prod Indian institutions of higher education to become more competitive?
2. Will the foreign universities become islands of education where wards of only the super-rich (a miniscule of Indian population) get to study?
3. Will the Indian institutions of excellence such as the IITs and IIMs lose its sheen, and in turn their best faculty and students to foreign universities?
4. Will this further commercialize the education system without adding any value to it?
1. Yes it will make the better Indian institutions of higher education more competitive.
2. It depends. The fly by night operators will make a fast buck and disappear. But the government must see to their credibility and rating in their home country. I would suggest, like China where it is a law, they have to tie up with regular univesrities (not deemed ones) to operate in India.
3. IITs and IIMs are the best engineering and management insitutions in our country and recognised all over the world. So losing their sheen sounds like a poor joke. But yes, the better foreign universities would be targetting their faculties. This would result in more competition, better employment opportunities and and a boon for Indian students. So a win win situation is in the offing.
4.This is a foregone conclusion and points to the defects in our system. Education is big business here. But value addition has to be there for the institutions to make money. And, hopefully, if there are no reservations for any category and where merit will rule, the standard of education will be of the highest order.
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