Abvp education fee survey book by beluru sudarshana

INTRODUCTION

The figures and statistics pertaining to the number of Government and unaided professional colleges across the states, the Percentage of seat sharing between the Govt and the Management which eventually translates in to hundreads of crores of business, the unimaginable Fees structures and the Donations in various professional colleges, the stark contrast between the Government and private Engineering colleges, the attitudinal shift of the State Governments about Education from the concept of service to the concept of Industry, Private college managements lobby to leverage upon such an attitudinal shift of Government â&#x20AC;Ś.all these things have been displayed in the tables and in vivid graphs which give the kaleidoscopic view of the plight of professional Education in the country. This analysis also reveals the fact that while a couple of states are really genuine in imparting quality and low cost Education, many of the state Governments have joined hands with the vested interests Professional Education in promulgating the policies regarding the Fee Structure, Seat sharing and other significant issues. The Fees structures revealed by this study is so much high that one starts wondering if it is nothing but a fleecing the gullible students and parents ? Even by taking various economic parameters that determine the cost of living etc, the cost of professional Education doesn't come to the astronomical figures being painted by the Private college managements. Although, for the sake of analysis, the statistical data is collected from the various states, our endeavor here is not to denigrate any particular state or the Government. In the federal structure, they have all the freedom to make the policies of their own. But our effort here is to show a holistic picture about the commercialisation of Education which happened gradually over a period of time. But the tragedy is that our political leaders and the policy makers failed to identify this gradual shift and hence the precarious situation that we are facing today. The analysis also shows how the same states, which are part of the same federal structure of the Indian Union, differ radically in their approach towards professional Education, which thus becomes boon to students in some states and a burden to the students of other states ! Hence a poorer and meritorious student must be lucky enough to be born in a state or other not because of its culture or heritage but because of its approach towards Higher and professional Education!! Otherwise how one can account for the BE fee structure of Rs. 2000 in Gujarat to that of Rs. 80,000 in Punjab? Why such a discrepancy?

INTRODUCTION

The management Fee structures and the Donation slabs in the unaided BE/MBBS/MBA colleges just go to prove that ordinary students cannot study in other than Government colleges! Unfortunately the rate of growth of Government colleges is very low vis a vis the unaided colleges. It means that day by day growing numbers of poor and meritorious students are being deprived of the professional Education. Is not it a harsh reality to acknowledge? Of late the private colleges do not segregate fees and donation separately, it is the package system which is prevalent in the colleges! Perhaps one important aspect that many of the private colleges ought to be ashamed of is the employment of brokers and commission agents to bring the students for admission. What is more heinous is the use of students to bring the candidates! These students either in order to recover their donation money or to pay up their fees would become brokers to allure students from their respective home states! Hence the apt slogan could be “ To day's student is tomorrow's student broker” ! The amounts that are mentioned in the subsequent pages is the money in the form of fee that is collected by the managements. Unfortunately both the unaided colleges and the state governments are equally greedy in frisking more money from the poor students in many other ways too. Most glaring way is the various forms of Entrance Examinations conducted by the Government by way of common Entrance Test and the various other Entrance Examinations done by the unaided colleges' consortium. These bodies amass crores of rupees every year by way of sale of application forms. The enthusiastic student with a hope against the hope that he would get a seat in one or the other, would fall prey to these multiple Entrance Tests, which sap out his money, enthusiasm and energy. Some of the Government Examination authorities which organize Common Entrance Test (CET) boast of impeccable Technology and at most transparency. But our own experiences, the experiences shared by some eyewitnesses, the victimised students and the parents say with confidence that even so called Govt CETs are not without lacunae and they are not as “pure and chaste as they appear to be”. The separate Entrance Examinations conducted by the consortium of unaided colleges is one more parody of the system. Everything is not fair in such COMED examinations and transparency is absolutely nil in those Examinations. While announcing the rank list, they manage to hide the total marks and percentages of the candidates selected. One wonders how much more time do the State Government need to be sensitized about this issue.

EXCERPTS OF PROF.YASH PAL COMMITTEE REPORT(2009) ON

PRIVATISATION AND COMMERCIALISATION OF EDUCATION During the past two decades, even though there has been a rapid expansion of the higher education system, it has been mainly through private investments, since successive governments started reducing their investments in higher education. A large number of colleges and university-level institutions, including institutions deemed to be universities commonly known as 'deemed universities', and private universities established through State legislation, have come into existence in recent years. There is a growing demand for further expansion of private institutions. The implications of the increasing trend towards privatization of higher education need to be understood in terms of the system's enrolment capacity, programme focus, regional balance, and ownership pattern, modes of delivery, and degree of regulation, quality and credibility as well as social concerns of inclusiveness.

