Q: Reservations extending even in faculty positions… Are we moving in the right direction?

A: Personally, I don’t think we should have reservations for faculty if we’re talking of having world-class universities. We don’t have it in some institutions like Department of Atomic Energy or in high technology science, so a precedent exists. Reservation in student admissions is much more defensible and I think we can aspire to have world-standard even with such reservations, but not if its extended to faculty. You can, of course, have affirmative action to ensure that the faculty reflects the social composition. But this should be done through a proactive search for suitably qualified candidates. Not through a mechanical imposition through reservation. As this is a sensitive issue, we do need to discuss it.

Q: Another issue, you would agree, is of autonomy, especially when it comes to fixing fees…

A: Autonomy in many respects is very important and of course also in the matter of fees. Nowhere in the world do fees pay for the entire cost of education. Education has to be subsidised through endowments or research grants or other forms of government support. However, in India, the percentage of cost of education covered by fees is exceptionally low. In many cases, it is only 3 per cent. It needs to be raised to at least 20 per cent. A move to a more reasonable fee structure should be accompanied by a loan-cum-scholarship programme so that any student who gets admission in a university should be even if his family circumstances do not allow him to pay the fee. But this does not justify low fees for everybody. Remember only 10 per cent of the relevant age group at present goes for higher education. Most of them can certainly pay a higher fee. It is well known that for the vast majority of our students at our better universities, the cost of education is lower than the cost of the schools they attended. This is simply not rational. I agree, however, these ideas are not yet readily accepted. I made the suggestion to move to a system of higher fees combined with a loans-cum-scholarship at a recent meeting of the vice chancellors, but it was turned down because they did not think it was realistic. They were probably right to think that it would not be easily accepted. We need to build a consensus on this issue.