NU sanctions colleges without checking details

The foreign universities will charge more and hence students from economically weaker sections will find it difficult to study there. The state-run universities are for common man and they must survive at any cost.

Another major problem with the university is that it sanctions colleges without checking the infrastructure and faculties. This has led to mushrooming of colleges, which do not offer quality education. The university is an autonomous body with the Governor as its head. However, most times it acts as a puppet of the state government. Government recommends new colleges in a tin shed and the university approves them blindly.

Accreditation of universities and colleges is very important. Unfortunately, it is done perfunctorily. It should be a compulsory process. Presently, the colleges tell NAAC to come next year or six months later and it agrees. This is ridiculous. The accreditation process has to be transparent and the results must be made available to people. The deficiencies improvement programme should be mandatory and monitored.

The state government must share the blame equally with university administration. It has not taken any initiative in improving higher and technical education. Maharashtra's gross enrollment ratio (GER), which means number of persons pursuing higher education divided by eligible persons, is lowest among the developed states of India. The state's GER is 13% against Tamil Nadu's 30%. The national average is 13%. The GER of China is 46% and in western countries it is 75%. The world average is 23%, which means that we are 10% below world average, which is a matter of great shame for a heavily industrialised state.

The reason for low GER is lack of dynamism and commitment on part of government. It should design new courses keeping in mind what the world, nation, state and a particular region needs. Employability of education and its contribution to economy are very important. Unless higher education has a role in them, it is meaningless.

Central government had allocated quite a sum for higher education in XI plan. Maharashtra neither managed to obtain its full share nor spent the entire money that it took from centre.

While none of the state-run universities in state is satisfactory, Nagpur University is worse due to partisan attitude of state government. The higher and technical education department does not seem to think that Maharashtra extends beyond Mumbai and Pune. It concentrates only on these two universities. Nagpur university gets very little funds compared to these universities.

NU vice-chancellor is yet to be appointed. I hope state would appoint an academician with very good administrative qualities. While both academics and administration are important, in today's scenario the latter is more important. The third most important thing is commitment. Without this quality the other two would be of no use to students.