Growth of private-commercial providers The absence of any significant expansion in different sectors of higher education by the State has created a space for the growth of private providers. However, there has been no policy or guidelines to measure the competence of private investors in starting and managing a technical institution other than the requirement that it should be registered as a non-profit or charitable trust or society. This lacuna has been exploited by many investors, who have no understanding or experience of the responsibilities associated with institutions of higher education. The trusts or societies that have been formed largely consist of immediate family members – some of whom had little or no educational background – with some exceptions. All investments on the institution and all appointments and service conditions and, to a considerable extent, most decisions on admission of students in the management quota have been under the control of such family trusts or societies. The principal or the other academic staff members have been mostly excluded from these processes and asked to mind only the requirements of the university in terms of syllabus and examinations. Specific studies need to be done regarding the sources of funds utilized by such family trusts or societies as there are allegations that such funds are either unaccounted wealth from business and political enterprises (occasionally with some bank loans for purposes of legitimacy) or from the capitation fees charged from the students in addition to a plethora of unexplained fees charged whimsically by these managements….

EXCERPTS OF PROF.YASH PAL COMMITTEE REPORT(2009)

……..What is required in order to make all of them work efficiently and serve overall national goals is the framing of rational and consistent ground rules overseen by a transparent regulatory mechanism. Purely private initiatives require a credible corrective mechanism to do away with the ills associated with it currently. It would be, necessary for instance that the present practice of family members who sometimes don't have the experience or the competence relating to education occupying the controlling position of the governing systems of the private educational institutions be prevented. Similarly, the practice of conferring academic designations such as Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and Pro Vice Chancellor on members of the family has to stop. There is a need to have a clear understanding of the difference in the roles of a promoter or philanthropist as a trustee as opposed to being an executive of the institution he or she establishes. Executives must have appropriate abilities and qualifications, required for the job. All private institutions, which seek the status of a university, will have to submit to a national accreditation system. It is also important that private initiatives in the field of higher education are not driven by the sole motive of profit. They should not confine themselves only to 'commercially viable' sectors of education, such as management, accountancy and medicine etc. but should also encompass areas of social and natural sciences by establishing comprehensive universities……

Mushrooming of deemed universities The sudden spurt in the number of newly established educational institutes as deemed universities is another area of concern. Some of the private institutions took the deemed-to-be university route to get degree-granting powers. Between 2000 and 2005, 26 privatesponsored institutions got the deemed university status. Since 2005, the number of private deemed universities has increased to 108. By a notification of the UGC, it is no longer necessary for them to use the adjective “deemed” and they all call themselves simply universities. In Tamil Nadu alone, the number of private deemed universities has increased from 18 in 2007 to 35 in 2008 and many are in the queue. Though, the deemed universities do not have affiliating powers, many of them have a number of campuses spread throughout the country. The provision for the status of deemed universities was made with a noble intent. What has raised the concern of the academic world is the fact that the majority of these institutes are not established with any educational purpose, and they end up only deluding the students. In view of considerable misuse of the provision for Deemed, University status, the granting of such status should be put on hold till unambiguous and rational guidelines are evolved

EXCERPTS OF PROF.YASH PAL COMMITTEE REPORT(2009)

The behaviour of some private universities has become a matter of serious concern to a large body of students and parents. There have been several instances of campus violence and related litigations. A detailed probe into the basic reasons for the concerns revealed that many of them were professional colleges that got approval from the regulatory bodies for university status. Immediately thereafter, they started admitting five to six times their intake capacity, without a corresponding increase in faculty strength or academic infrastructure. The classes and laboratories were conducted at strange hours like a factory production operation. The students who paid huge capitation fees felt cheated. The students from the underprivileged sections could not get admission in many of them due to heavy capitation fees. The existing guidelines and the Memoranda of Association (MOA) with the UGC were ambiguous and inappropriate to the new situation. Compounding the stigma is the offer made by some of them, after obtaining university status, to give “guaranteed” degrees at any level, including Ph.D., for a price. This has dealt a serious blow to the credibility of the Indian university degree……….

