Govt looks to colleges, univs for funds

NEW DELHI: The ministry of human resources development has found a way to get around the all too familiar fund crunch. It plans to ask colleges and universities to generate a portion of their financial requirements.
The proposal doing the rounds will ensure that colleges and universities raise at least 10% of their budgetary needs on their own.
This is not a new move. The University Grants Commission had proposed that universities generate their own resources. The Commission would match the amount generated with grants.
Whatever the genesis of the latest proposal, the move will certainly speed up the much-needed fee hike, as this will be an obvious source of revenue generation for colleges and universities. All states accepted the proposal to hike fees at a recent conference of state higher education secretaries.
The Gnanam and Soneri committees have dealt with the need for universities to be financially independent, leading to autonomy. According to the reports submitted by these committees, the financial restrictions imposed by the present administrative system is not conducive to making these educational set-ups centres of excellence.
If universities are involved in revenue-generation, it would go some distance in giving them a degree of fiscal autonomy they have long lacked. It is hoped that this move will encourage the growth of possible consultancies and partnerships with the private sector.
This is a problem that many industry-related and applied disciplines face. The fact that universities will be required to generate their own funds, even a portion of them, means that administrative hurdles to seeking consultancies will now be reduced.
The latest proposal comes on the heels of the Union HRD minister’s speech at the conference of state higher education secretaries. Mr Murli Manohar Joshi said that given the state of resources, establishing new colleges and universities seems to be a tough proposition. He felt that it would be a good idea to improve the conditions of the existing institutions of higher education in the country.