EPSI-Educational Promotion Society for India

Aimed at helping the government take a fresh look at the current education policy, the recommendations address diverse areas, such as Private and Public Participation, Autonomy in Higher Education, Independent Accreditation Bodies, Setting up EDBI, Reservation and Admissions, Fees, Financing and Affordability, Foreign Participation, amongst others

The recommendations submitted by EPSI

i)	Review of National Education Policy, 1986 which has diluted relevance in conjunction with the current economic and knowledge development scenario in perspective of global developments such as WTO agreement.

ii)	Review of role and responsibilities of statutory agencies and their inability to establish relevance with the industry and to address quality issues pertaining to higher education.

iii)	Need for higher level of two way communication between the academia and the government in investing in holistic development of relevant Higher Education.

iv)	Need for higher level of involvement of the industry since, they are the direct beneficiary for formulation of relevance and employable curricula.

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Some specific recommendations

i)	Have a Single Window Clearance System Approach that facilitates private investments and speedy establishment of institutions and programmes.

ii)	Ensure equality of status for both government and private universities and ensure level playing field for performance measurement of both.

iii)	Allow the fixation of equitable fee to be determined by institutions based on market forces of demand and supply to ensure independence, self-reliance and growth.

iv)	Conducive environment for entry and expansion of international universities in India as well as for Indian institutions setting up campuses abroad.

v)	Allow institutions to frame their own admission criteria/procedure while the government regulates the merit based admission procedure.

vi)	Establish a joint task force that could comprise representatives from industry, statutory agencies and educationists that can identify institutions to offer quality education overseas.

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Recommendations on Higher Education

i)	Provide for autonomy to self-financed, private and institutions either partially or wholly financed by the government.

ii)	A law that empowers institutions for changes in curricula and teaching methods, internal self governance and interaction with organizations nationally/internationally for economic transactions.

iii)	There should be full operational, financial and academic autonomy coupled with accountability.

iv)	Allow Quality Assurance Systems to be independent of political and institutional interaction and must have a basis in legislation.

i)	Review accreditation process & system.

ii)	Set up independent accreditation bodies.

iii)	The accreditation agencies should be a conglomerate of government, industry, academia, society etc. that proves the credentials of the agency.

iv)	The accreditation should be a TWO level rating both on Institutional accreditation and programme accreditation.

v)	Introduce accreditation bodies on lines of international quality assurance and rating agencies such as ISO, ISI, ICRA, CRISIL

i)	Establish Education Development Bank to give soft loans instead of charging low fee from universities and institutions on a pre-defined criteria.

ii)	The present scheme of providing loans to students should be streamlined.

i)	Vocational streams to be developed and expanded to equip larger numbers of high school students with occupation-related knowledge and skills.

ii)	More vocational programmes should be introduced after secondary education for employment generations. There should also be provision of lateral entry in Higher education.

iii)	A national network of community colleges, similar to the highly successful American system, is needed to provide knowledge and job-oriented skills to millions of young people.

i)	Clarity on policy required at the outset to obviate any discussion at a later stage for institutions being aided by the government.

ii)	Uniformity in overall reservation policy. The categories and the percentage within may be decided by the states.

iii)	The institute should have the right to directly admit the students in the general category as well as separately in the reserved category. The criteria of admission should be fully transparent and strictly based on merit.

iv)	Create a mechanism to recover or compensate the cost incurred on students of the weaker section (reserved category).

v)	Allow institutions to fill vacant seats in the reservation category post a definitive admission cut-off date.

i)	Fixation of fees should be based on economic modeling and should have economic relationship with costs of education.

ii)	The institutions should be allowed to levy 15% separately for research purpose to ensure quality and research development.

iii)	The government/state can fix fees based on their own actual cost. For weaker sections they can also provide otherwise.

iv)	Encourage alumnis to finance their institutions and projects of their choice directly.

i)	Industry, science institutions and other users of the higher education holders be encouraged and invited to participate in partnering the institutions and university and vocational training centres.

ii)	Identify the specific needs of the industry and involve industry in curriculum development, particularly in courses, which have integral relationship with industrial process

iii)	Industries to be provided incentives for making substantial contribution towards education and training.

iv)	Associations like CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM should encourage and promote industry to mark their projects, to the academia which can deliver quality at low cost.

i)	A clear policy frame for the foreign universities coming to India for investment to open campus.

ii)	There should be cost based FEE definition on differential basis to offer the quality, which is offered at the main campus of the university.

iii)	The programmes offered by the coming University in India should have accreditation of the programme or institutions in their respective countries by a national level accreditation agency like AACSB, EQUIS etc.