Issues of affordability Many private institutions charge exorbitant fees (beyond the prescribed norms) in the form of many kinds of levy (not accounted for by vouchers and receipts) and are unable to provide even minimum competent faculty strength. The non affordability of the programmers of such institutions to a vast majority of eligible students is a matter of public concern. The regulatory agencies have been unable to come to grips with the problems of capitation fee and unauthorized annual fees mainly due to deficiencies in enforcement instruments, and partly due to high-level reluctance to sort out this problem. Since the norms for fixation of fees are vague, the quantum of fees charged has no rational basis. The illegal capitation fees range from: Rs. 1-10 lakh for the engineering courses; Rs. 20-40lakh for MBBS courses; Rs. 5-12 lakh for dental courses; and about Rs. 30,000-50,000 for courses in arts and science colleges, depending on the deman. Studies and research show that most of the private investment in higher education is in the field of engineering, management and medicine whereas the majority of enrollment is taking place in traditional disciplines. The private providers are, therefore, not putting their money in areas which attract the bulk of the students, especially first generation university goers……

FACTS ABOUT OUR HIGHER EDUCATION – A BITTER TRUTH TO DIGEST! During the past two decades, even though there has been a rapid expansion of the higher education system, it has been mainly through private investments, since successive governments started reducing their investments in higher education. A large number of colleges and university-level institutions, including institutions deemed to be universities commonly known as 'deemed universities', and private universities established through State legislation, have come into existence in recent years. There is a growing demand for further expansion of private institutions. The implications of the increasing trend towards privatization of higher education need to be understood in terms of the system's enrolment capacity, programme focus, regional balance, and ownership pattern, modes of delivery, and degree of regulation, quality and credibility as well as social concerns of inclusiveness.

FACTS ABOUT OUR HIGHER EDUCATION

Table 1) and 2) give the number of Government Engineering colleges vis a vis Private Engineering colleges in all the states of the country. The number of Government Engineering colleges more or less remained unchanged in some states and has slightly increased in couple of states. In a couple of states the number of Government Engineering colleges has decreased slightly over a decade. In 2001 states like Assam, Bihar, Jharkand etc had maximum of 3 Govt colleges each while West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhrapradesh had relatively more number of colleges, west Bengal had the highest number ie, 39 Government colleges. During 2010 Some of the Govt colleges may have been closed down due to lack of demand which is the result of poor infrastructure and low quality teaching staff, or some Governments must have thought that running Government professional colleges with decreased demand was an unproductive venture! If one looks at the increase of private Engineering colleges from 2001 to 2010, one would be shocked to see how these 'Educational shops' have mushroomed indiscriminately. There is neither any logic nor any scientific explanation available by any Educationist for such an astounding number of increased private professional colleges in India. The growth of number of private colleges is not in consonance with the proportion of increase in Government colleges or increase in the population and other Demographic factors. A look at states like Andrapradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttarpradesh, shows that the number of private Engineering colleges has touched six hundred colleges and in some states is nearing the seven hundred mark also! Here we come across an important contradiction that has happened over 10 years from 2001 to 2010. The fact is that during these years, the Government Engineering colleges have been increased by 3 or 4 colleges maximum and in some states the number of Government colleges has decreased over a period of time. But in the case of private Engineering Colleges, the number of colleges has increased by leaps and bounds in almost all the states barring a few states like Bihar, J&K etc. During 2010 Jammu& Kashmir had only one Govt Engineering college while West Bengal had the highest 25 colleges ( though less by 15 college than 2001)! Most unfortunate thing is that no scientific study, nor a Logical survey was carried out by any State Government to decide the number of Professional colleges needed for each state each year. On the contrary, it is the vested interests of professional education in every state with hand in glove with the prevalent government together decide and increase the number and seats of the professional colleges but not the quality of Professional Education!! Such a huge number of private colleges over a decade is a clear indication of Commercialization of Professional Education in India. In many states politicians, social leaders, MLAs, MPS and even a few Ministers own private Engineering Colleges. Then it is hard expect the Governments to pronounce laws to control the private professional colleges. Another reason for such an exponential growth of number of private Engineering Colleges is that, there is a gradual shift in the concept of Education from that of philanthropy to profitability! Education has become a lucrative business where you invest meagerly and harvest profusely! This is the reason why we find increasing number of Liquor Barons, Business Houses, Industrialists and Politicians entering this sector. This has proved to be more lucrative business than any other business including Liquor and Real estate businesses! This has resulted in the

