End this Killer Raj
Page - 1
For the first time an Indian
institution of higher education has been ranked among the top-twenty in the
world. The Indian School of Business (ISB) was ranked 20th in a list of the top
100 business schools by the prestigious Financial Times two weeks ago. A
Chinese business school was No. 11; four European schools came in the top-10,
and the rest were from the United States.
But wait a minute. Isn�t the ISB
illegal? ISB officials explain that they don�t want accreditation from India
Council of Technical Education (AICTE) because then "they will decide our
courses, our student intake, and even the size of our buildings". I spoke to a
top AICTE official, who scornfully dismissed the Indian School of Business -
"Its fees are too high and it doesn�t even have a permanent faculty." I gently
suggested that its faculty is world-class if not permanent. And why worry about
fees when every student has a loan. They must be doing something right if
students command a mean salary of Rs 16 lakhs a year at graduation.
ISB is India�s only school in the
top-100 list. There might have been more but for AICTE. One of these is Mumbai�s
premier S. P. Jain Institute, run by a no-nonsense Harvard graduate. It doesn�t
bribe; nor does it succumb to politicians for admissions. Hence, it is punished.
It applied to admit 120 students in 1992, but got approval for 45. In 2001, it
applied for 180, but didn�t get approval for six years. In 2004, AICTE rejected
its unique dual degree program with a reputed foreign university, whereby the
latter would have flown its faculty to India. Its innovative program for
family-run businesses was also rejected. Last year, it seriously contemplated
closing down. Instead, it has started campuses in Dubai and Singapore - far
beyond AICTE�s reach.
What do you do when the keepers
of the law become its oppressors? AICTE was set-up to encourage higher
education, but it achieved the opposite. Honest officials have tried cleaning it
up periodically, but they have always been removed by politicians, who happen to
own many of our worst private institutions. The answer, of course, is to give
autonomy to all education institutions. Regulators should only ensure that they
provide mandatory disclosure on the Internet about their courses, faculty, fees,
and facilities (with severe punishment for false claims). Professional rating
services should evaluate colleges with the same credibility as CRISIL rates
industrial companies. Competition will take care of the rest. Students will be
able to make informed choices. Good institutions will thrive and poor ones will
close.
