[Marxistindia] Rescind the Draft UGC Guidelines

[news from the cpi(m)]

January 7, 2023

 

Press Statement

 

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the
following statement:

 

Rescind the Draft UGC Guidelines

 

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the move of the UGC to
facilitate foreign universities and educational institutions to set up
campuses in India allowing them autonomy in determining fees and recruitment
of teachers after a 90-day approval process. This will lead to creating
enclaves of high fees, elitist institutions which will further distort the
structure of higher education in the country. 

 

The operational details of setting up such campuses provide that they can
evolve their own admission process and criteria to admit domestic and
foreign students. It will also have autonomy to decide its fee structure,
and will face no caps that are imposed on Indian institutions.  

Foreign higher education institutions will also be allowed cross-border
movement of funds and maintenance of Foreign Currency Accounts, mode of
payments, remittance and repatriation. 

It is crystal clear that the educational policies of the government and the
higher education authorities will undermine the sovereignty of the
educational process. In the past, Indian corporates have been allowed to set
up shops, granting them National Eminence status after which no further
development has been reported in the public domain. Indian higher education
sector is reeling in the aftermath of the New Education Policy and the
overzealous pursuit of online education during Covid. All studies have
revealed a sharp increase in the dropout rates in colleges and universities.
Access, to higher education is under a grave threat for students who are at
the receiving end of economic and social inequalities. The proposed move is
not going to enable the country to address the current challenges that face
higher education. 

The Polit Bureau strongly urges that the UGC and the government rescind this
draft proposal and initiate consultations with organizations of teachers,
students and all those who are vitally concerned in the future of higher
education. The UGC is also not statutorily entitled to unilaterally initiate
moves without consulting the state governments. The Polit Bureau appeals to
all democratic and patriotic forces to act to make the UGC and the
government to stop this unilateralism forthwith.

 

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