LET US WELCOME FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES

LET US WELCOME FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES
In his article “Pursuing Excellence And Equity” [April 10] Arvind Panagariya has clinically demolished the objections to the reform oriented Foreign Universities Bill. The objections do not stand the scrutiny of logic .They are mostly ideological and political in nature. Even these frivolous objections can be faced with some tweaking of the bill. Firstly, instead of waiting for the foreign universities to approach us the government itself should identify the best and the top ranking foreign universities and invite them to open their campuses here. This will automatically ensure that unscrupulous and ill reputed universities do not enter the country. Secondly a cap [viz; 25%] should be laid on the faculty to be recruited from within the country. This will ensure that all the best faculty of our premier institutes are not hijacked by the foreign universities. Thirdly the entire student admission process should be merit oriented with a provision for reservation for the meritorious among the disadvantaged sections. All those who get selected should be automatically eligible for educational loans on liberal terms. This will guarantee the social justice and allay the fears that only rich and upper classes of the society will garner all the seats. In view of huge supply- demand gap for high quality university education in the country, it would be advisable for everyone to come out of the outdated ideological and political shell and support the bill rather than opposing it for the sake of opposition.