Complex regulations for higher education in India coupled with political turmoil found a victim in no less than economist Lord Meghnad Desai. From stringent rules regarding permission and licences to riots, they have all stalled Desai’s plan to launch a liberal arts college in Kolkata.

Calling for liberating higher education from state control, Desai, speaking on the sidelines of a conference at Mumbai’s HR College, said: “It’s the complicated education system, regulations imposed on higher education, coupled with the crisis in the state that have been the primary deterrents for the delay.” Desai added that he had not yet abandoned his plans.

Currently Professor Emeritus at the Centre of the Study of Global Governance (which he founded in 1992) at the London School of Economics, Desai said: “We need to obtain some kind of approval from the University Grants Commission. We are exploring other options too. For instance, we are seeing if we can get some kind of certification from a good liberal arts college in America.”

Though there are private universities in India, the “hand of the State is heavy”, he lamented. “India is the second largest foreign investor in the UK today, thanks to a liberal economy. So why can’t it do the same for education? Why shouldn’t India be allowed to compete with the universities abroad?” he asked.

Emphasising that India will benefit immensely from foreign universities and institutions setting up campuses in the country, he hoped that the Bill on regulating foreign varsities goes through. “It will provide a very different kind of educational environment. Why put a tax on the poor and why should only the rich have the opportunity to study abroad? The poor must also be given the chance to study at good foreign universities here itself,” he said.

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