Entrusted to advise on “renovation and rejuvenation of higher education”, Professor Yashpal has set an agenda for some radical changes — reforms which Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal hopes to start incorporating in his 100-day plan. Besides objecting to a number of practices prevalent in the higher education sector, the committee has recommended the setting up of a National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), an overarching body which will subsume 13 regulatory agencies in higher education and create an enabling environment for universities to become self-regulatory bodies. The 94-page report has proposed that in order to ensure the NCHER’s independence and credibility, its chairperson should be chosen by a selection panel comprising the PM, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India. The proposed commission should table an annual “state of higher education” report in Parliament.

Some of the other observations of the committee:

Family-run institutions

Since there are no eligibility criteria to judge private investors’ suitability to foray into the higher education sector, apart from their registration as a charitable trust or society, this “lacuna” has been “exploited”. “Trusts or societies that have been formed largely consist of immediate family members — some of whom have little or no educational background — with some exceptions,” says the report, adding that there are allegations that funds used to run such institutions are either “unaccounted wealth from business” and “political enterprises” or “from capitation fees”. It says the practice of conferring academic designations such as chancellor, vice-chancellor, and pro vice-chancellor on members of the family must be done away with.

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