The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) may not have adhered to these principles as clearly as one would have liked. However, the NKC recommendations captured distilled wisdom of several experts, encapsulated in “Report to the Nation, 2006-2009”. One doesn’t need a fresh round of commissions, committees, task forces and working groups for the HRD ministry to figure out what is to be done. In any event, “What Is to Be Done?” is the title of a tract written by Lenin in 1901/02. With the Left out of the way, Nike’s “Just Do It” is more appropriate.

If there is one segment of education where there is absolutely no market failure, it’s in management education. Here is a quote from NKC’s report on management education: “Management education has seen phenomenal growth in the past six years with the number of institutions providing undergraduate and post-graduate level courses rising to over 1700. Of these, more than 1000 were added after the year 2000. This has been possible largely due to the entrepreneurial initiative of promoters, taking advantage of the ever increasing demand for management graduates, hence management education. Unfortunately, this has also led to an exploitative and commercial environment with quality being compromised. Regulatory focus only on physical infrastructure rather than research, qualified faculty and relevance of courses has created a mismatch between supply and demand.” To restate the obvious, this entrepreneurial talent has often been displayed by politicians. Is that one reason why the system is so resistant to change?

What of the regulator? We have introduced an artificial distinction between MBA programmes that are degrees and those that are diplomas. The former are those under university umbrellas and latter are outside university systems. Since private universities are relatively new, most degrees are public and most diplomas are private. Several rankings of business schools float around and differ from each other. In one such ranking, of 20 top schools, 19 provide diplomas and one provides a degree (FMS, Delhi). However, this is a finding that cuts across all such rankings. The quality of diplomas (at least at the top end) is better than the quality of degrees. And if the public sector still holds up at the top end, that’s because of IIMs and FMS (with a couple of IIT programmes also inching into the top league).

... contd.