FACTS ABOUT OUR HIGHER EDUCATION

uneven growth of the Professional Institutions in various states. Unfortunately many professional institutions which were started with profit motive could not sustain the competition and eventually got reduced to being very mediocre Educational institutions busy in cheating both the gullible students and the hapless society ! Although the number of Medical colleges in the country is not as much mushroomed as Engineering colleges, the commercialization in the Medical colleges has become so exorbitant that a common man cannot afford to study even in Government engineering colleges. If we look at the number of Government Medical colleges in India during 2001 and 2010, we witness a strange phenomenon that over a period of ten years, the number of Government colleges in many states has been decreased than they were in 2001! Barring a few states, majority of the states either have added one or two Government Medical colleges to their tally or have decreased the number of Govt Medical colleges when compared to the number in 2001. But on the other hand there is a steady increase in the number of private Medical colleges in the states from 2001 to 2010! Not even a single Private Medical college is closed in this decade because of either lack of Infrastructure or Poor quality. All India Medical Association and respective Medical Universities of the states had identified and derecognized some medical colleges in various states but somehow no private Medical college is closed! While many Government Medical colleges have been closed in many states, none of the Private Medical college is closed despite having rickety infrastructure, absence of quality teaching faculty, lack of hospital facilities etc. Many such private Medical Colleges do not have own hospital and thus compromise with quality by sending their students to different hospitals for practical and clinical studies. One significant factor that comes out of this is that today such a huge demand and astronomical Fees and Donations to Medical Education is because of the fact that our state Governments, over a period of decade either closed the existing Governmental Medical colleges or added one or two colleges which is incongruent with the growing demand for the Doctors and Specialists in the growing field of Health sector. Today's huge demand for Doctors and costly medical expenses could be attributed to State Governments who failed to have the vision that the essential and life saving sector like Medical Education just like Military should have been retained in the hands of Govt. Today the less number of Government colleges and more number of private colleges have made the brilliant students stop dreaming about Medical Education and instead, the rich and the mediocre students have entered the Medical Education. Not just the human health, what would happen to the societal health if such students who eventually become Doctors start playing with lives of the people in the society. The future appears to be very scary when we think about the Medical Education which by far the most commercialized part of the Professional Education in India. The case of Dental colleges in Private sector and Government sector is no different from that of MBBS. If we look at the table, we can observe that the Government BDS colleges across all the states over the span of ten years barring U.P, J and K and West Bengal,

FACTS ABOUT OUR HIGHER EDUCATION

either have retained the same number of colleges as in 2001 or have decreased the number of Government BDS colleges by 2010. The strange phenomenon is majority of the states have slashed their Government BDS colleges where as the Private BDS colleges have steadily increased over time and Karnataka stands highest with nearly 40 Private BDS colleges in the state as against a faltering two Government colleges! MBA and Management Education have gained ground this decade. Just a look at the comparative table and subsequent graph of the Government and Private MBA colleges in the states for 2010 shows how the number of private MBA colleges have gone far ahead of Govt MBA colleges in the states. The number of Govt MBA college ranges from 1 college in states like Kerala and Himachal Pradesh to an average of 40 colleges in states like Andhrapradesh, Delgi, Tamilnadu. But private MBA colleges have reached the marks 100..200â&#x20AC;Ś300â&#x20AC;Ś800 in 2010!! An unbelievable picture! Only a few states have two digit colleges the remaining states have several hundreds of colleges. AndhraPradesh tops the list with 851 MBA colleges. This clearly shows the indiscriminate mushrooming of private MBA colleges in the country which has resulted in the eroding of the quality of Management education in the country and MBA has dwindled in to yet another commence oriented graduation course. Today we cannot talk about the quality of MBA/Management institutes in the country. Some of the colleges though accredited by AICTE don't have either the academic quality or the needed industry orientation. Many colleges which constitute the whopping 75% of the management institutes in the country (whose number is not shown either in table or in the graph) are run without either AICTE accreditation or without university affiliation or any statutory recognition. Some of the most reputed Universities in the country run either Twinning programs or claim that they offer Foreign University MBA degree while the Central Government is yet to take decision on the Foreign University Bill! One more ugly face of the management institutes in the country is the MBA courses conducted through Distance Education and through the offcampuses of either Private Universities or Deemed Universities of other states which is not at all permitted. If one goes through Prof.Yashpal Report or the Supreme Court judgment on Prof. Yashpal Vs Chattis Ghar case, one realizes how lacks of students and the parents are being cheated by such fly by night institutes which lure students by way of guaranteed (?) jobs, laptops, campus selection, foreign tours etc.

THE HIGH DRAMA OF SEAT SHARING Seat sharing is a system which is created to have a Win-Win situation both for the state Governments and the professional colleges in the respective states. This is envisaged in order to see that besides merit being rewarded, the good professional colleges should sustain themselves. Hence any professional institution can sustain itself by having Management fee which will be higher than the Government fee for Engineering or Medical courses. Obviously the Management fee collected by the private Professional colleges becomes a very big source of income for them to sustain the show by meeting the recurring expenditures. Hence this act of seat sharing between the Government and the private institutions has become a matter of headache for many state Governments during admissions every year. This process of seat sharing between Government and the professional colleges many a time becomeS a major lobby as a difference or increase of a few BE/MBBS seats get translated to an income of crores of rupees! This perhaps is the one area where in each state deviates radically from each other in offering quota to private professional colleges. If we just take the instance of seat sharing pattern of Engineering Education. In the table the lowest Percentage of Govt seats is in Jharkhand which has only 20% and the states with highest Govt quota of seats are Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal which have not left any seats for the Management to fill up. On the other hand we have states like Jharkhand where Govt. quota of seats are only 20% which means 80% of the BE/MBBS seats will be filled by the Managements of the Private colleges! As we mentioned earlier a small change in the percentage of seats from Government to Management makes a huge difference in terms of the financial implications, as each seat being sold at very high Capitation/donation fee, which sometimes run in to crores for a seat in medical education.

