The celebrations of India’s 75th Independence Day saw the convergence of the entire nation in its fullest strength with nationalist fervour. From children to adults, government to corporates, schools to universities, households to high-rises, the nation was painted with patriotism, with the Tricolour fluttering and carrying the combined pride of the entire nation.
The Kanchi Mahaswamigal’s Independence Day message covered various dimensions of life. The message called for a state of mind that ensures complete freedom. This makes us think deeply into the distinction between independence and freedom, as applicable to many policy contours, including education. We have completed 75 years of independence, but are our educational institutions enjoying complete freedom? Let us explore.
The ideation of Sir Ardeshir Dalal was mid-wifed by a committee headed by Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, which gave birth to quadruplet institutions to promote technology education in the four regions of our country, more popularly called the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). What was four is now 23 IITS today. Without getting into the merits and de-merits of the ‘McDonaldisation of IITs’, we have to accept the fact that the IITs have emerged as one of the most globally reputed Indian brands. Following closely, the country saw the establishment of Regional Engineering Colleges later called National Institutes of Technology (32), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (25) and the Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research (seven).
Besides science and technology, Indian Institutes of Management (20) were also established across the country, starting with the same first four model of the IITs. The combined strength of these 100-plus institutions enjoy high levels of freedom and the leaders at the top are the IITs and IIMs. What makes them a globally respected brand is not only their admission system, but also the complete freedom they enjoy as they are creations under a special parliamentary legislation. Despite being funded by the state, they have autonomy in the discharge of their academic activities and such freedom is wanting in many higher education institutions (HEIs) outside this privileged policy orbit.
It was the visionary Sarkar committee that ensured such high levels of freedom and that is one of the reasons for the success of many IITs, mindful of the fact that a mass system will always have curable causalities. Some of the new IITs and IIMs may struggle, but the final and larger picture portray the success of the committee’s interim recommendations. It never submitted its final recommendations and what we enjoy today are the fruits of an interim report. Would the outcome have a force multiplier effect if there were a final detailed report? ‘Yes’ and the answer lies in the new Sarkar Report, which came at an appropriate time through the final and comprehensive NEP 2020 of the sarkar at Centre. Among various positive directions that NEP 2020 charters, one significant direction is that of institutional autonomy, to be read as institutional freedom.
The NEP 2020 envisions a new regulatory system to foster an overall institutional culture with empowerment and autonomy to creatively innovate through a ‘light but tight’ framework. For a country that is one-sixth of humanity and that has the world’s most complicated and largest higher education ecosystem, freedom to 100-plus higher education institutions is a surficial scratch in response to a deep wound that requires a surgical strike. What India needs is institutional autonomy to at least a couple of hundred universities and HEIs. The Institutions of Eminence (IoE) Regulations was a good policy-start, but unfortunately served as a cold appetiser for a grand feast.
India needs a hot appetiser that can trigger the gastronomical appetite of many of its deserving universities and HEIs that are outside the policy scanner of institutional freedom. If academic independence is about academic freedom, Indian higher education requires more of it. The best start would be to provide all benefits of IoE status to universities & HEIs that are in the top 100 in NIRF Rankings and above A+ of NAAC. The Sarkar report of the azadi times is replaced by the Sarkar’s atmanirbhar NEP 2020. While the former gave freedom to IITs, the latter needs to give it to the non-IITs.
S Vaidhyasubramaniam
Vice-Chancellor, SASTRA Deemed University
vaidhya@sastra.edu