BE SEATS (In Terms of Percentage):

THE HIGH DRAMA OF SEAT SHARING

MBBS SEATS (In Terms of Percentage):

In Medical Education, Karnataka has the lowest Government quota of medical seats i.e. 42%, while the states like Jharkhand, Mahakoshal, Assam, West Bengal almost do not have any management quota for MBBS education. Hence especially in southern states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra where the seat sharing has clearly tilted towards the college managements, the professional Education has become the most lucrative sector to invest!! So also in the case of BDS and MBA courses in seat sharing. Considerable number of seats are given away to the college managements which they obviously sell. Hence a fool proof system to evaluate this issue has to be evolved scientifically failing which these colleges become the centers of money spinning instead of knowledge imparting centres.

THE HIGH DRAMA OF SEAT SHARING

BDS SEATS (In Terms of Percentage):

MBA SEATS (In Terms of Percentage):

THE HIGH DRAMA OF SEAT SHARING

FEE STRUCTURE - A TRAGIC STORY! Fee structure and Donation/Capitation are by far the most villainous aspects of the professional Education. The essential difference that exists between Government professional colleges and private colleges is Fee and Donation. This has become a nightmare to the poor and the meritorious students. It has made numerous merit students lose their lives, the one which has crushed many Sir.M.Vishweshwaraiahas and APJ Abdul Kalams of the future under its ruthless feet. It is the one which sends shivers down the spine to the helpless parents of the Indian middle class. It is the one which has turned the noblest institution of Education in to the most maligned Institution. The one which has vitiated the social justice and has turned many youth in to anti social elements, the one which has stifled the growth and development of the country. Donation and high Fee structure is the one which have made the highest seats of knowledge to dwindle in to mere Educational shopsâ&#x20AC;Ś corrupted the entire Professional and Higher Education system in Indian scenario. This Fee structure comes sequel to the seat sharing saga which was discussed in the earlier pages. The essence of fight between the Governments and the Professional college managements is for a favorable tilting of the seat sharing ratio in order to fix up the Government and the management fees for the professional courses. Mere Fee structure is not only the thing to be looked in to. Once the Management fees is fixed, then the act of fixing the donation/capitation starts, which perhaps is the biggest menace to the Professional Education in India.

FEE STRUCTURE - A TRAGIC STORY!

A view of the Fee structure of Engineering Education in 2001 shows that the Government fees for BE ranged from a pittance Rs. 20 in West Bengal to a whopping amount of Rs 28,000 in the state of Mahakoshal! Some of the states did not have Government Engineering colleges those days. Barring a few states like Delhi, Madhyapradesh, Mahakoshal, and western UP, the remaining states had reasonable fee structure which definitely is a delectable figure in comparison with the present scenario! As regards the Management fee structure during 2001, more than half of the states did not possess private Engineering colleges and hence the quality of Education and the merit of the students was respected! In the states where there were private unaided engineering colleges, the management fees ranged from Rs. 5000 to Rs 65,000. But the average was around Rs. 40,000 for Management fees. The case of donation and capitation fee during 2001, they existed but not in diabolical form as is today! But the Fee structure has changed drastically over a period of time. The Government fees in some of the states in 2010 exceeded the Donation amount prevailed for BE courses during 2001..! The 2010 figures of Government and Management Fee structures shows how over a period of time the professional Education has become totally commercialized and a commodity of sale. The Government fee structure for BE courses during 2010 has begun at as low as Rs. 1,500 in Gujarat state and has risen to as high as Rs 83,000 in Punjab state. But a look at the management fee for BE courses during 2010 gives us the alarming picture about the cost of Engineering Education in India. The lowest slab of Management fees is Rs. 35,000 in Jammu& Kasmir state and the highest slab being Rs. 3 lakh (which is fixed by the government itself !) in Punjab state. The very figures of management fee shows how the Engineering Education is becoming a mirage for the lower and middle income class people of the society. In arriving at these figures, the respective state Governments may have done scientific study in fees fixation, taking in to cognizance the various economic parameters. Not with standing this, the cost of management fee is quite outside the reach of the poor, lower middle class of the India society, as the average management fee hovers around one lakh rupees ! The worst part of this is the Donation scenario which has made professional Education almost impossible not only to a common man; even to honest and non corrupt IAS and IPS officers who can't even think of this kind of donations being paid from their not so deep government salaried pockets! The minimum Donation is around 2 lakhs and ranges up to fifteen lakhs. The maximum donation is towards the choicest disciplines like Mechanical, electronics and other branches. The demand and eventually the amount of donation varies for each academic year which is influenced by the ' Market forces'! In case of MBBS Education during 2001, many states did not have Government Medical colleges, and such of those states who had

FEE STRUCTURE - A TRAGIC STORY!

Government Medical colleges had the lowest fee possible which was around Rs. 15,000 on average. West Bengal had Rs.20 as the fee for MBBS seat in their Govt. colleges, and the highest fee was in Uttaranchal which used to charge Rs.1,72,000 for Govt. MBBS seat. The Management fee for MBBS seats ranged from as low as Rs 15,000 in Himachal Pradesh to Rs.2,50,000 in Rajasthan state. MBBS fee structure during 2010 gives a horrible picture of the Fees and Donation components. The average Government fee for MBBS is around Rs. 25,000 which is a reasonable figure. But a look at the management fee and the Donation one cannot help but gasping for the breath! The management fee starts from one lakh and ranges up to six lakh twenty five thousands (With an exception of J&k with 40,000 fee) ! Just imagine this amount for five years plus Donation! The Donation amount ranges from five lakh rupees to forty lakh rupees! As this Donation part is attached to the management fee, no MBBS seat is available below twenty five lakhs. We can imagine those thousands of brilliant, intelligent but economically deprived youth who in vain dream of medical education their whole life! Perhaps the major anomalies regarding the grant of recognition to colleges, the seat sharing and fee fixation happen in Medical education as a small change or increase in the number of seats would translate in to huge sum amounting to several crores. As many of these Medical colleges are owned by Pontiffs of religions institutions, influential politicians, the bargaining power of these stake holders will over power the relatively feeble voice of the Government or sometimes both are hand in glove to each other in hoodwinking the aspirants of Higher Education. Here we have not mentioned the post graduate courses like M.D and M.S in Medical education which ranges anything between Rs. 80 lakhs to one 1.25 crores, depending on the branches. Commercialisation of professional Education has reached its wretched hights in the case of Medical Education. The BDS (Bachelor of Dental surgery) is relatively low on the Fees structure and Donation patterns in comparison with the MBBS fee structure. The Govt fee structure for dental courses in 2001 was around five thousand rupees on average. During 2010 the Govt Fee ranged from Two thousand rupees to Sixty five thousand rupees with the lowest fee being in J & K state and the highest fee in Punjab. In 2001 the number of Governmental dental colleges was very low in number or nonexistent in some states of the country. In the existing private dental colleges, the average management fee was around sixty thousand rupees. This goes to say that the management fee of 2001 is equal to the Government fee of 2010 in many private dental colleges ! The management fee for BDS in 2010 ranged from sixty thousand to two lakh seventy five thousands. The donation for dental courses during 2010 ranged from one lakh rupees to Eight lakh rupees. The Fee structure of Management Education in Post Graduation (MBA) is taken here for analysis which we believe would be a good representative sample of the Higher Education courses in India.

FEE STRUCTURE - A TRAGIC STORY!

As regards the Government Fee structure for MBA course, Punjab has retained its supremacy over highest fee structure in the country even over a decade !! During 2001 it was Rs. 40,000 and in 2010 it was Rs.75,000. The management fee structure for private MBA colleges in 2001 did not cross Rs. 80,000 with an average around 40,000 rupees. Where as in 2010, the whole scenario was changed for the worse. The management fee starts with Rs.40,000 in few states, but majority of the states have more than one lakh Management fee, while Karnataka with Rs.2,50,000 beams with Pride by being the topper with heaviest fees! The Donation part in MBA Education in the recent years has become rampant and uninhibited. Just imagine, the Donation for MBA seat in some of the states has touched Rs. 12 lakhs, the average Donation is around Rs.4 lakhs in all the states. Even the MBA Education is also out of the reach of the common man today. With such a hefty Management fees and unimaginable Donation even MBA Education has become the choice only for the Elite and the Esoteric of the society. This is not only the case with MBA course in Higher Education. Many of the courses in Higher Education like MBA, MCA, some post Graduate courses in Life sciences have mercilessly squeezed the Indian middle class.

Mushrooming of private universities in Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh is known as Dev-Bhoomi as it blessed with innumerable temples and holy shrines. Himachal Pradesh is also known for higher literacy rate and quality Education. This state is now greatly affected by commercialization of Education. In a small state, number of private Engineering , polytechnic, Dental, B.Ed and other professional institutes were opened by previous Govt. and the present Government has accelerated this process. Opening up of Private Universities in Himachal Pradesh has started by the present Government. J.P.Uninversity of information and Technology is the first which was established by BJP Government when it was in power during 1998 to 2003. Presently, 13 universities have started their functioning and about seven more private universities are in the pipe line. Opening up of so many private universities has given rise to the commercialization of Higher Education in Himachal Pradesh. It seems that politicians, bureaucrats and business/industrial houses are working hand in glove for opening up of these Private Universities. The agricultural land in Himachal Pradesh cannot be purchased by any person from outside the state. It requires a lot of formalities to be completed and State Government can give permission in some special circumstances to purchase the agricultural land. But all these Private Universities' Management have purchased the land from poor famers by posing as the Educational charitable Trusts in the documents submitted to the State Government. Almost all of these Universities have no past experience of imparting the Higher Education .The very definition of University has been diluted by opeing up of these Universities. These Universities are running only B.tech. courses . None of these universities are running social sciences and only two universities are running M.Sc. programs in a few basic science subjects. These universities have started only profit making courses. A team of A.B.V.P activists has conducted the survey of these universities and found that these universities have turned out to be commercial shops and are not genuinely catering to the needs of society.

MUSHROOMING OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

? All of these universities have been asked to run the University Only for the Period of 25 years. These managements can change the land use after 25 years and can use it for real estate. ? It is very strange that 8 out of 13 private universities have been opened in one District called Solan district where there are only 3 Government colleges! ? No university except J.P. University has the qualified teaching faculty and none of them are paying the required salary to their faculty members. ? No reservation system for socially backward and SC/ST students is being followed by these universities. No fellowship is provided to poor meritorious students. ? The fee structure of these universities is very high. A poor meritorious student and even middle class income students cannot afford to seek admissions in these universities. ? Quality of education is very poor in these universities. Student failing in any subject is asked to pay more fee next time and third time much more fee is charged. A teacher is asked to pass the chosen students as there is no transparent examination system. ? There was no regulatory Government body to control the functioning of these universities. But after mounting pressure by ABVP and other social organizations recently the state Government has announced to form a regulatory body . The opening of these universities has invited the strong criticism from all student organizations, political parties and other social organizations. ABVP unit of Himachal Pradesh is fighting vehemently against the mushrooming of these Universities in Himachal Pradesh and is of the opinion that this will ruin the Higher Education system in the state and ABVP is planning to organise a state wide agitation in near future.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT

IN THE CASE OF PROF.YASHPAL VERSUS THE STATE OF CHATTISGARH. Para No.20 The consistent and settled view of this Court, therefore, is that in spite of incorporation of University as a legislative head being in the State List, the whole gamut of the University which will include teaching, quality of education being imparted, curriculum, standard of examination and evaluation and also research activity being carried on will not come within the purview of the State legislature on account of a specific Entry on coordination and determination of standards in institutions for higher education or research and scientific and technical education being in the Union List for which the Parliament alone is competent. It is the responsibility of the Parliament to ensure that proper standards are maintained in institutions for higher education or research throughout the country and also uniformity in standards is maintained.

Para No.21 In order to achieve the aforesaid purpose, the Parliament has enacted the University Grants Commission Act.

Para No.24 Mere conferment of degree is not enough. What is necessary is that the degree should be recognized. It is for this purpose that the right to confer degree has been given under Section 22 of UGC Act only to a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, Provincial Act or State Act or an institution deemed to be a University under Section 3 or an institution specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to confer or grant degrees. Sub-section (3) of this Section provides that "degree" means any such degree as may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, be specified in this behalf by the Commission by notification in the Official Gazette. The value and importance of such degrees which are recognized by Government was pointed out by a Constitution Bench in Azeez Basha v. Union of India AIR 1968 SC 662.

Para No.46 In view of the discussions made above, Writ Petition (C) No. 19 off 2004 (Prof. Yashpal & Ors.v. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.) and Writ Petition (C) No. 565 of 2003 (Gopalji Agarwal Vs. Union of India & Ors.) are allowed and provisions of Section 5 and 6 of the Chhattisgarh Niji Kshetra Vishwavidaylaya (Sthapana Aur Viniyaman) Adhiniyam, 2002 are declared to be ultra vires and are struck down. As a consequence of such declaration, all notifications issued by the State Government in the Gazette in the purported exercise of power under Section 5 of the aforesaid Act notifying the Universities (including respondent nos.3 to 94) are quashed and such Universities shall cease to exist. If any institutions have been established by such Universities, steps may be taken for their affiliation to already existing State Universities in accordance with the direction contained in paragraph 45 above. Parties would be at liberty to approach the High Court if any dispute arises in implementation of this direction. All Writ Petitions, Civil Appeals and Transferred Cases filed by the private Universities are dismissed.

CORPORATE COLLEGES OR CORRUPT COLLEGES ? Education has gone into the hands of market forces. It is getting commercialized all over the country. But it is different in Andhra Pradesh. "Corporatization of Education" is a growing trend in this state. Two institutes 'Sri Chaitanya' and 'Narayana' have grown into 'Education Mafia' and have captured the entire Intermediate education (+2 education) in the state. Eight lack students out of eighteen lacks in the state are forced to join these institutes. These colleges manage to get one or two state level ranks in the public exams every year, spend crores of rupees on print and electronic media (publicity) and mislead the students and parents. They convince parents that if their children do not join these colleges they won't become Doctors or Engineers! They keep their failure rates hidden, violate all the rules and norms of education system, do not maintain laboratories and never conduct practical classes. God only knows how the students score 100 per cent marks in practical exams. No holidays are given to the students. No outsiders including parents are allowed inside their colleges. Students are forced to read day and night, no time for sports and other recreational activities. These corporate colleges are running around 500 colleges in 20 big towns. Small private colleges run by unemployed youth are forced to surrender their colleges to these giant colleges. Unable to bear the stress at least 20 innocent students commit suicide every year. Suicides in corporate colleges in Andra pradesh has become a common thing. Neither the culprits are arrested nor the cases are filed. Everything is manageable for these college managements! They have grown so powerful that Education minister of this state is appointed with their consent. Corporate institutes have now started to enter School Education. With colorful tags like 'concept', techno, e-technoâ&#x20AC;Ś etc. They have started capturing hundreds of small schools in the state. We find 50 to 60 institutes of Sri Chaitanya and Narayana in some big towns. The annual turnover of these corporate institutes is said to be between 500 and 600 crores. The ministers, IAS officers and the officers at the helm of affairs in Education Ministry just sway to the tune of Sri Narayan and Sri B.S,Rao, the owners of these corporate colleges.

DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITIES â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DOOMED TO BE STUDENTS ! Deemed universities (those not established by legislation, and instead deemed to be universities by the UGC) are but microcosms of the general universities, with most of the problems! Indeed, most were part of the general university system till recently. Let's now analyze recent developments. Lots of colleges were suddenly granted deemed university status during the tenures of a couple of Human Resource Ministers. Others, arguably academically much more qualified, were not, maybe because they did not apply for deemed status. Is not deemed status awarded based on proven performance and excellence? One deemed university is reported to have refused to respond to an RTI (Right to Information) query related to fees, citing its autonomous status! Even the office of the Honourable Chief Justice of India comes under the ambit of the RTI! Should an institution of learning claim such secrecy except in examination matters? An intriguing question is whether revenue, along with the number of out-of-state students and pass percentages sky-rocketed after deemed university status was achieved by colleges? In another case, infrastructure was actually shared by 2 adjacent deemed universities, the common factor being that the same powerful person was associated with both! This is manipulation of the system, and cheating. In some deemed universities, students had complained about modalities, infrastructure or restrictions. Another such institution allegedly foisted a Director who was a postgraduate in biology on its School of Law, with nary a law diploma or degree. Are deemed universities the ultimate solution? Let's pose a counter question. Is establishing deemed universities the only way towards excellence in India's educational system? If the answer is yes, it connotes that (a) the University system in India has utterly failed (b) we are out of desperation opting to create a few islands of perfection in an ocean of mediocrity. And guilty of washing our hands of probably more than 99 percent of our starry-eyed, aspiring youth, who cannot access these posh (and perhaps well-run)

DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITIES â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DOOMED TO BE STUDENTS !

institutions due to prohibitive distance and cost. Should they be denied an effective education at a cost that does not ruin their families? It hardly matters to more than 99% of our aspiring youth whether a few colleges are given deemed or private/state university status or a minuscule number of foreign universities are allowed in, or not! This majority simply cannot access these posh and perhaps fine institutions due to prohibitive cost. Realistically, the focus of these elitist universities is likely to be on mere profits, and not on the emancipation of our impoverished youth or the progress of this country. If questionable methods, practices and money bags indeed prevail in autonomous or deemed (or even in general) universities, it seems logical to effect an immediate policy change to prevent any cancer from spreading. Effective and mandatory monitoring must ensure that no university, of whatsoever category â&#x20AC;&#x201C; general, deemed, state, private, minority, autonomous or foreign, is allowed to falsely boost results, mislead or harass students or send their families into penury. Right educational policies and procedures must be transparently implemented. No unholy nexus must be permitted between managements and any government/governmental department. Looking the other way is active collusion! Educational institutions should be centres of light, liberty and learning, certainly not grand citadels of iniquity!